"Girls most at risk from chatroom predators."

By Wendy McAuliffe, ZDNet UK
05 December 2000

A quarter of young female chatroom participants have had an unpleasant experience online according to a global study on Internet usage amongst children.

AUSTRALIA (ZDNet Australia) - The report found girls to be more than twice as likely as boys to have had a disturbing conversation in a chatroom.

The Face of the Web: Youth found that of the 10,000 children questioned across the globe, seven-in-ten young Internet users have participated in chatroom conversations.

According to the study from market research company Ispos-Reid, 37 percent of males aged 12 to 17, and 66 percent of females aged 12 to 17 have received disturbing comments about sex and their bodies from a person that they have met in a chatroom. 36 percent of boys and 48 percent of girls in the same age bracket have been pestered with unwanted messages for more information about themselves.

Whilst recognising the fun that can be had in cyber-chat, Gus Schattenberg, vice president of Ispos-Reid acknowledges the equal level of danger that exists in chatrooms. "Unfortunately, for some, chatroom interactions can have at least as much potential of turning weird and upsetting -- especially for young females, who are also the most likely to participate in chatrooms, as other forums for discussion do."

European children were found to be far less likely to admit that they've been unnerved by an unpleasant chatroom experience. Only eight percent of (European) boys are likely likely to report an uncomfortable online interaction. Matthew Saxton, lecturer in Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London explains: "Sex is a difficult taboo subject for children if they're online using taboo subjects, what are they doing there? This is not what you tell your parents about."

Most children who have been upset in chatrooms do not discontinue using the Internet the survey found.

The study also revealed that 57 percent of the time, negative experiences occurred in chatrooms that were devoted to subjects other than dating or relationships.

This finding comes two weeks after Yahoo! Messenger was found to be offering adult-rated chat in its child-facing rooms such as "Teen" and "Friends".

One in five children have also gone on to meet in person someone that they first encountered in an Internet chatroom.

Chatrooms and Online Games with Chat Features

Potential Dangers and Risks

• Offensive language and adult conversation
  
• Because of its interactive nature, the most likely activity online through which children will encounter people who want to harm them.
  
• Too much time online which limits a child's well-rounded development by taking the place of friends, schoolwork, sports and other activities.

• Instruct your child to never accept files that are .exe .com .ini or .bat. There is a STRONG RISK of potential damage to your computer.
  
• Accompany your child in chat rooms until he or she learns your safety rules.
  
• Teach your child never to give out personal information such as his or her name or address, town, school name or address, or anything else that is personally identifying.
  
• Explain that people are not always who they say they are. Anyone can say/pretend they are a teen.
  
• Set a rule that your child NEVER arranges an in-person meeting without you present
  
• Limit your child to specific chat rooms or consider blocking out chat entirely

• Allow access only to monitored chat rooms or block access to all chat rooms
  
• Block private messages between a child and another user
  
• Limit your child's ability to give out personal information

• There are three primary places from which parents can obtain the control tools with the features described here.
• Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the best place to start is with the company that provides you with a connection to the Internet, such as America Online or Prodigy. Most offer a range of control features, often for free.
  
• Your Local Computer or Retail Store, here you can buy "blocking and filtering" software, such as Cyber Patrol and CYBERsitter, that includes features similar to the ones provided by an ISP. You have to set up these products on your own computer.
  
• Your Web Browser, you also can use certain Web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, to enforce parental control rating systems. Keep an eye on other parental control tools, such as "safe areas" for kids, new types of rating systems, and search engines designed to find only information that has been approved for families.

• Every tool includes some of the features listed here. Decide which features are best for your family, and ask your ISP or local store which product meets your needs.

• No parental control tool is 100% reliable. Not only do tools inadvertently allow access to some inappropriate material and block access to some valuable information, but savvy children may be able to get around the controls.

• The Child Protection Act of 1984 defines a child as anyone younger than the age of 18. Therefore a sexually explicit photograph of a 15-, 16-, or 17-year-old girl or boy is technically child pornography.

   

• The Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 amends the definition of child pornography to include that which actually depicts the sexual conduct of real minor children and that which appears to be a depiction of a minor engaging in sexual conduct. Computer, photographic, and photocopy technology is amazingly competent at creating and altering images that have been "morphed" to look like children even though those photographed may have actually been adults. People who alter pornographic images to look like children can now be prosecuted under this law.

   

• Although the Federal Communications Decency Act of 1994 was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Act would have criminalized the "display" of "patently offensive" speech "in the manner available to a person [younger than] 18-years-of age." The effect of the Communications Decency Act would be to prohibit, on the Internet, a range of material that is appropriate for adults but not for children.

   

• The federal Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act, also known as "The Polly Klaas Bill," ensures that personal information about a child can no longer be bought or sold without a parent's consent. List brokers must release all information that they have to parents if they request it and they must release names of all those to whom the broker has distributed the list.

   

• The overwhelming majority of states have established laws pertaining to child pornography. Unfortunately, there are seven remaining states that have not yet enacted laws prohibiting the possession of child pornography. This, of course, stands in the way of those states developing legislation dealing with Internet related child pornography.

   

• chapter 110 Section 2251 of #18 U.S. code titled Click to Read It

The U.S. Customs Service is the country's front line of defense to combat the illegal importation and proliferation of this hideous material. You can help by reporting any information you have about child pornography to the U.S. Customs Service by calling

1-800-BE-ALERT

For complaints regarding websites, individuals, servers, or chat rooms trafficking in suspected Child Pornography please forward all correspondence to the International Child Pornography Investigation and Coordination Center at icpicc@customs.treas.gov

Please include as much information as possible about the persons involved if known, their E-mail addresses, FTP site, etc.

You will remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash award!

The protection of our children and the elimination of this illegal material depends on all of us to do our part. Please report violations you see. You can make a difference!