Dateline To Catch a Predator

[KatieBee]

Has anyone been catching this Dateline series? I think it is so scary - it features a group that poses as teen girls and boys and waits to be propositioned by men online. They then arrange meetings and nab the suspects. The type of people showing up (teachers, docs, community leaders, etc.) is horrifying, as is what they were apparently showing up for. As sites like MySpace become so popular I'm glad that they're teaming up with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids/Cybertipline, but I hope that parents and teachers are really stressing online safety.

[Unregistered]

Electronic entrapment? Yeah, that's pretty scary.

[KatieBee]

I don't think it's all like that - they go on and wait to be approached by predators, same way that they do with stings in other police operations... these guys are showing intent. You are right though that there are some loop holes created from circumstance to circumstance. I've checked out Cybertipline and they work with the FBI and local police, so when they follow up on a lead that comes in it's totally legit.

[Janis]

Man, this is adds to the whole watching for weirdos in parks and the strange Vans around the neighboorhood.

[KatieBee]

That was the scariest thing for me about these shows is that the guys they were catching looked relatively "normal" (ie not the man under the bridge you tend to warn kids about). Some of them were even community leaders that worked with kids!!

Here was an article I read over the weekend that had some interesting stats -
LINK (http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060604/NEWS01/606040326/1006)
this one really drives it home:
Likewise, the threat of online predators is growing, said John Shehan, who manages the CyberTipline for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, based in Alexandria, Va.

The number of reports to the CyberTipline -- which Shehan called "the 911 of the Internet" -- has shot up 500 percent, from 20,000 reports in 2000 to 120,000 in 2004. And the number of online enticement cases reported to the CyberTipline has doubled in the past few months, from 50 to 100 cases per week.

Just gotta make sure these kids know they're not invincible online and where to turn if someone approaches them!

[Dave V]

It is difficult to see the line between a "sting operation" and entrapment. The definition of entrapment is: "To lure into performing a previously or otherwise uncontemplated illegal act." It seems that people who are actively engaging minors in chatrooms, or through IM programs in order to have sex or abduct them, are not being entrapped at all. They have intent to commit a crime, which, by definition, no longer qualifies as entrapment.

On that note, addressing what you were saying Kate, I think the most effective way to fight against this cybercrime, is to educate our kids. And I don't mean teachers, necessarily.

I recently completed a paper on character education. I found that the chief reason we need to implement character education in schools is because kids are not receiving it at home. Cybercrime, and kids' awareness of it, falls into the same category: kids do not have effective, open, honest relationships with their parents.

I was reading the Children's Online Protection Act (available at:
www.epic.org/free_speech/censorship/copa.html). Check out this quote:

the Congress finds that--

(1) while custody, care, and nurture of the child resides
first with the parent, the widespread availability of the
Internet presents opportunities for minors to access
materials through the World Wide Web in a manner that can
frustrate parental supervision or control

In other words, parents are not qualified to raise their children, so the government will do it for you. How much more Brave New World can we get?

The most effective answer to stopping cybercrime is to rekindle relationships between parents and their children. I remember when we first got the internet at my house. It wasn't really even "The Internet" then. It was more a collection of online Bulletin Boards and Chat rooms. My computer was located in the living room, where my parents could readily see what I was doing or to whom I was talking. Where do kids have computers now? In the privacy of their own rooms.

While Cybercrime is a serious threat to our youth, it doesn't have to be. We simply need to know our children well enough, and educate them to make intelligent decisions in life, and cybercrime will simply vanish. Afterall, unlike most crimes, Cybercrime requires a willing victim. If a child says no, there isn't much else an online predator can do to harm him/her.

-- Dave V

[Unregistered]

"While Cybercrime is a serious threat to our youth, it doesn't have to be. We simply need to know our children well enough, and educate them to make intelligent decisions in life, and cybercrime will simply vanish. Afterall, unlike most crimes, Cybercrime requires a willing victim. If a child says no, there isn't much else an online predator can do to harm him/her."

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First of all, Cybercrime is a broad term used for any crime committed via a computer ( a suspect machine) or committed against one (a victim machine) Cybercrime will not vanish any more than "real crimes" have .. It's easier , far more annoymous, and harder to catch and prosecute the suspect..

Furthermore, I've never heard of a "willing victim" that's kind of an oxy-moron isn't it? If you're willing you can't be a victim..no crime .. unless the willing is a minor then no matter how willing he/she is ..It is a crime.

And If a child says NO there is still PLENTY an online predator can do! Online stalking, harassment, threats, gaining access to a physical address just to name a few..PREDATORS will stop at nothing! and if they run into roadblocks, they will continue their search for another victim.

I agree that educating our children is imperative, but as parents, we need to educate ourselves also. There are plenty of ways to monitor kids on the computer.. and don't be secretive about it, let them know and they may use more caution. Keep the computer centrally located. There is software available that allows you to remotely monitor the computer and set internet access times (for example lock it while you're at work and late at night) and also set time limits.

It's funny, we would never think of letting a predator into our home; our child's bedroom so he can sit and sexually gratify himself while just merely looking at and talking to our child..but with webcams and computers in a child's room, it's exactaly what we have done..opened the door and let the predator walk right in.

[Unregistered]

Of course anyone accused of these acts by law enforcement is a monster and should lose all legal protections guaranteed by the Constitution. We must assume, that since the crime is so horrific, anyone accused is automatically guilty. We should all be glad that our government is going after the bad people among us using the sophisticated electronics. I hope they will hunt the witches next.

[KatieBee]

I think that, like a lot of other community issues, it's goign to take the whole community to deal with dangers online.

Parents need to stay up on new technology like MySpace, Facebook, IM and things of that nature and talk to their kids, set limits, etc. You don't send your kid to the mall with $1000 for 12 hours alone - so don't let them run all over the internet with no guidelines.

I think teachers should be reinforcing this message at school. So much of what gets taught requires kids to go online that there should be some instruction surrounding proper online behavior and what's dangerous - like putting personal info on MySpace pages, inappropriate photos, etc. Teachers, as responsible adults in kids lives, should also let kids know of resources like online reporting sites, police, school officials, etc. that they can contact if they need to.

These sites need to get on board and do their part. MySpace has partnered with Cybertipline and they do PSAs - additionally if you report something inappropriate on MySpace it goes right to the tipline. MySpace also just changed some rules so that the only people that can see minors full profiles are people on their friends lists or people who know their full name or email. (still some obvious loop holes, but a good start)

And, kids clearly need to be up on this sort of thing, where they can report incidents and be smart online.

There are a lot of moving pieces there, but I think that each component is equally important to solving the problem.