Internet pretty safe for kids, after all
Summary: Report finds social networks aren't a hotbed of predatory adults.
Why doesn't this surprise me? The New York Times reports that a major investigation by a national task force found the problem of sexual predators on the Internet has been vastly overstated.
The Internet Safety Technical Task Force, formed by 49 state attorneys general, and run at Harvard's Berkman Center, looked at threats from MySpace and Facebook.
“This shows that social networks are not these horribly bad neighborhoods on the Internet,” said John Cardillo, chief executive of Sentinel Tech Holding, which maintains a sex offender database and was part of the task force. “Social networks are very much like real-world communities that are comprised mostly of good people who are there for the right reasons.”Not happy with the conclusions: Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general. Regardless of the study, Blumenthal asserted:
“Children are solicited every day online,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “Some fall prey, and the results are tragic. That harsh reality defies the statistical academic research underlying the report.”
Among the systems the technology board looked at included age verification technologies that try to authenticate the identities and ages of children and prevent adults from contacting them. But the board concluded that such systems “do not appear to offer substantial help in protecting minors from sexual solicitation.”
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Talkback
We are in an era of the minority action group
Or so it would seem. This is the era of the minority action group. Where a minority with an agenda attempts to co-erce the majority that their view/outlook of the world is the only valid option.
Thus any group setup to prevent sexual predators would have us beleive there is a sexual predator just accross the road, accross every road, and in every bush.
These kind of groups ignore completely the facts and reality to push their agenda. They take a serious topic (sexual predators, rape, etc) and use it as a blind tool to steamroller and sensible arguments against their often frenzied lies. Of course if you are arguing against a group set up to monitor sexual predators they claim you are "defending" the actions of sexual predators, likewise with any of these groups.
The biggest and most famous of these kind of people? G.Bush, with his "you are either with us or against us". No option of dialogue or sensible discussion. Sheer utter madness. You could not question his actions for fear of "being against him", and by extension "being against fellow Americans".
The reality is the majority of sexual assaults and abuse on children is committed in the parental home, by step parents or other family members. The Internet isn't full of sexual predators and they are in no danger from them. It is the "safety" of their own home which poses the real danger.
But, like any other nutjub cult, the truth only gets in the way of their opinion. Ask Bush about Saddams WMD and he doesn't have an answer. Ask him where Bin Laden is (remember him guys?) and he will probably ask "who?"
Then remember the fable you was told as a child about the boy who cried wolf.
Of course the AG's statement makes no reference
I have no problem with spreading awareness to parents and children as to what could happen, but you can't live life without some danger. I'm not going to avoid going to the store for bread and eggs because I might get plowed into by a drunk bus driver, even though I know drunk bus drivers are on the roads every day.
RE: Internet pretty safe for kids, after all
Thanks for yet another random
richard
You are most welcome
Amen! (n/m)
RE: Internet pretty safe for kids, after all
Internet is a global medium for everybody to exercise freedom of expression. If you look at the global average for crime rates and criminals, you will see that the world is predominantly good. The population of sexual predators, bullies and other psychologically challenged people who want vandalize our children is too small to consider it a global threat that needs this kind of attention.
Administrators of social networks are also doing their share in keeping their network wholesome and non-threatening (remember the breastfeeding pics) so I don't think there is any need for this to blow out of proportion just because of some high profile cases like the "Drew" case.
Child abuse, whether done online or in the flesh is still child abuse but online is less threatening because you have the option to "turn off" the offender, not unlike a real life offender whom you cannot just shoot dead just to shut him off.
The real issue that needs to be looked into here is not the level of safety the internet but to be able to properly use it as evidence in convicting criminals who tries to hide their crime under its vast cloud.
RE: Internet pretty safe for kids, after all
As a founder of Pervert Busters, I can guarantee that children are getting solicited every day online. Our group puts decoys in chat rooms and social networking sites, and we never leave a chat room with fewer than 3 or 4 new perverts to add to our lists. This is a daily occurrence.
RE: Internet pretty safe for kids, after all
The fact is that predators are out there, and it's up to us to protect our kids. It's completely irresponsible to assume that we can slough that job off on anyone else.
I wouldn't let my six year old walk to the mall alone, and I won't let him use the internet alone.
Nuff Sed.
when you walk on the street with your kid
I wouldn't let my kid walk to the mall either, but not because I'm worried about predators. I have a 14yo who uses the internet freely and I'm pretty sure he has NEVER been approached by a lecherous adult.
However, kids - esp troubled kids - do go into dark places online (and off.) What they need is not merely a hawkeye on net use but concerned, engaged parents, friends, teachers. The problems have more to do with kids being isolated and suffering teenage depression than ranks of predators lurking out there.
RE: Internet pretty safe for kids, after all
I guess you're right
Perhaps the USA should just go the way of Australia, and force an ISP level blacklist down everyones throats; effectively slowing the internet to a crawl and causing endless problems with false positives, all for a solution that is easily defeated anyway.
You have failed to see the point. This law will not help anything or anyone but the RIAA. Period.