There have been numerous newspaper articles and television reports lately about Internet child predators. It seems like we can’t go a day without hearing of another incident of children being solicited by adults for inappropriate activities. A few weeks ago on NBC, Dateline ran the third edition of their popular story, To Catch a Predator, which chronicles adult men browsing the Internet looking for underage children. If haven’t had the chance to see one of the Dateline specials, I want to bring your attention to what they have found from their investigations so you know what situations your children may potentially get themselves into while playing around on the Internet. I will give a brief explanation of what the investigations entail and encourage you to check out Dateline’s own Web page about the investigations.
Families.com will keep you informed
Families.com bloggers and writers are well aware of the dangers that the Internet can pose to children. Last week, Nicole Allard, our wonderful Safety blogger posted a blog about keeping teens safe on the Internet. My very first blog on Families.com was about Internet Safety. Keep reading the blogs on Families.com for updated information and tips about keeping your children and teens safe on the Internet.
Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator III
Two years ago, Chris Hansen of NBC began a series of reports called “To Catch a Predator.” He joined forces with a staff from Perverted-Justice.com to catch child predators in the act. Adults from Perverted-Justice.com posing as children would log on to Internet chat rooms and quickly be contacted by men looking for sex. After a short time of online chatting, a meeting would be set up at the child’s home, with the expectation of some type of sexual activity. One by one, the men would show up at the house, see a decoy child, come into the house, and be greeted by Chris Hansen. Chris bluntly asked questions such as, “Why are you here?” and “What did you expect to do when you came here?” Some men tried to give excuses while others stumbled for words. The entire time, multiple cameras were running catching the entire exchange on video.
The men who came to the house after meeting a “child” on the Internet were not all hardened criminals or thugs that hang out in dark alleys. They were teachers, actors, doctors, rabbis, and so on. With this latest investigation, Part III, Dateline and Perverted-Justice.com enlisted the help of the local police authority. After seeing Chris and all of the television cameras, most men would run out of the house only to be confronted by handcuffs and police sirens. It is pretty scary to see what lurks outside the walls of your home, but comes into your house right through the Internet.
Disclaimer
I recommend checking out Dateline’s investigations and Perverted-Justice.com. I must warn you, however, that some of the text and graphics on the two websites can be explicit and is not for children. The purpose is to provide parents with a realistic view of what goes on in chat rooms and instant messaging programs.