Though dangers abound on the internet, LAPD investigator Gina Osborn reiterates that the greatest danger to kids is online predators.

Osborn stresses that the Internet not only provides a way for predators to contact children, it provides a way that they can contact each other, essentially forming syndicates of like-minded criminals with a common goal: committing sexual crimes against vulnerable children.

“It’s grown as a result of the Internet,” said Gina Osborn. “It used to be that you would have a child predator who may be living on the corner.  That was one thing.  But now on the Internet, there are chat rooms designed for individuals who want to exploit children and they can talk to each other.  And it seems that instead of having just one person doing it on their own, we’re finding more and more organizations that are coming together to exploit children.”

Osborn also says that kids, teens especially, pose danger to each other when they engage in online harassment such as cyberbullying, sexting, and other explicitly sexual contact online.

Karen North, who directs the Annenberg Program on Online Communities at the University of Southern California, reminds parents that they need not wait until the danger is at their desktop to educate their kids.

“Your kids are, for the most part, safe.  But just like teaching your kid how to cross the street safely, just like teaching your kid not to talk to strangers at the park or at the mall, or not to go up to the truck or the car that pulls up and starts talking to them, you have to teach them the same kind of rules and safety online.”

The article recommends that parents monitor all internet-connected devices in order to keep their kids safe from harm.

Filed under: Internet Safety News