MEETING THE DANGERS OF MYSPACE HEAD-ON
But, it's true. There are predators online. And we have all read horror stories of kids getting involved with people they thought were kids, who were actually pedophiles in disguise.
Earlier this year, in response to an outcry about the potential dangers, MySpace partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) as well as WiredSafety.org to help them stay current with safety issues and methods.
Now, when 14- to 16-year-olds create a MySpace page, it is automatically made private. The only way someone can access their profile is if the member gives permission to let them in.
Of course, many kids circumvent the new rules by giving an inflated age in the sign-up section, and then revealing that they are only 14 or 15 in their comments. And they aren't thorough in their disguises. Many say they live "far away" but then offer up the name of their middle school or high school. They've got to be taught to cover all their bases, and a parent can be a big help here.
"Ultimately, parents need to understand what their children are doing on the Internet just as they may ask where their kids are going at night, or who they are hanging out with," says Supervisory Special Agent Mike Kaste, head of the Cyber Crime Program of the FBI in the Albany, New York office. Kaste suggests that it's necessary to use the same real-world methods of staying safe on the street to stay safe on the Internet. Keep your wits about you, don't get lost in a fantasy world, and don't give away clues to your identity.
DON'T BLOCK 'EM, JOIN 'EM
"Parents need to get involved with their kids' Internet use," Kaste adds. "We advocate monitoring the Web sites that kids visit, but don't just try to block them. [It's] too easy to circumvent, and can lend the parent a false sense of security."
And then, there's also the fact that you may not actually be able to block their access to unwanted sites. There are dozens of Web sites that give detailed instructions on bypassing Internet censoring, including all the ones that claim they can keep your kids from going to bad sites.
Remember, your home computer is only one way your teens access the Internet. There is free wireless broadband in parks and cafes. Kids have access at school, in libraries, at their friends' houses, and even via cell phones. Microsoft is introducing Zune, a new portable media player that will likely let kids join social networks on the fly via built-in Wi-Fi. So trying to pull the online plug on your teens is probably futile.
Eva Francis, Ravenswood 07/12/08
I have 4 children (16, 14, and two 12 year olds). The oldest one does MySpace with his friends, and I just discovered that my 14 year old does MySpace also. My two youngest daughters want to try, but I have been successful in delaying this, for now. I really like www.imsafer.com it monitors my children's conversations with others without my intrusion. It does not give me access to their site, nor does it reveal all of the conversation. It simply monitors conversations for key words like sex, age, name, home, etc. Check it out. Without it I would not have discovered my son's MySpace site!
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