Well I think you see my point. Well you see a title but do you see me? That’s the whole problem! The internet was created to give us a way to access, well, just about anything. The only problem being just about anyone can do so. The internet allows us to order our shopping, that Xmas pressie you totally forgot about or now even a pizza. However we did not order risk, nor did we request danger especially in regards to our children.
Sadly this world is full of people who set out to hurt one another and the cyber world reflects this all too often. The internet is an amazing portal for children to access educational material, with the ability to access online encyclopaedias, eBooks and slightly more appealing ways of learning such as; educational games. Without the internet, we can only do this by visiting libraries, museums and other such outings. Whereas the internet has all this and more at the click of a mouse. Although there is also social media, chat rooms and other forms of communication such as instant messaging. When a child visits friends, they know they are who they say they are as it is clearly visible. The internet however, does not offer the same.
We can try to prevent our children from speaking to people who are not who they claim to be, but as of yet are unable to stop this completely. We can put in place parental controls to stop them accessing sites that are deemed unsuitable but, with so many websites popping up every day, we cannot catch all of them in a sufficient amount of time to stop our children finding them. We also, unless we monitor our children constantly whilst on the net, are unable to stop them from meeting people via social networking. Unfortunately children, just as many adults, are unable to spot when something is wrong. Sex offenders and other unsavoury characters take advantage of this. We can try to introduce measures to make sure they are unsuccessful in whatever it is they are trying to do, although there is nothing to stop these people from creating fake profiles and adapting their date of birth , avatar etc to resemble that of a child.
Each time we put new barriers in place someone soon after finds a way around these. People such as con-men, bullies, rapists, paedophiles, even murderers are using the internet for very different reasons to what it was intended for. If we do spot behaviour which seems ‘not quite right’ we can inform authorities, stop our children from using the particular site and various other things. We as adults are able to access websites and organisations that will reveal a fair bit more information. We can conduct checks online, of email addresses, internet service providers and various other things. We are even able to find out real identities and locations of the person we suspect is not who they say they are. Although we are limited by technology that allows you to disguise this such as net masks, even routers and modems can be adjusted, with the correct knowledge, to hide our identities.
Then to add to this, there are people using the internet who are using it to share indecent images of children. We are also aware of many different types of media that is, both in the eyes of morals and the law, wrong, very wrong indeed. The people who participate in criminal activities do not do so without due care and precaution. These criminals firstly become knowledgeable in all the relevant areas to do these things with the smallest amount of risk. After all they do not want to be sent to prison nor have their activities stopped. So these awful goings on are usually well hidden. The average internet user may never come across this type of material although, should you happen to delve deeper into the virtual world, either on purpose or by accident, there is a chance you will see things you really wish you hadn’t.
To avoid this content being seen again, we must inform someone who can do something about it. I myself was slightly more than taken aback when i recently sat down to read a magazine. As we know many bits and bobs are normally shoved inside to annoy you. This however, made me feel slightly uncomfortable. This was in fact the main aim of the particular advert. The picture accompanying this article well, i think should strike you in the same fashion. This has been produced by the internet watch foundation, in hopes of making you stop and realise that things go on on the internet that are far from acceptable. This must be the most effective and simple piece of awareness material i have ever seen. The sentence “if this makes you feel uncomfortable, imagine how she feels” describes the situation perfectly. Even as adults we are not prone to being targeted in such a way. We have seen people raped and murdered after going to meet someone they believe to be someone else. If we are susceptible to this, imagine how vulnerable or children are! The internet watch foundation provides us with a place to tell someone if we come across any indecent behaviour on the internet. The organisation will then work to remove this and do all within their power to stop this content being viewed by anyone else, and work towards prosecuting the offenders.
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Tags: Charity, child internet safety, internet safety, News
As you might no, I’ve been savage on my blog on the lack of protection for children but the net is another question. If your child is on the net, then there really are no protections. What do you do? Not let him on the net at all? He’ll go to a friend’s place.
It’s the old dilemma.
“know”
Oops
@ james
We really shouldn’t need to protect children although, there are some people out there, that live in a very sick and twisted reality, constantly providing us with reasons to do so.
If we take away something such as internet access, that contributes greatly to the education of children due to the possibility of danger. Then they will just find other ways to carry on being as sick and twisted elsewhere.
All we can do is make sure anything that is found is reported and hope those people get put somewhere where they are unable to do so.
If we all monitored our children constantly while on the computer we could perhaps stop these things from happening.
The problem is, what is the likelihood of every single parent doing this?
Then we would have to decide age guidelines, but with fully grown adults also being tricked and coming to a harm as a result, what can we do?
I am surprised there is no software available to pick up upon the internet habits and traits of these people. We should also see a government program to provide free courses and reading material to both child and parent a like.
Then once again how likely is this to happen?
It seems to me that the primary purpose of the internet is communication in a bewildering variety of ways. Is this not what the undesirables do too?
Janina seems to advocate an internet regulated by the thought police and busy bodies. Or perhaps a junior version censored at every twist and turn?
How many people posting comments on this site even use their real name? You don’t have to be a danger to children to prefer anonymity.
The difference between legal and illegal is theoretically clear cut but exactly where the line is drawn between decent and indecent is rather more blurred and ultimately may depend of the make up of a jury.
The internet is not a regulated, safe environment. Any parent who doesn’t monitor their children’s online activity is not doing their duty as a parent.
Thank you for a thought provoking article.
As a parent I cannot protect my children from every danger there is but I can educate them about potential dangers and actions they should take if something ‘doesn’t feel right’.
With regards to use of the internet my own children’s activity is monitored but they also feel able to talk to me or ask if they are unsure. Unfortunately, even children’s game sites can have links to gambling or encourage a child to complete personal details to win $$$. Indeed my youngest typed his name into google images search bar and on the first page a rather scantily clad model appeared on the screen.
So even innocent activity can lure them away from a site towards inappropriate material. They need to be educated about self regulation not to stray into the depths of the internet world.
This is one of the most difficult. Net censorship unfortunately is one reason the porn is rife. The agenda is to shut us down – the pundits – but the only way they can do it is to show all these lowlifes and for the authorities to say, “The people want them shut down.” In come the mechanisms and there is net censorship.
It’s a cynical ploy by people with no conscience to use children this way.