Everyone should read this. Be sure and watch the video clip to get the full idea of how creepy this is.
Catching potential Internet sex predators – Dateline NBC – MSNBC.com
In any home where there are kids with computers, there are parents with concerns. Teenagers can spend hours chatting online, but who are they chatting with? On the other end of that instant message could be a complete stranger – or a sexual predator. It’s a dangerous side of the Internet, one that’s growing and many children are at risk. So we went undercover, filling a house with hidden cameras.
Soon, a long line of visitors came knocking, expecting to find a young teenager they’d been chatting with on the Internet, home alone. Instead, they found Dateline.
We want to warn you some of what you’ll read is explicit. But parents need to know what their kids can confront when they sit down at the computer.
Look, here are some simple rules.
1. No computers in the bedroom. Keep any computer hooked to the Internet in a public room like a den or something.
2. Get a filter. Try BSafe Online’s filter free for 10 days. (yes, I work for them, but I get nothing for recommending the product, and I recommended it before they hired me.). If you don’t like their filter, get one you do like.
3. Know what your kids are doing online. There is never any reason for them to go in a public chat room – and Instant messaging should only be with friends they already have – not for making new one.
4. Don’t let them fill out a profile. It only works as pervert-bait.
Did I miss anything?