BCI representative talks to parents about risks to kids lurking on Internet

Plenty of information about kids is available to predators.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- If you have no qualms about searching your kid's room, then you'd have no problem following this advice:
Know your child's user name and password, look at his Web site or blog, and know what he's doing online.
If you have problems with the thought of spying on your kid that way, consider this advice:
Be a parent to your kid, not a friend.
About 200 people listened Thursday evening as Brance Johnson from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation's computer crimes unit in London, Ohio, gave them that advice and more.
He went over the dangers to kids on the Internet, not only from sexual predators, but also from identity thieves and bullies.
BCI, Austintown police, Austintown schools and WFMJ-TV Channel 21 sponsored his presentation at Fitch High School.
Johnson said that according to surveys, four out of five parents are satisfied with their child's Internet use. Forty-seven percent of children, however, said their parents have no idea what really goes on online.
He said that online, children can be encouraged into dangerous or illegal activities that are violent, sexual or hateful.
Other dangers
There are legal and financial dangers. Some children give out parents' credit card numbers. They give out screen names, passwords and other revealing information that could lead to fraud and identity theft.
In a survey on harassment and bullying, Johnson said, 42 percent of children said they have been bullied online. Thirty-four percent said they were threatened with violence.
Johnson said that online, kids will flirt and feel invincible.
"They can have secret lives," he said.
Pedophiles will question kids and get information about their feelings that they can use to draw them away from their parents, he said.
He said pedophiles also draw information from personal profiles. Predators can lurk on such sites as myspace.com, which allows young users to chat and to post profiles and pictures on a personal Web page.
Once a pedophile targets a child, he said, the relationship develops in stages. In the first stage, he appears familiar and comforting. He will go on to get the child to trust him, and then they will establish secret e-mail accounts where he'll introduce adult-oriented subjects. Eventually, he'll encourage adult experiences. In the end, he'll use intimidation, such as threatening to expose suggestive photo exchanges, to get the child to do what he wants. The pedophile is working all the time toward a face-to-face meeting.
What parents can do
To fight predators, Johnson recommends being aware of your child's online activities. He said filtering software, such as Net Nanny, can keep kids off objectionable Web sites. Monitoring software from Spectersoft can tell parents what has happened on the computer down to every keystroke.
He said learning how to use the computer helps: "Get past the technology wall." But even though kids can be more technologically savvy, he said, "youth and exuberance will never overcome age and treachery."