Children And The Internet
Based on his experience as a security consultant and over 20 years police service, D G Conway describes a range of crimes against the person, offering advice together with over 600 countermeasures that the average person can take to avoid the crime. He is also author of The Home Security Handbook published this year.
Children and the Internet
The Internet is an amazing tool that can help children with homework, inspire them, stretch their minds and make them actually want to study and learn. The Internet also allows global communication between people to exchange ideas, chat and expand their horizons. Unfortunately at the same time the Internet has the potential to be a cesspool of crime, pornography and evil.
As a parent or carer, you can monitor and control access so that your children reap the benefits of a global library and communications device, but avoid the darker side of the Internet.
You and the Internet
I have heard many parents complain that when they were at school, computers were only just being introduced into the school secretary’s office. Back then the children were never allowed near them or taught anything about them. Now it seems that children are born computer literate, and parents don’t know what they are doing when the kids are sitting at their computer screen for hours on end.
You should learn how to use computers, so that you can check to see what your child is doing and monitor what they have been up to with the computer. Many parents are worried that computers and the Internet are beyond them. Though some people do their best to make using a computer sound difficult or clever, with a little teaching and practice anyone can learn how to use a computer and find their way around the Internet.
If you can read, you can use a computer. All you need is somebody with a little bit of patience to slowly introduce you to the power and pleasure of computers.
Your and the Internet – countermeasures
Don’t be scared. Anyone can learn how to use computers and explore the Internet.
Find somewhere locally where you can get training. The local library, school and college often give classes. Some people find trainers through adverts in newsagent windows, others find younger relatives who will teach them the basics.
It didn’t take people very long to realise that because the computers were connected by ‘telephone lines’, we could send typed messages to each other too. You type a message, press send and the message flies down the telephone wire to the recipient and appears on his screen in seconds, where sending the same thing by post would have taken days. He might be in the room next door or in a hotel in America, a farm in Brazil or a school in Australia. Thus electronic ‘mail’ – email – was invented. Your friend can read the message and reply, so you can get a reply immediately.
Chat rooms
People realised that if it was that quick, they could actually hold ‘conversations’ with each other by typing the conversations into the computer. For example, I type a question Are you coming to my birthday party? and send it. A few seconds later you get that message and send a reply OK. What time? I reply to you Meet at the station at 8. The whole interaction has been done in real-time, just like we were talking face to face or on the telephone, except we typed our conversation.
So the chat room was born. Instead of me talking to you direct, I set up a place where anyone who is interested in talking about football for example, can chat about the game. I can make up a chat nickname such as ‘BigRed’ and start chatting, real time. Everyone in the room can see what I am typing and saying, and anyone can reply. If you want to have a private conversation, we can switch to a one to one conversation where only you can see what I am typing and I am the only one who can see what you are typing.
The problem. It is easy, fast, and because it uses ‘screen names’ it is anonymous. Children love to text each other on their mobile phones and use chat rooms, and certain criminals like to join in and try to take advantage of some of those children.
It takes a minute or two to log into a chat room and create an identity, which means that I can very easily become:
JetPilot — I am an RAF fighter pilot, based in America as a test pilot on a joint space mission with NASA. Does anyone want a date?
Bobby12 – I am a twelve-year-old boy and I hate my mum coz she just said I can’t go down the park tonight. Does anyone want to sneak out and meet in the bushes behind the cricket pavilion tonite?
SarahJane — I am a nine-year-old girl, having problems at school. Aren’t boys horrible? Does anyone want to meet in Richmond Park to talk about boys? I can bring cans of drink and loads of sweets because my mum runs a shop.
It is as easy as that. I can become anything I want to become. I might just want to hide the fact that I am a fat, balding divorce by claiming to be a jet pilot. Sad but no harm done! On the other hand if I was a paedophile enticing girls and boys to come and meet me the outcome could be very different.
Moderator. Some chat rooms have a moderator; an adult or two who are supposed to monitor what is happening in the chat room. If somebody introduces off-topic conversations, starts talking smutty, giving out personal information or trying to arrange a meeting, the moderator is usually expected to delete that conversation, warn the guilty party and even bar them from any further conversations in that chat room. The problems with that are:
- Some chat rooms don’t seem to be monitored. (If they are monitored many moderators don’t seem to be very effective).
- By the time a moderator spots a banned conversation, such as disclosure of personal details or arrangements being made for a meeting in Richmond Park, it may be too late.
- If I am JetPilot and I am barred from a chat room for trying to meet children in the local park – I can come back in five minutes and be FighterPilot, or LionHunter, Millionaire, RollerCoasterBoy, or PopStar. In fact I can be anything and anyone, because it really does only take a couple of minutes to create an entirely new identity.
Computers/lnternet/chat rooms – countermeasures
Learn how to use a computer and know your way around the Internet so that you can see and understand what your child is doing.
Beware of letting a child have a computer in their room where they could be viewing pornography, or communicating with undesirable people when you will know nothing about it.
Teach your child that they should never disclose or share their Internet passwords with anyone other than you. A friend could log on and use your child’s identity to buy things, access porn, send threatening messages etc.
If possible try to keep the family computer in a family room. You can turn the television or radio off while the child does their homework, but with people coming and going it is unlikely that the child will connect to anything or anyone that could cause harm or distress without somebody noticing.
Try to give them a sense of privacy while they are using the computer, emailing or messaging each other about horrible teachers and cruel parents. Don’t make them feel that you are looking over their shoulder all the time or they might go to a friend’s house or an Internet cafe where nobody will be watching what they do. You could take a close look now and then as you pass by, taking an interest and praising their skills, for example ‘Gosh that’s clever – how do you make it do that?’
Keep personal details private. Just as you will never give out personal details over a phone or in a street survey, make sure that your children never give out any personal information. Use a computer nickname if you want to, but never give out home address, phone number, which school you go to etc. Whoever they are they don’t need any of that.
An extension of the chat room is the use of a ‘webcam’, which is a cheap little camera that connects to the computer and allows the people chatting to send live pictures of themselves, and even speech too via microphones and speakers, to their friends. Consider disconnecting webcams, and banning children from using them, or accepting images sent to them unless you are in the same room.
Make sure you talk to your child about what they do on the Internet. They might not be alert to dangers but you will be. If they start talking about a new kid they are talking to who keeps trying to get them to meet at the railway station, or at the back of the shops, terminate the contact or consider calling the police and explaining your worries. Sit in on a few chat sessions and see if you think that this kid is other than he claims to be?
Make sure that your child avoids making one-to-one connections with their on-line friends. There is no need to hold private conversations if they are just talking about homework, the maths teacher or how horrible their mum and dad are. By staying in the main chat rooms, if there is a moderator present, there is some control over content and participants.
Just as you should never give personal details out over the Internet or through chat rooms, anyone should be wary of meeting people they only know through a chat room. Of course, not everybody is a homicidal maniac, rapist or paedophile, but just in case, if there isn’t an acceptable reason to want to meet, don’t even talk about it. If there is a reason (and it will be one that mum or dad agree is a real reason), then any meeting should be arranged with mum or dad, and then held (in a public place away from home) with mum or dad.
You have been careful about giving out your name and address over the Internet and through chat rooms; don’t slip up and give details now. You might have decided that Bobby12 can come around and swap his computer games with your son. You give out the name and address but Bobby 12 doesn’t show up – because he is a 49-year-old lonely man, who now knows where you live so he can hang around outside with a trial copy of the latest computer game and be pretty damned sure that your son will want to go with him to try it out. Never give personal details, whatever the circumstances.
When connected, a child should always call an adult if they think that a conversation is a bit strange.
When you buy your computer, ask the people in the shop to install a firewall, nanny software, pop-up blocker and put a password on the computer. The firewall will stop people connecting to your computer and doing things to it that you don’t agree to or know about. The nanny software is set to automatically block connection to porn and other suspect sites. The pop-up blocker will automatically block files that some people and web sites sneakily download onto your computer. You don’t have a choice – they just pop up on your screen, and they can include anything from nice to nasty. Putting a password on the computer that you keep to yourself means that the child can only use the computer if you are there supervising. If he or she is at home sick and granny is keeping an eye on them by being fast asleep in the armchair, without the password they can’t access anything nasty even though they have the chance.
Make sure that your child knows that they should not open attachments or accept downloads. Attachments are sent with emails, and they can contain adverts, pictures, private letters or viruses. Downloads are often small and sometimes large programs that are sent down the telephone wire and loaded onto your computer (downloaded). As with an attachment they can be an update to your nanny software, an advert for a new computer game, a virus of one sort or another, or a hardcore porn film. If they know never to open unknown attachments or download anything, they and the computer should remain clean and safe.
Most important of all, be interested in your child’s Internet existence; what they’re doing, and who they are chatting to or emailing.
Children and mobile phones
In chapter 3 I gave some general advice on mobile phones. Mobile phone crime is a major problem with children and young adults. The following statistics show you how big a problem it is, which means that teaching your children how to own and use a mobile phone responsibly, will make them less likely to be the victim of crime.
- Just over 50% of mobile phone crime involves teenagers.
- Teenagers and children are five times more likely to suffer a phone-related crime than an adult.
- In 33% of mobile phone robberies the offender is aged 15 or 16. 90% of offenders are male. 80% of victims are male.
- In an average year, 2,000 phones are stolen every day which makes a total of almost three-quarters of a million phones a year.
- In 66% of phone thefts, the phone is stolen by a gang of offenders, not a single thief or robber.
- In London, 28% of all recorded street crime was to steal just a mobile phone and 49% of all street crime included mobile phones.
- Nearly 50% of the victims of mobile phone crime are under 18 years of age.
The figures might also be slanted by fraud. Well, the children involved might not see it as fraud, and it might be you who is unknowingly committing that fraud, but it exists. As manufacturers and suppliers compete for a shrinking market, they introduce new mobile phones, which are smaller, have built-in cameras, music players and any number of other gadgets.
Unfortunately when their mobile phone gets to be a month or two out of date, it seems to be becoming common for children to throw it away. They then claim that their phone has been stolen and ask mum and dad to claim on the insurance for a replacement. Of course the replacement will be the latest model with fashionable extras. Unfortunately, mum and dad are then making a fraudulent claim on their insurance, because the phone in question was not lost or stolen.
Mobile phone – countermeasures
Teach your children that their mobile phone is attractive to thieves, so they should take care of it.
- Take the IMEI number and details as described in chapter 3.
- Mark your phone (under the battery pack where it will not rub off) with your postcode and house name or number using a UV pen (available from some shops or your police local crime prevention officer).
- Keep the phone with you at all times. Don’t leave it in a bag, locker or desk etc. It is a lot harder to steal if you have it with you.
- Don’t show off. If you let the thieves know that you have the latest model phone, they will probably target you.
- If phone thieves attack you, don’t fight them. Let them have your phone rather than risk injury.
If your phone is stolen:
- Remember as much detail about the thieves as you can.
- Report the theft to the police. Give them the make, model, serial number of the phone and also report anything you can about the thieves. Did you recognise any of them – do you know names? Can you describe them – were they wearing school uniform? If so which one, etc.
- Report the loss of the phone and the IMEI number to your mobile phone service provider as soon as you can so they can block it and stop anyone from using it.
If it is a genuine theft report the theft to your insurance company as soon as possible to arrange for a replacement.
When you get a replacement, take the advice given in chapter 3, and take the IMEI number for the new phone.
- Don’t make it easy for the thieves; never show or lend your mobile phone to anyone, especially a stranger.
- Most mobile phones have a keyboard-locking function. The locking works when you press a few keys in a special order, and it locks the keyboard so that the phone cannot be used. If anyone steals the phone while it is locked they still cannot use it. Learn how to lock your keyboard and lock it when you are not using it.
- Take extra precautions if you go into a particularly risky area, where there are crowds of strangers. For example at a station, a sports match or pop concert, in a crowded shop or on a very busy street. Make absolutely sure that your mobile phone is safe by putting it in an inside pocket.
I understand that there is a new service being offered that can track where your child is by reading the signal from his or her mobile phone. You may want to look into it!
Cycle helmets
I know a lady who lost her son when he fell off his bicycle and suffered a massive head injury. I promised I would include a reminder in this book.
Most children have a bike. Roads are too busy, traffic moves too fast, and road surfaces are often rutted and full of potholes. It is all to easy to fall off a bike.
If you fall off a bike when you are not wearing a helmet, you could be lucky and fall on a convenient stretch of long grass and bushes. Unfortunately it’s more likely that your head will come into violent contact with tarmac roads, concrete kerbstones, a street lamp or something else equally hard and equally damaging.
