| The Internet can be the most wonderful and | | | | someone face-to-face. By then, it's often too late, |
| dangerous place for our children to play. In spite of all | | | | especially if it's an unsuspecting child. |
| of the warnings by the media and police agencies, the | | | | This is my first Ezine article, and I wanted to briefly |
| problem seems to be growing. Just about every one | | | | address some concerns that I have had for the past |
| of the articles and documentaries addressing this | | | | ten years regarding safety on the Internet for our |
| problem come up with the same solution - parents! | | | | children. I'm still not convinced that parents in general |
| They need to get much more involved with what their | | | | fully understand the risks. |
| children are doing while surfing the web. | | | | There are places that you can go to get help in |
| It's just too easy to meet people on a child's computer | | | | understanding more about this problem. There are also |
| monitor. It's even easier when the computer is located | | | | a lot of people out there who are trying to do |
| in the child's bedroom away from the eyes of their | | | | everything that they can to help protect your children. |
| only protection - parents. | | | | One of the best places to go for help is to the national |
| This is a comparatively new problem, which has | | | | Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. You |
| materialized over the past 15 years or so. Any child 15 | | | | should get to know them to help protect your children |
| years old, or younger grew up with computers | | | | and hopefully have a familiar place to go should you |
| available just about anywhere that they went. School, | | | | need their help. |
| libraries, friends houses and of course several rooms in | | | | Fortunately, there are more and more people learning |
| their house. I suspect that those 15 year-olds and | | | | about what they can do to help with this problem in |
| younger don't know anyone in their age group that | | | | every city throughout the USA. These are your local, |
| doesn't have a computer and access to the Internet. | | | | state and federal law enforcement agencies. This is |
| This problem will never go away. It will only get worse | | | | the crime that they most want to prevent in any way |
| as computers get smaller, faster, more powerful and | | | | possible. |
| cheaper. This growth in computing power has changed | | | | Our company has been offering law enforcement |
| our world forever. | | | | scholarships at no cost to police officers around the |
| The main problem with this is that the "bad-guys" of | | | | country for the past eight years in an effort to help |
| the world know how to use computers as well. They | | | | them get trained on how to prevent these kinds of |
| also know that they can hide their true identity all the | | | | crimes against our children. |
| way up to the time when they attempt to meet | | | | |