Pedophiles Online

A UN report has warned that there are 750,000 pedophiles constantly prowling online in a bid to gain contact with children!

Unicef also estimates there are more than four million websites featuring minors, including those of children aged under two years.

All these scary statistics make us wonder how to keep our child safe from sex predators online.

The FBI Cyber Division provides these tips for parents:

• Communicate and talk to your child about sexual victimization and potential online danger.
• Spend time with your children online. Have them teach you about their favorite online destinations.
• Keep the computer in a common room in the house, not in your child’s bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer sex offender to communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to a parent or another member of the household.
• Use parental controls provided by your Internet service provider and/or blocking software.
• Always maintain access to your child’s online account and randomly check his/her e-mail.
• Teach your child the responsible use of the resources online.
• Find out what computer safeguards are used by your child’s school, the public library, and at the homes of your child’s friends.
• Understand, even if your child was a willing participant in any form of sexual exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is the victim.

Instruct your children:

• To never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met online.
• To never upload (post) pictures of themselves onto the Internet or online service to people they do not personally know.
• To never give out identifying information such as their name, home address, school name, or telephone number.
• To never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good chance there could be sexually explicit images.
• To never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing; that whatever they are told online may or may not be true.