Parents urged to watch youths’ computer use
BY DAVE BENJAMIN and CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writers

Parents and children need to be aware of the dangers that lurk on the Internet today and approach all requests for information with skepticism. Two representatives of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office made that clear during a pair of recent appearances at local schools.

“We are increasingly becoming involved in situations involving kids” on the Internet, said Kevin M. Clark, director of the prosecutor’s Computer Crimes Unit. “A lot of kids are putting so much information online that they are endangering themselves, although they don’t know it. Their attitude is, ‘Hey, everybody’s doing it, so what’s the big deal?’ ”

Clark spoke to a group of about 60 parents at the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School, Manalapan, on Oct. 26.

The next evening, parents at the Park Avenue Elementary School, Freehold Borough, heard a similar message from Detective Edward Finlay of the prosecutor’s office.

In his talk at MEMS on Oct. 26, Clark said children can easily become involved in a dangerous situation regardless of the town in which they live. He demonstrated how children can be conned into giving out personal information while they are online.

“There are so many adults that want to talk to them and there are three things [the adults want to know] — ASL,” said Clark. “The child’s age, sex and location.”

Clark said a recent study showed that less than 10 percent of children who were sexually solicited online reported it to the police and less than 25 percent of them told a parent.

He said one warning sign of a potential problem is when a parent walks into a room where a child is on a computer and the child quickly clicks off the screen or puts down the cover of the laptop.

Clark said, “MySpace.com is a real problem. Kids put in all sorts of information about themselves. They put in not only their own information, but information about other kids.”

He said there are also problems inherent in chat rooms.

“There are [some] chat rooms on America Online devoted to pedophilia,” he told the parents.

Clark said online chat rooms that members of the Computer Crimes Unit have monitored are not necessarily devoted to pedophilia, but may be related to romance and other topics. He said adults are in those chat rooms waiting for children to enter.

Clark said parents can use filtering software and monitoring software to help keep children safe online. He said some programs can prevent credit card numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers from being sent out. One of those programs is called Spectrum.

During his presentation in Freehold Borough, Finlay told parents the dinner hour in households is a particularly vulnerable time for teens to be online — when parents are busy and distracted.

The availability of modern technology has given teens the ability to use cell phones for more than communication, according to Finlay. Some cell phones can take photos and this is where the trouble starts.

According to the detective, teens are taking pictures of themselves (some very revealing) and sending them to a friend. Eventually, the pictures wind up on the Internet for all to see, including people who may be looking to take advantage of youths.

Clark noted in his talk at MEMS that adults who are looking for children are very patient and will take six months or more to win the confidence of a child.

Finlay told the parents to caution their children about putting any personal information in online profiles. Such information — like the name of the school they attend, details about a sports team they play for, or the uniform number they wear — makes it easier for children to be located by potential predators, he said.

He said children may be reluctant to tell their parents they have received an inappropriate message while online, but he encouraged the parents in attendance to tell their children to save those messages so they can be reported to police and traced.

Finlay suggested setting up AOL Guardian, which provides parents with a daily record of their child’s computer activity. He also suggested moving a computer out of a child’s bedroom.

“Keep the computer where you can see it and monitor and limit their use,” he said.

Clark also asked the students during his presentation how many of them had received an instant message requesting their age, sex and location. Half of the youngsters raised their hands. Of those responding affirmatively to the first question, half indicated that they believed the person who was trying to talk to them was an adult.

“The message that we’re trying to deliver today, over and over, is to be skeptical of everything you do on the Internet,” Clark said.

He told the students never to leave home with plans to meet someone they had connected with online.

“Don’t do it — ever,” Clark said.