Online Predator Risk Not As High
At least, this is what the report released by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. Although many of us might not know anyone who has been victimized by online predators personally, I am sure that parents do have a certain degree of concern or even fear when it comes to the issue. If my kids were still young today, I would certainly be concerned!
According to Larry Magid, a member of the mentioned task force, the contents of the report dispelled some ideas - now regarded as myths - that many have about online predators. He said that contrary to popular belief that older people prey on the youth online, teens are actually at more risk of being bullied, harassed, and even sexually solicited by a fellow teen than by adults.
I have to admit that this piece of information was quite a surprise to me. Although I do acknowledge the fact that other teens can - and do - all those things to other teenagers, I had always linked the words “predator” and “adult” together. The study was done out of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the task force was commissioned to find out solutions to keep the youth safe online.
One proposal is to put in place measures that will determine the age of the user for sure. Various questions have been raised by Magid himself about this, though. For one, he pointed out that “we have no consistent and credible way to determine who is a custodial parent and who is a child. In today’s Internet environment, this obstacle is insurmountable,” which was actually quoted from his colleague, Marsali Hancock, president of iKeepSafe Coalition.
I agree with this point and furthermore, if indeed we can verify the child’s age, if the data that teens harass other kids more is to be believed, then this is not going to solve anything, right? As you can already begin to see, the issue is not as clear cut as it may have seemed in the beginning.
Magid pointed out other things, which you can read in his full article. In spite of the fact that he did not propose any concrete solutions - or perhaps because of it - I got to thinking that perhaps, the solution will only result from brainstorming; brainstorming of everyone involved, meaning parents, the youth, and school authorities. What do you think? Do you have anything to propose that can help keep our children safe online?
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Posted on January 19th, 2009 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, High School, Internet, K-6, News, Parents, People Involved, Predators, School Grade Level, School Safety Issues, Students
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