NET SAFETY MEETING ALERTS KIDS.Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, -- Parents and teens attending an Internet safety meeting this week learned how easily online predators cozy up Verb 1. cozy up - ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior; "She is playing up to the chairman" cotton up, shine up, sidle up, suck up, play up ingratiate - gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts to teens on hot networking sites like MySpace.com, and ways to thwart them. Questions that forge friendships in social networking sites A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to post. or chat rooms -- what is your favorite band, designer or film? -- are often asked by child abusers child abuser Public health A person who mentally or physically abuses a child Typical CA profile Age < 30, slightly more likely to be ♀, whose mother was unemployed/employed part time as a manual laborer Typical victim Young children, teens. targeting their prey. ``Children don't always realize a predator can extract a lot of information from a small amount of words,'' said Canyon Country resident Mayela Mendoza, who with her three children was among the last to leave the nearly three-hour Teen Scene Unplugged event held Wednesday night at the Hyatt Valencia. ``I have (Internet) filters but I don't think they're as effective as they should be.'' Donna Rice Donna Rice Hughes (born January 7, 1958) was a figure in the 1987 sex scandal that ended the first 1988 presidential campaign of Gary Hart. Since the mid-1990s, she has worked as an anti-pornography activist. Hughes, a well-known Internet safety expert, and two sheriff's detectives who joined an FBI team that investigates Internet crimes, addressed a crowd of roughly 300 attending the annual event for teens, which has been a staple since 2000. They encouraged online users to treat Internet friends like they would treat real-life friends. The speakers discussed laws that protect young people, the modus operandi [Latin, Method of working.] A term used by law enforcement authorities to describe the particular manner in which a crime is committed. The term modus operandi is most commonly used in criminal cases. It is sometimes referred to by its initials, M.O. of predators who thrive on disguises in cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. and how parents can better monitor their kids' Internet use. A clip of a child abuser, his voice distorted, his image in silhouette, revealed how he often had cybersex The online equivalent of a telephone sex line, with two differences. First, it typically takes place in a chat room or IRC channel. Second, it is almost always a non-paid conversation between consenting adults. with victims before luring them to face-to-face meetings. ``The Internet is probably the riskiest playground around. You cannot see the predator,'' he said, noting that the pickings are much easier online than in person. The experts discouraged teens from entering chat rooms -- online sites where people exchange messages in real time -- because of risks posed by sharing personal information with anonymous others. Teen girls increasingly seek love relationships online and abusers latch on to them, Rice Hughes said. Sheriff's Detective Bernell Trapp poses as young girls and boys to trap abusers. ``I can't even describe how big a problem it is there,'' he said. MySpace attracts 250,000 new sign-ups a day, millions a week, Detective Gary Hartog said. Parents should open their own accounts to monitor use by their teens and their teens' friends, he said. Their kids may not share meet-up dates or post seemingly innocent photos -- of girls in bikinis at a pool party or in nighties at a slumber party -- but friends or former friends might. Parents should contact each other so photos that could whet the appetites of predators are yanked. They discourage posting any pictures, even sports photos. Mendoza was ``not comfortable'' with 14-year-old Natalie's MySpace account, and had a hard time shutting it down. Natalie now chats on instant messenger AOL's instant messaging service. See AIM and instant messaging. . Nick Mendoza, 17, a MySpace user, recorded the event on his digital camera and conducted interviews as part of a Canyon High School Canyon High School can refer to:
Experts suggest that parents place computers in public areas at home, know the identities of their kids' online friends, use filters, monitor the history of chats, blogs and other sites their kids have visited, and talk openly with their kids about their use. ``We thought the subject matter was going to be how to better interact with teens and be smarter about monitoring and keeping them safe,'' said Jeff Mazie, who left with Rachel, 15, about an hour into the program. He said the speakers should have covered the material more quickly, focusing more on issues that most concern those in the crowd. Rachel heeded her dad's request to alter her page after he reminded her the audience is not necessarily her friends. ``I had a picture of me and my friends in swimsuits -- he asked me to take (the picture) off,'' Rachel said. She did. Rice Hughes said the $12 billion-a-year cyberporn industry -- in which nearly three-quarters of the sites feature free photos -- aims to hook viewers young so it becomes habit and they are willing to pay later on. Many sites use a technique called ``mouse-trapping'' in which viewers are unable to escape with the ``back'' button as picture after picture flashes on the screen, and the only way out may be turning off the computer. More than 11 million kids have viewed porn online and less than half of parents surveyed use parental controls This article is about computer options. For the television show, see Parental Control (TV series). Parental controls are options, typically included in digital television services, computer and video games, or computer software used to access the Internet, that or filters. They recommend allowing 4- to 7-year-olds to use the computer but without Internet access See how to access the Internet. , 8- to 11-year olds' use should be filtered, and parents should heavily supervise 13- to 15-year-olds, who make up 76 percent of those victimized by online predators. judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5255 |
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