It's unfortunate that 50% of that "fact sheet" is complete and utter crap and easily shot-down. 100% chance of meeting a pedophile in a chat room? So you're telling me, that if a kid went into the AO Security Chat, that they have a 100% chance of meeting a pedophile? *buzzer sound here* WRONG. How about the facts about 10-17 year-olds have "sexual solicitation online"? I've seen quite a few of these "random" chat rooms where teenagers are in there trying to show off how much they know sexually and it's laughable. Notice, the fact pins it all on the "predator", not the fact that the "10-17" might have started it.
"Computer bulletin boards set up explicitly for the seduction of children"...where are these? I've been online for 15 years now and I have yet to be "lured into one of those by games".
Yes, pornography to kids is a bad thing as it can set off the wrong image. However, once they become a teenager, don't think for a minute that them going to school is any less of a threat. It's a proven fact that they do more than you know AT school with friends because of peer pressure, the want to do something new, etc etc. Computers simply add to that. Take the girl that was found strangled (she was 13 or 14 I think). Everyone wanted to blame the illegal brazilian 40 year old guy that did it, but in fact, they didn't want everyone to know she was on AIM every night under one of FOUR screen names of which at least 2 were "of a promiscuous nature". It's a fine line and 5 minutes of education can be amazing.
If you're a parent on here looking for ways to keep your kid under watch, do this:
1: move the computer from their bedroom into the kitchen/dining room area. No doors to close, easy to watch, etc etc.
2: learn what a Linksys 1-port DSL/Cable router can do for you. It's got everything you want on it, including filtering, time limitations, passwords, etc etc. Lock it down except for when you're home by time.
3: educate yourself about what it can and can't do. Learn where the IM program they use keeps logs. Too bad windows doesn't have a method to send logs/etc to another machine. Maybe it does, but if the destination PC is off, I don't know how that would be handled by windows. Your kid will learn to just screw around on the PC and figure out in one day more than you can in a month. Get with the program now.
4: don't bank on truth in every article like the one quoted. Sure it's got valid facts, but a lot of it's blown out of proportion and possibly just a fake fact.
5: once a week, go through everything. Router logs, IM logs, etc etc. Lock down the PC so nothing new can be installed (create user accounts for them), etc.
