As much as we do everything we can to protect our children from the horrors of the world, sometimes all our efforts are in vain.
What happens when they get online and find a "friend" that really acts like a teenager? How can we explain to them that their "friend" might really be a predator?
It's a scary fact that
one in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. (Crimes Against Children Research Center)
Nearly 70% of child sex offenders have between 1 and 9 victims; at least 20% have 10 to 40 victims.(Darkness2Light.org)
75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. (e-Marketer)
77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older. Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13. (Crimes Against Children Research Center )
Our guest experts this week will talk to us about what to watch for, how to protect our children and what to do if we suspect our child has been contacted by a predator.
Heather Steele earned her MBA from the University of Chicago and is a passionate advocate for children in the fight to prevent child sexual abuse and provide justice for child victims. Through her education, research, and field experience she came to understand that child pornography and child molestation are inextricably linked and growing. She also discovered that child pornography, by leaving a digital trail, is also the best way to catch child molesters mankind has ever had. She brings a strong corporate background to her position as president and CEO of the Innocent Justice Foundation, which supports law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute child pornography crimes.
Keep Georgia Safe is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to provide safety education and crime prevention training in Georgia, and to operate the only network that sends Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued alerts for missing or dangerous persons to subscribers' cell phones.
Mary Kay Hoal is a former media strategist, advertising, marketing and publishing VP with CMP Media, LLC.
After a dramatically unsuccessful attempt to ban social networking sites (Myspace, etc.) from her children's lives, she immersed herself in the leading on-line communities, pretending to be a teen, to understand why having a profile in one of these groups was so tantalizing to her kids.
What she discovered was horrifying. In short, she found anonymous users harassing others, children being asked to post pictures of their best body parts, and adults soliciting minors. In addition, she discovered that nearly 100,000 registered sex offenders were found on one single social networking site.
Instead of terminating her children's internet access (her gut reaction), she decided to leave her successful career in media and create a safe, private, and positive place for all of the children to enjoy. That place is www.yoursphere.com.
Yoursphere launched in September of 2008 and Yoursphere.co.uk just launched this month.
Pandora Corporation was formed with one goal - to help our customers monitor, control and protect their families and themselves online.
From keeping children safe from predators and shielding them from potentially harmful or mature content, to ensuring the integrity of your relationships, online records, accounts and personal information, Pandora Corporation's flagship PC Pandora program is an essential tool in the fight against the potentially catastrophic consequences of having your privacy (or that of your family) breached.
