Internet Tech The Internet links people together via computer terminals and telephone lines (and in some cases wireless radio connections) in a web of networks and shared software. This allows users to communicate with one another wherever they are in the “net.” This Internet link began as the United States military project Agency Network Advanced Research (ARPANET) during the Vietnam War in 1969. It was developed by the United States Department of Defenses (DOD) research people in conjunction with various contractors and universities to investigate the probability of a communication network that could survive a nuclear attack. For the first decade that the Internet was in existence, it was primarily used to facilitate electronic mail, support on line discussion groups, allow access to distant databases, and support the transfer of files between government agencies, companies and universities. Today over 15 million people in the United States and approximately 25 million people worldwide access the Internet regularly, including children. Many parents believe that depriving their children of the opportunity to learn computer skills and access the knowledge available on the Internet would give them a distinct technological disadvantage as they enter the twenty first century.
Portelli and Mead state by the year 2002, the reported number of children who access the Internet from home is projected to increase from the current 10 million to 20 million (6). In addition to home access, Poretelli and Meads further stated that as of 1997 the percentage of United States schools that offered Internet access as a part of their regular curriculum was over sixty percent. There were over nine thousand public libraries across America in 1997, sixty percent of these offered on-line access to its users (7). In view of this information, one can concluded that the on-line percentage for both schools and libraries has increased notably since 1997 and the number continues to grow as more of these facilities “plug in and log on.” Whether at home, at school, or at the public library, children are accessing the Internet. The word “children” is somewhat ambiguous considering the range of ages that it encompasses.
For instance, eighteen is the normally accepted age at which a child reaches legal adulthood; therefore, “children” would refer to any age between birth and seventeen. Porterfield stated that a study conducted in 1997 by Gateway 2000, a leading computer manufacturer, concluded that most children Internet access and computer skills typically commence with their school work. Although in some cases it may be earlier and in some later, the typical age at which a child begins to learn computer skills are kindergarten age, or age five. For example at the Children Television Work Shop website, a young child can click on a query and in a few days an E-mail arrives. For the purpose of this analysis, the broad word”children” will be condensed to contain two age groups — elementary level, ages’ 5-12, and secondary level, ages’ 13-18. At either level, the World Wide Web poses clear dangers to children.
These children grow up enlightened with technology, which they take for granted and know exactly how to use it. Most parents are not conscious of what lies behind that innocuous screen. If you give one’s child carte blanche use of a computer attached to a modem, it is as serious as handing a ten-year-old the car keys and telling them to have a good time. These “cyberchildren” are vulnerable to potential dangers as a result of Internet use. These perils include contact with dangerous individuals, exposure to sexually suggestive materials, exposure to explicit conversations and obscenity in chat rooms, and access to violent interactive games.
One very dangerous downside to Internet communication is its potential for the telling of untruths. One can never be certain at any given time to whom one is talking or if the conversation is sincere and truthful. Clothier state that a recent issue of Yahoo! Internet Live reported that almost half of the Internet users they had questioned lied occasionally while on-line and ten percent were untruthful fifty percent of the time (2). Asch state that Gateway Global Research surveyed six hundred families in the spring of 1998. This research revealed that seventeen percent of elementary and middle school children lied about their age, or sex while chatting on-line (E1).
This fibbing among peers is not where the danger lies. The real peril exists in those other, older individuals who purposefully lie with the intent to harm. Parents can no longer assume their children are safe because they are at home and the door is locked. Instead of hanging around the playgrounds looking for victims, these cyber-preadators are simply logging on their computers. Defined as “adults whose sexual fantasies and erotic imagery focuses on children as sexual partners,” pedophiles have discovered a haven in cyberspace.
These dangerous individuals often cruise the chat rooms dominated by teens and younger children, posing as a child of similar age. Often these individuals try to solicit the childrens location and identity, with the intent to set-up an on-line meeting. Once the meeting place and time are established, the children become easy prey for these twisted individuals. Officials of law enforcement have pointed out an alarming fact concerning on-line pedophiles. Durkin says that an upward trend in this practice indicates the possibility that, due to the Internet, some of these individuals may now be acting on fantasies they otherwise might have never carried out (16). Reports have shown that these instances are becoming more numerous and warn that children should report any suspicious on-line behavior to parents. The parents are then urged to inform law enforcement officials.
In view of the rules of on-line privacy and anonymity, law enforcement officers have found these criminals to be hard to detect and locate. There are millions of web pages dealing with a wide variety of subject matter available on the World Wide Web and more pages are being uploaded daily. Although only one percent of this information could be called indecent, there is still the chance that a child might run across information that contains sexually explicit material. Although regulations have been placed on web sites that offer sexual content, most of these sites can still be accessed without a credit card. For instance, Madden says a visit on Netscape at the Yahoo search engine, one could only type in”men” and approximately 3,440 sites matching would appear.
One of these sites was actually be labeled “sex”: lesbian, gay and bisexual. There would even be pictures; Images of men.” This site could be easily access by children. These children are subject to view butt shots of young boys. They could even preview several other shots that a …