Essay - Internet Safety and Youth Developing Computer Skills is Vital for...

Internet Safety and Youth

Developing computer skills is vital for today's children. It has become an important means for communication, plays an import*****t role in nearly every job, can enhance both education and general quality of life (Rupley, 2004). The difficulty with children using the computer is that some people on line may use *****s to gain access to our children for inappropriate and even criminal reasons. Children, by their nature, will not have the skills on their own to avoid the dangers that can come ***** internet *****, so it is up ***** parents ***** educators both to protect children and to teach them how to keep themselves safe online

The r*****ks to children are very real. The FBI reports ***** one in five children receive pornography or are *****licited by sexual predators onl*****e (McKinley, 2002). By the time they ***** teenagers, one in four ***** been contacted ***** strangers who want to meet them in ***** life (Rupley, 2004). Since the Internet is now *****d more than the telephone, ***** since most children are not supervised all the ***** ********** are online (*****, 2002), ***** attempt ***** exploit ***** vulnerability. Very often the children and teens, underestimating the risk, unaware of the risk, or believing that they can avoid being victimized, get on line while they are supposed to be asleep. They may talk with strangers as well as people they know (*****, 2004).

Whether the predat*****s seek to sell ***** or to meet in person, they are all too often successful. In 2003, John Zuccarini pled guilty under the federal "Truth in Domain Names Act." Using over 3,000 domain names that mimicked TV s*****s youth often watch, such as www.teltubbies.com(no longer a real domain) he misdirected ***** to sites containing hard-c*****e pornography (Rupley, *****). In a ***** disturbing case, in 2001 a 13-year old girl left to meet *****r online "boyfriend" at a local fast-food restaurant. He was actually a 25 year old man, and he killed her (McKinley, 2002).

When children cannot fully protect *****mselves, it is up to the adults around them to act, which is what AOL executive Teri Schroeder did. She realized ***** young people were contacting AOL about the problem of adults inappropriately approaching them online. ***** didn't go ***** their parents *****cause they were afraid that their ***** wouldn't let them use the computer any ***** (*****, 2002). Schroeder investigated how predators lured *****se kids away from monitored discussions into un*****, private chat rooms, and founded "I-Safe," a non-profit gro***** designed to teach young ***** how to stay safe while online. Congress responded ***** her actions and provided funds for school outreach programs. I-SAFE ********** educators how to help ***** the students in their charge. It also works with community leaders to promote safety ***** for children ***** teenagers (McKinley, 2002).

***** addition to ***** the training available from I-SAFE, *****s can take a number of actions that ***** ***** protect their students as they use the *****, setting policies in