Group 4: Behzad, Lana, Lara, Mehrdad

Definitions
Internet Predator a person who uses the Internet to locate and lure his intended sexual prey, especially children.

Child Pornography a photographic, film, video or other visual representation, whether or not it was made by electronic or mechanical means that shows a person who is, or is depicted, as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in, or is depicted as engaged in, explicit sexual activity, or the sexual depiction of the sexual organs of a person under the age of eighteen years; or any written material or visual representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years.

Statistics
Children Internet Pornography Statistics

Harmful effects of child pornography on children
1. Imitation of sexually explicit material

We all know that visual images have a powerful influence on children. Until 6 or 7 years they can not differentiate between fact and fantasy. Premature exposure to sex scenes shows children something they have no knowledge of and are unable to conceptualise. Children fantasise and imitate. "You need just one film to tickle their curiosity and make them want to try what they have seen. Until 7 years they are walking sponges without any filters. Between 7 and 14 years they model their behaviour on what they have seen on screen" (reported this year by Anne Marie Rencken Wentzel, Educational Psychologist on the West Rand). Joan Campbell, M.A. Family and Child Therapist in Cape Town, who has recently completed a Ph.D. thesis on pre-teen (ages 6-12) sexual offences, has encountered what has now become a common problem in primary - and even pre-primary schools - across all socioeconomic groups, that is sexual games involving oral sex and the insertion of foreign bodies into little girls' vaginas. This can be a result of previous abuse or imitating pornography (Fair Lady, June 2000). This inappropriate sexual behaviour was confirmed by a Safeline manager in an article in the Cape Times in 2002: "Five Cape Town children under the age of 12 who have perpetrated abuses against other children are said to have been exposed to an erotic TV series ... 'Emmanuel' on eTV was definitely one of the programs they watched."

2. Psychological trauma

A danger of children being exposed to porn at an inappropriate age is that they become prematurely sexualised and that, even though they have not been molested, they can exhibit the symptoms of a sexually abused child (Joan Campbell).

3. Acceptance of promiscuous standards of behaviour

Pornography promotes sexual freedoms to the point of promiscuity. What youngsters see on our TV and cinema screens, in magazines, etc. gives the message that casual sex is "cool" and condoned by adults. It appears that for this generation porn is becoming accepted as normal sexual behaviour. In a study by psychologist Rebecca Collins in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, September 2004, she writes, "This (survey) is the strongest evidence yet that the sexual content of television programmes encourages adolescents to imitate sexual intercourse and other sexual activities." The study also found that shows where sex was talked about, but not depicted, had just as much impact as the more explicit shows. "Both affect adolescents' perceptions of what is normal sexual behaviour and propel their own sexual behaviour," Collins reported. Need we say more? .All local T.V. stations please note ...

What about the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases? Our HIV incidence and teenage pregnancies statistics give us the answer. Note that porn never spells out consequences nor advocates precautions.

4. Inability to form relationships with the opposite sex

Pornography gives the message that instant self-gratification is more important than establishing a relationship. For example, young boys, instead of enjoying the heart and mind of the opposite sex may merely focus on her body, mentally undressing her and picturing sexual encounters. If they are repeatedly viewing pornography, they can become sexually aggressive to women later and feel uncomfortable in normal, healthy relationships. There is also a decrease in respect for women, in the valuation of faithfulness and a major increase in the importance of sex without attachment (Dolf Zillman, University of Indiana, and Jennings Bryant, University of Houston). A quote from American teenagers about internet and cable pornography is, "you get the message that that kind of sex is glamorous ... and that sex should be unemotional", "It's just entertainment now" (Los Angeles Times, 2005).

5. Child-on-child sexual abuse

The alarming increase of child-on-child abuse, with pornography being a causative factor, is confirmed by organisations such as the Teddy Bear Clinic, Gauteng. Luke Lambrecht, Manager, has said that "90% of young sexual offenders (7-14 years) have been exposed to pornography. This is a huge factor as the offenders act out what they have seen" (2004). The Durban Childline Sexual Abuse Treatment Centre Manager voiced concern by saying that "an alarming 42% of sexual assaults against children in the past year were committed by adolescents and children younger than 13. We are raising a society of rapists and child abusers ... Among the factors contributing to the increase of young child offenders was their exposure to pornographic material" (Cape Times, 2002). Another article in the Cape Argus, 2004, stated: "Social workers at Tygerbear Unit for traumatised children at Tygerberg Hospital say they have noticed a distinct increase in reports of child-on-child sexual abuse over the past 5 years. Social worker Sayeeda Dhansay cited, amongst other risk factors, "exposure to porn on TV and the Internet and access to sexually explicit adult reading and viewing material."

6. Addiction

Repeated exposure to soft or hard-core porn in childhood can lead to full scale porn and sex addiction in later life. Our own hands-on experience with porn addicts (as well as research) has shown that the common denominator in most cases had been their initial exposure to porn in childhood.

7. Carry-over from childhood to adulthood

Adult child abusers frequently relate their behaviour to inappropriate exposure to pornographic material at an early age - in fact, it is a known strong predictor of sexual deviance in adulthood.

Webcams
Webcams are video cameras, usually attached directly to a computer, that send images to the World Wide Web. These images can be still photos, a series of images sent in succession, or streaming video. Webcams are small, cheap and easy to use, making them accessible to kids and teenagers. In most cases, all you have to do to set one up is plug it into a computer and install the software. You can then use it to videoconference with other webcam owners, or you can post a link to your webcam on one of the many webcam sites on the Internet. Anybody who visits that site can then view the images from your webcam. Some webcams even automatically post the URL of the webcam on a Web site when the software is installed. Even users who do not post their webcams on one of these sites could find their lives being shared with the world. Each webcam has a Web address that can be found by search engines, who will then post it among their listings. Usually each camera has a password that must be used to access the webcam, but many users do not bother to change the default password that their webcams came with. There are also Trojan horse programs that allow hackers to activate a webcam without the user's knowledge. Webcams pose a serious risk to children because they provide a visual link with online predators. Predators scan webcam sites to find children and teenagers with webcams and then try to convince the children to expose themselves or do things on camera in exchange for money and gifts. This process usually happens gradually, with the predators starting with innocent-seeming requests and then asking the child to go one step further each time. In some cases, children have gone to the extent of setting up their own self-published pornography Web sites, with subscription services available to anybody who wants to watch them.

ChatRoom
Chat rooms are one of the most interactive Internet areas, and a favourite stop for kids. A chat room is an Internet area where you can have live, real-time conversations with many people at the same time. Think of it as a telephone party line—except that you type rather than talk. Everyone can see what everyone else writes, but you can still be as anonymous as you want. There are different levels of supervision in chat rooms. Some are open environments with no moderation; some have leaders who moderate the discussion; while others have monitors who assess what people write before anyone else gets to see it. If people misbehave, these live monitors can reprimand them or even kick them out.

Chat rooms can give kids a wonderful opportunity to: •Talk to like-minded people in a controlled and kid-friendly environment •Make new friends anywhere in the world, and keep in touch with old ones •Chat one-on-one with people they might not otherwise get to talk to: teachers, community leaders, even experts in topics that interest them Chat rooms do have their downside, though: •Chat room participants who don't follow online rules of Netiquette can end up hurting others. "Flaming," the unrestrained expression of emotional or strongly worded opinions, is common in chat rooms. •Discussions may be sexual or violent, or promote hateful attitudes or offensive activities. •The anonymity of chat rooms can encourage some people to harass others—girls, in particular, may encounter verbal sexual harassment. •More than any other place online, chat rooms are cruising grounds for pedophiles and other predators trying to make contact with young people. In the anonymous atmosphere of the Internet, where kids feel free to be honest, conversations can quickly become intimate. •If children do develop online relationships with strangers they meet in chat rooms, this can lead to them being cyberstalked, sent pornography, or even pressured to arrange a real-world meeting. This is very rare; but it does happen, and the risk must be taken seriously. •	Kids, especially older one, may deliberately take risks by participating in chat rooms they find titillating. They may engage in flirting, or even cybersex

Pros & Cons of ChatRoom
Disadvantages:

•	You just never know whom you are talking too. It could be an older man who is a pervert and acting out like he is young.

•	You may trust this person and give out your full name; address; email addy; your phone/cell number. '''This is very dangerous! Tell me nothing when it comes to your identity.'''

•	You may think you are falling in love with the person you are chatting with, but could live thousands of miles away and long distance relationships seldom work out.

•	If you are shy you are far more vulnerable to being hurt by someone on the Internet and may slip up giving them too much information which they could use against you and cause a myriad of problems for you.

•	Cyberstalking is at it's peak especially among teens. This means a group of kids (just for the heck of it) pick on one person and it's really getting out of control. There are threatens (often the group of teens will act on their threats if they live in the same area.)

•	Cyberbullying is another problem. This is where one, two or more teens picks on another teen and constantly calls them names. Being young and stupid they don't realize what they have done and the suicide rate connected with this is going up in leaps and bounds.

Advantages:

•	You meet new people

•	You exchange your views about certain subjects

•	You can relax because you don't have to see the person physically

•	If you are shy this is a way of making friends

•	You can treat some special friends you've met like pen pals, but you are chatting instead of writing letters like they use too 20 years ago

Pros & Cons of the Internet
Disadvantages:

1. Theft of Personal information: If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse.

2. Spamming: Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and needlessly obstruct the entire system. Such illegal activities can be very frustrating for you, and so instead of just ignoring it, you should make an effort to try and stop these activities so that using the Internet can become that much safer.

3. Virus threat: Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache.

4. Pornography: This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your children’s healthy mental life. A very serious issue concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the Internet.

Advantages:

1. Communication: The foremost target of internet has always been the communication. And internet has excelled beyond the expectations .Still; innovations are going on to make it faster, more reliable. By the advent of computer’s Internet, our earth has reduced and has attained the form of a global village.

Now we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of e-mail; we can chat for hours with our loved ones. There are plenty messenger services in offering. With help of such services, it has become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your thoughts, can explore other cultures of different ethnicity.

2. Information: Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the Internet. You can almost find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that you are looking for. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support, the list is end less.

Students and children are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Today, it is almost required that students should use the Internet for research for the purpose of gathering resources. Teachers have started giving assignments that require research on the Internet. Almost every coming day, researches on medical issues become much easier to locate. Numerous web sites available on the net are offering loads of information for people to research diseases and talk to doctors online at sites such as, America’s Doctor. During 1998 over 20 million people reported going online to retrieve health information.

3. Entertainment: Entertainment is another popular raison d'être why many people prefer to surf the Internet. In fact, media of internet has become quite successful in trapping multifaceted entertainment factor. Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free. The industry of online gaming has tasted dramatic and phenomenal attention by game lovers. Chat rooms are popular because users can meet new and interesting people. In fact, the Internet has been successfully used by people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the Internet.

4. Services: Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets for your favorite movies, guidance services on array of topics engulfing the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not available off-line and can cost you more.

5. E-Commerce: Ecommerce is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering, or business deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via Internet. It has become a phenomenon associated with any kind of shopping, almost anything. You name it and Ecommerce with its giant tentacles engulfing every single product and service will make you available at your door steps. It has got a real amazing and wide range of products from household needs, technology to entertainment.

Solutions
The Best Solution is Knowledge and Risk management

Some Risk management websites for Canadians,
 * http://www.protectchildren.ca/app/en/home
 * http://www.cybertip.ca/app/en/
 * http://www.kidsintheknow.ca/app/en/

Why this Works

If children and parents become aware of the dangers in concern with sharing information and pictures on the internet they are more likely to recognize these dangers when they appear and react accordingly. Proactive risk management is successful at stopping these predators from having physical contact with their prey.

For example;

On February 12, 2009, Kingston police executed a search warrant on a Kingston residence and arrested a 20-year-old male for luring a 14-year old girl over the Internet. The investigation began after the police received a tip from Cybertip.ca. A mother made a report to the tipline after discovering that her 14-year-old daughter was planning to run away with a person she met on the Internet and who was believed to be a 15-year-old boy from Kingston.

"This young girl was literally saved from potential harm because a report was made to Cybertip.ca. Stories such as this one demonstrate the power one person has in stopping the exploitation of children. The lesson learned here is simple - if your gut tells you that something just isn't right, take the time to report the information to our tipline," said Signy Arnason, Director of Cybertip.ca.