stop people who abuse children online.
In one small town, there were 3 arrests in 8 days. The first was an engineer, the second was a doctor, and the third was a 26-year-old. All three of them used the Internet to get teenagers to meet with them so they could sexually abuse them.
"The message is that I hope parents will start to keep an eye on what their kids do on the Internet. There are a lot of paedophiles who try to get close to these kids "said Johnston. (In Ardmore, Alabama, James Johnson is a police officer.)
"Look at the caller ID. Find out who your child is talking to. If you can, look at your computer's history. Know when they are going to talk to these people. When their parents are gone, they always want to talk, "he said.
This is such a big problem that the FBI admits it is playing catch-up when it comes to stopping smart paedophiles from using the Internet, and Law Enforcement agencies are begging for more money to fight this growing threat.
In the end, the government can't stop paedophiles or keep online paedophiles away from your children. It's up to you to keep them safe. The good news is that there are ways to stop online predators from hurting your children and protect yourself as well, since many predators threaten the victim's family if the victim talks.
Blocking software is one option. This software stops offensive content from ever showing up. The software is updated often, often every day, with a list of sites (called "blacklisted") that can't be reached by the computer using a web browser like Internet Explorer or an instant messaging client. When someone tries to access an Internet page, the site is checked against the blacklist and the site/chat room is blocked.
The other way is to use a keylogger, which records everything that is typed on the keyboard or clicked on with the mouse. One benefit of this approach is that if your child has been approached online, they probably won't come out and tell you because an online paedophile almost always threatens the child or their family if they talk, and many times the child feels guilty or responsible for the paedophile approaching them in the first place.
Unfortunately, the online paedophile knows this and plays on the child's feelings of guilt, shame, or fear. This is all part of the offender's "grooming" process, which is used to ease the child into a relationship with an abuser.
Blocking software has its place, and is usually best for young children because it keeps unwanted content from ever showing up. However, its use is clear: anyone over the age of 8 or even younger will know that they are being sent to a safe website. As a parent or guardian, you are the best person to decide what your child can see and where they can go. Which brings us to key logging software. There are many different kinds of key loggers, and some of them will even send you an email when a word or words you choose are typed.
Please remember that child predation is the most underreported crime in the U.S., and even though the numbers vary a lot depending on the source and many other things, as a parent or guardian you should do something.
