A Parent's Guide
to Internet Safety
U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation - Publications
Dear Parent:
Our children are our Nation's
most valuable asset. They represent the bright future of our country
and hold our hopes for a better Nation. Our children are also the
most vulnerable members of society. Protecting our children against
the fear of crime and from becoming victims of crime must be a national
priority.
Unfortunately the same
advances in computer and telecommunication technology that allow our
children to reach out to new sources of knowledge and cultural experiences
are also leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and harm by computer-sex
offenders.
I hope that this pamphlet
helps you to begin to understand the complexities of on-line child
exploitation. For further information, please contact your local FBI
office or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at
1-800-843- 5678.
Louis J. Freeh, Former
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Introduction
While on-line computer
exploration opens a world of possibilities for children, expanding
their horizons and exposing them to different cultures and ways of
life, they can be exposed to dangers as they hit the road exploring
the information highway. There are individuals who attempt to sexually
exploit children through the use of on-line services and the Internet.
Some of these individuals gradually seduce their targets through the
use of attention, affection, kindness, and even gifts. These individuals
are often willing to devote considerable amounts of time, money, and
energy in this process. They listen to and empathize with the problems
of children. They will be aware of the latest music, hobbies, and
interests of children. These individuals attempt to gradually lower
children's inhibitions by slowly introducing sexual context and content
into their conversations.
There are other individuals,
however, who immediately engage in sexually explicit conversation
with children. Some offenders primarily collect and trade child-pornographic
images, while others seek face-to-face meetings with children via
on-line contacts. It is important for parents to understand that children
can be indirectly victimized through conversation, i.e. "chat,"
as well as the transfer of sexually explicit information and material.
Computer-sex offenders may also be evaluating children they come in
contact with on-line for future face-to-face contact and direct victimization.
Parents and children should remember that a computer-sex offender
can be any age or sex the person does not have to fit the caricature
of a dirty, unkempt, older man wearing a raincoat to be someone who
could harm a child.
Children, especially adolescents,
are sometimes interested in and curious about sexuality and sexually
explicit material. They may be moving away from the total control
of parents and seeking to establish new relationships outside their
family. Because they may be curious, children/adolescents sometimes
use their on-line access to actively seek out such materials and individuals.
Sex offenders targeting children will use and exploit these characteristics
and needs. Some adolescent children may also be attracted to and lured
by on-line offenders closer to their age who, although not technically
child molesters, may be dangerous. Nevertheless, they have been seduced
and manipulated by a clever offender and do not fully understand or
recognize the potential danger of these contacts.
This guide was prepared
from actual investigations involving child victims, as well as investigations
where law enforcement officers posed as children. Further information
on protecting your child on-line may be found in the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children's Child Safety on the Information
Highway and Teen Safety on the Information Highway pamphlets.
What
Are Signs That Your Child
Might Be At Risk On-line?
Your
child spends large amounts of time on-line, especially at night.
Most children that fall
victim to computer-sex offenders spend large amounts of time on-line,
particularly in chat rooms. They may go on-line after dinner and on
the weekends. They may be latchkey kids whose parents have told them
to stay at home after school. They go on-line to chat with friends,
make new friends, pass time, and sometimes look for sexually explicit
information. While much of the knowledge and experience gained may
be valuable, parents should consider monitoring the amount of time
spent on-line.
Children on-line are at
the greatest risk during the evening hours. While offenders are on-line
around the clock, most work during the day and spend their evenings
on-line trying to locate and lure children or seeking pornography.
You
find pornography on your child's computer.
Pornography is often used
in the sexual victimization of children. Sex offenders often supply
their potential victims with pornography as a means of opening sexual
discussions and for seduction. Child pornography may be used to show
the child victim that sex between children and adults is "normal."
Parents should be conscious of the fact that a child may hide the
pornographic files on diskettes from them. This may be especially
true if the computer is used by other family members.
Your
child receives phone calls from men you don't know or is making calls,
sometimes long distance, to numbers you don't recognize.
While talking to a child
victim on-line is a thrill for a computer-sex offender, it can be
very cumbersome. Most want to talk to the children on the telephone.
They often engage in "phone sex" with the children
and often seek to set up an actual meeting for real sex.
While a child may be hesitant
to give out his/her home phone number, the computer-sex offenders
will give out theirs. With Caller ID, they can readily find out the
child's phone number. Some computer-sex offenders have even obtained
toll-free 800 numbers, so that their potential victims can call them
without their parents finding out. Others will tell the child to call
collect. Both of these methods result in the computer-sex offender
being able to find out the child's phone number.
Your
child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know.
As part of the seduction
process, it is common for offenders to send letters, photographs,
and all manner of gifts to their potential victims. Computer-sex offenders
have even sent plane tickets in order for the child to travel across
the country to meet them.
Your
child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen
on the
monitor when you come into the room.
A child looking at pornographic
images or having sexually explicit conversations does
not want you to see it on the screen.
Your
child becomes withdrawn from the family.
Computer-sex offenders
will work very hard at driving a wedge between a child and their family
or at exploiting their relationship. They will accentuate any minor
problems at home that the child might have. Children may also become
withdrawn after sexual victimization.
Your
child is using an on-line account belonging to someone else.
Even if you don't subscribe
to an on-line service or Internet service, your child may meet an
offender while on-line at a friend's house or the library. Most computers
come preloaded with on-line and/or Internet software. Computer-sex
offenders will sometimes provide potential victims with a computer
account for communications with them.
What
Should You Do If You Suspect Your Child Is
Communicating With A Sexual Predator On-line?
• Consider talking
openly with your child about your suspicions. Tell them about the
dangers of computer-sex offenders.
• Review what
is on your child's computer. If you don't know how, ask a friend,
coworker, relative, or other knowledgeable person. Pornography or
any kind of sexual communication can be a warning sign.
• Use the Caller ID service to determine who is calling your
child. Most telephone companies that offer Caller ID also offer a
service that allows you to block your number from appearing on someone
else's Caller ID. Telephone companies also offer an additional service
feature that rejects incoming calls that you block. This rejection
feature prevents computer-sex offenders or anyone else from calling
your home anonymously.
• Devices can be purchased that show telephone numbers that
have been dialed from your home phone. Additionally, the last number
called from your home phone can be retrieved provided that the telephone
is equipped with a redial feature. You will also need a telephone
pager to complete this retrieval.
• This is done using a numeric-display pager and another phone
that is on the same line as the first phone with the redial feature.
Using the two phones and the pager, a call is placed from the second
phone to the pager. When the paging terminal beeps for you to enter
a telephone number, you press the redial button on the first (or suspect)
phone. The last number called from that phone will then be displayed
on the pager.
• Monitor your child's access to all types of live electronic
communications (i.e., chat rooms, instant messages, Internet Relay
Chat, etc.), and monitor your child's e-mail. Computer-sex offenders
almost always meet potential victims via chat rooms. After meeting
a child on-line, they will continue to communicate electronically
often via e-mail.
Should any of the following
situations arise in your household, via the Internet or on-line service,
you should immediately contact your local or state law enforcement
agency, the FBI, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children:
1. Your child or anyone
in the household has received child pornography;
2. Your child has been sexually solicited by someone who knows that
your child is under 18 years of age;
3. Your child has received sexually explicit images from someone that
knows your child is under the age of 18.
If one of these scenarios
occurs, keep the computer turned off in order to preserve any evidence
for future law enforcement use. Unless directed to do so by the law
enforcement agency, you should not attempt to copy any of the images
and/or text found on the computer.
What
Can You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An On-line Exploiter Victimizing
Your Child?
• Communicate, and
talk to your child about sexual victimization and potential on- line
danger.
• Spend time with your children on-line. Have them teach you
about their favorite on-line destinations.
• Keep the computer in a common room in the house, not in your
child's bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex offender
to communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to
a parent or another member of the household.
• Utilize parental controls provided by your service provider
and/or blocking software. While electronic chat can be a great place
for children to make new friends and discuss various topics of interest,
it is also prowled by computer-sex offenders. Use of chat rooms, in
particular, should be heavily monitored. While parents should utilize
these mechanisms, they should not totally rely on them.
• Always maintain access to your child's on-line account and
randomly check his/her e-mail. Be aware that your child could be contacted
through the U.S. Mail. Be up front with your child about your access
and reasons why.
• Teach your child
the responsible use of the resources on-line. There is much more to
the on-line experience than chat rooms.
• Find out what computer safeguards are utilized by your child's
school, the public library, and at the homes of your child's friends.
These are all places, outside your normal supervision, where your
child could encounter an on-line predator.
• Understand, even if your child was a willing participant in
any form of sexual exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is
the victim. The offender always bears the complete responsibility
for his or her actions.
• Instruct your children:
to never arrange a face-to-face
meeting with someone they met on- line;
to never upload (post) pictures of themselves onto the Internet or
on-line service to people they do not personally know;
to never give out identifying information such as their name, home
address, school name, or telephone number;
to never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good
chance there could be sexually explicit images;
to never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive,
obscene, belligerent, or harassing;
that whatever they are told on-line may or may not be true.
Frequently
Asked Questions:
My
child has received an e-mail advertising for a pornographic website,
what
should I do?
Generally, advertising
for an adult, pornographic website that is sent to an e-mail
address does not violate federal law or the current laws of most states.
In some states it
may be a violation of law if the sender knows the recipient is under
the age of 18. Such
advertising can be reported to your service provider and, if known,
the service provider
of the originator. It can also be reported to your state and federal
legislators, so they can
be made aware of the extent of the problem.
Is
any service safer than the others?
Sex offenders have contacted
children via most of the major on-line services and the
Internet. The most important factors in keeping your child safe on-line
are the utilization
of appropriate blocking software and/or parental controls, along with
open, honest
discussions with your child, monitoring his/her on-line activity,
and following the tips in
this pamphlet.
Should
I just forbid my child from going on-line?
There are dangers in every
part of our society. By educating your children to these
dangers and taking appropriate steps to protect them, they can benefit
from the wealth
of information now available on-line.
Helpful Definitions:
Internet
- An immense, global network that connects computers via telephone
lines
and/or fiber networks to storehouses of electronic information. With
only a computer, a
modem, a telephone line and a service provider, people from all over
the world can
communicate and share information with little more than a few keystrokes.
Bulletin Board Systems
(BBSs) - Electronic
networks of computers that are connected
by a central computer setup and operated by a system administrator
or operator and are distinguishable from the Internet by their "dial-up"
accessibility. BBS users link their
individual computers to the central BBS computer by a modem which
allows them to
post messages, read messages left by others, trade information, or
hold direct
conversations. Access to a BBS can, and often is, privileged and limited
to those users
who have access privileges granted by the systems operator.
Commercial On-line Service
(COS) - Examples
of COSs are America Online, Prodigy,
CompuServe and Microsoft Network, which provide access to their service
for a fee.
COSs generally offer limited access to the Internet as part of their
total service package.
Internet Service Provider
(ISP) - Examples of ISPs are Erols, Concentric and Netcom.
These services offer direct, full access to the Internet at a flat,
monthly rate and often
provide electronic-mail service for their customers. ISPs often provide
space on their
servers for their customers to maintain World Wide Web (WWW) sites.
Not all ISPs are
commercial enterprises. Educational, governmental and nonprofit organizations
also
provide Internet access to their members.
Public Chat Rooms
- Created, maintained, listed and monitored by the COS and other
public domain systems such as Internet Relay Chat. A number of customers
can be in
the public chat rooms at any given time, which are monitored for illegal
activity and even
appropriate language by systems operators (SYSOP). Some public chat
rooms are
monitored more frequently than others, depending on the COS and the
type of chat
room. Violators can be reported to the administrators of the system
(at America On-line
they are referred to as terms of service [TOS]) which can revoke user
privileges. The
public chat rooms usually cover a broad range of topics such as entertainment,
sports,
game rooms, children only, etc.
Electronic Mail (E-Mail)
- A function of BBSs, COSs and ISPs which provides for the
transmission of messages and files between computers over a communications
network similar to mailing a letter via the postal service. E-mail
is stored on a server, where it will remain until the addressee retrieves
it. Anonymity can be maintained by the sender by predetermining what
the receiver will see as the "from" address. Another way
to conceal one's identity is to use an "anonymous remailer,"
which is a service that allows the user to send an e-mail message
repackaged under the remailer's own header, stripping off the originator's
name completely.
Chat
- Real-time text conversation between users in a chat room with no
expectation of
privacy. All chat conversation is accessible by all individuals in
the chat room while the
conversation is taking place.
Instant Messages - Private, real-time text conversation between
two users in a chat
room.
Internet Relay Chat
(IRC) - Real-time
text conversation similar to public and/or private
chat rooms on COS.
Usenet (Newsgroups)
- Like a giant, cork bulletin board where users post messages
and information. Each posting is like an open letter and is capable
of having
attachments, such as graphic image files (GIFs). Anyone accessing
the newsgroup can
read the postings, take copies of posted items, or post responses.
Each newsgroup can hold thousands of postings. Currently, there are
over 29,000 public newsgroups and that number is growing daily. Newsgroups
are both public and/or private. There is no listing of private newsgroups.
A user of private newsgroups has to be invited into the
newsgroup and be provided with the newsgroup's address.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Cyber Division, Innocent
Images National Initiative
11700 Beltsville Drive
Calverton, MD 20705
Contact your local FBI office for further information.