This article looks at the findings from major studies of known cases of internet child sexual abuse.
It also highlights ways in which parents can ‘respond’ to these cases, as despite policy and practice developments, there remain many and profound weaknesses in the governments response to child sexual abuse.

Much of the advice within this article centres on eliminating the sense of “secrecy” that can surround children’s use of the Internet. Parents and guardians MUST take an active role in monitoring their children’s use of the Internet without looking over their child’s shoulder, as this may induce further “secrecy”. In this way you can help to ensure that they continue to have fun on the net and find the information they are looking for, while keeping safe from Internet dangers. Parents must be aware that neither the government nor the police will do this for you!!!!!

International travel and the Internet have changed the extent and forms of contact between people. While many of these have been beneficial some have had malign consequences, as for example, the way in which international travel and the Internet have been used to facilitate child sexual abuse. The use of the Internet to transmit child abuse images and to conspire to commit child abuse is rare but growing. Government Policy and practice to stop it needs to catch up FAST!!!!

Although the internet didn't invent paedophilia, there is a lot of publicity about paedophile activity on the internet and it is true that the net gives paedophiles access to images of children and sometimes of children themselves. You will be amazed to know that when BT introduced software to block access from its internet users to paedophile sites, it intercepted 250,000 attempts in three weeks.

Most parents assume that pornography and sexual predators are the only dangers their children face on the Internet. While these are certainly a huge concern, there are other dangers lurking in the dark corners of the net.
These include the following: Web sites that foster hate crimes, sites that teach children how to make bombs and other weapons, forums to discuss the best ways to commit suicide, sites that encourage the use of drugs, and even areas where children watch others take drugs via webcams. The John Walsh Show once aired an episode where teenagers watched as a young man died from an overdose of drugs.
Here are some disconcerting statistics about children and the Internet:
• 1 in 7 parents have no idea what their children are viewing on the Internet.
• 3 out of 4 children who have used the Internet have encountered material that has made them feel uncomfortable.
• 2 out of 5 children have encountered scenes of violence on the Internet.
one third of children are unaware of the dangers of using the Internet.
• 53 per cent of children have been talked to about sex on the Internet.
• 49 per cent of children have engaged in sexual conversations with people they have encountered on the Internet.
• 80 per cent of children feel that they should be better protected from harmful material and individuals on the Internet.
• Paedophiles are known to use the Internet as a way of ‘grooming’ children, i.e. to lure them into a false sense of security in order to facilitate sexual assaults. This so-called grooming period can last for months with children being entirely unaware of the deception.


Common problems
Your main worry as a parent should be chat rooms and instant messaging. Blocking access to unsupervised chat is what most concerned parents tend to do, but paedophiles sometimes pretend to be children to make friends in supervised chat and then continue that relationship in personal conversations in the chat room (known as whispering). As the paedophile gains the child's confidence, contact will usually progress to more private methods like texting or the telephone.

The content of chats may also be a problem. Children may be exposed to inappropriate language and ideas such as explicit sexual talk. They may be encouraged to send photos of themselves, even indecent pictures, and may be sent obscene images. Chats often make heavy use of abbreviations that are hard for parents and outsiders to understand, many of which are also used by children sending text messages on their mobile phones.
People use nicknames to identify themselves in both cases. Chat users are not always fully honest about themselves and their characteristics, but the person who chats has no way of knowing if "Billy”, 17" is really "child molester , 42".
Children's charities are launching a joint campaign with the police to call for more resources to tackle Internet paedophiles. They claim that some paedophiles are escaping justice and children are suffering horrifying sexual abuse because of a shortage of police funding.

How parents can reduce the risks?
First and foremost children are ‘safer’ choosing nicknames that don't make their gender obvious or attract the wrong kind of interest, such as "sexybeast15". In particular, children should understand about "stranger danger". They should think first before giving out their email address their telephone number or even worse their home address. Real life meetings with people they have met online should be approached with extreme caution, they should always tell an adult, take along someone they trust, and meet somewhere public. (I can’t stress this enough)
Installing computer-filtering software, which blocks access to dubious or possibly harmful websites is a good step forward by any parent or guardian, but filtering software is designed mainly for blocking access to adult sites and hardly can help to solve the issues of online communication and other problems mentioned above.

Parents can also decide to adopt a hard line approach by blocking access to all chat rooms and forums completely, but this doesn't seem to be very wise because it carries huge social disadvantages, depriving kids of activities that are very important for their personal development and limiting their personal rights.


The best way to put any parent or guardian’s mind at rest can be found in using a form of monitoring software to ensure their child's safety. A good example of this kind of software is ‘Desktop snooper’ by MTI Technologies. This tiny software program is like having a hidden camera looking at anyone's computer you choose. Desktop snooper records everything they do and all the evidence is all captured right from their computer monitor. Then it's stored in a secret location on that pc that only you will know about. Once the recording is done, the pictures, and movie footage will always be there for you to view at anytime.

Yes You Are Right
Most Of The Parents Dont Know That What Their Children Are Doing On The Internet

I agree. I think parents should take initiative in knowing what their children are doing online. I don't think they should read their emails, but I think they should know who is sending them. When I was in highschool, all my friends parents had no idea who their kids were talking to. My mother always looked at the profiles of the people I was emailing, but she never actually read the emails - she told me she trusted me and in turn, it made me behave.

SO scary, I'm a new mother and my little one is only 5 months old. I am afraid because I know she's going to be exposed to all the danger and it's not going to be as easy protecting her when she's older.

parents should take gud care of their children

In a computer there is a function which forbids the visit of doubtful resources in a network the internet. Be not a lazy person, will set there access control and then your children will be out of harm's way.