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FREE CHAT ROOMS ARTICLES - CHAT ROOM
Is the Chat Room Your Child is Using
Safe?
by Rosalyn Bronstein
Have you ever stopped to think about how safe the chat
room your child is using is? If it happens to be AOL,
MSN, or something similar, your child is in an open environment
where anyone can enter and pretend to be anyone they choose.
An NBC television ‘Dateline’ hidden camera investigation
on 24 September 2004, revealed that predators were actively
engaged in luring teenagers into meetings for the purpose
of having sex. Many were specifically looking for children
who were underage.
With help from “Perverted Justice”, an online
vigilante group, volunteers posing as underage children
went into chat rooms and before very long, were engaged
in conversation with these men, who were eager to gather
personal information – including addresses. Some
suggested visiting inappropriate web sites. One man, a
firefighter, used a webcam to video while sexually stimulating
himself – then verified that the “child”
could see what he was doing.
During the two days ‘Dateline’ undertook their
investigation, a steady stream of male visitors went to
the address given by the “child”, in the hopes
of having sex with her. Instead, they found themselves
face to face with a television reporter and camera crew.
Since chat rooms are a way of life for many, it’s
important for them to find ways of eliminating the risks
while still being able to use these useful tools. Simply
trying to filter out undesirables isn’t enough –
some will invariably get through. And these may be the
most dangerous -- and clever – because they know
how to avoid detection.
As responsible adults and concerned parents, we decided
to address the problems of user safety and security when
communicating on the Internet and built a web site that
provides a safe and secure environment for ourselves and
our children.
That web site is www.Ntouch4Families.com.
The web site puts you in charge of your online environment
where only those who are members of your family or circle
of friends can interact with you and your children.
Since you control who is in your 'family hub', you can
be sure that there will be no inappropriate advertising
or viruses sent to either you or your children, or that
people who are not known to you are talking to your children
when they are online at www.Ntouch4Families.com.
With the increased mobility of 21st Century living, more
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