Who’s really behind the screen?

Children, parents and teachers face a new area of danger: the Internet. 

Practical recommendations for parents and others for protecting children against online pedophiles:

• Explain the dangers of communicating with strangers via the Internet
• Alert children to the questionable identity of anyone they meet exclusively through the 'Net or via e-mail.  Discuss the possibility that people are not what they claim to be in their online persona.
• Establish a calm atmosphere so that kids will not fear your reactions if they are troubled by what they encounter online.  Worst of all would be to punish a child for reporting a disturbing incident.
• Tell children not to give their address or their pictures to strangers they meet electronically.
• Discuss online relationships in a friendly and open way at home.  Show interest in the new friends without expressing hostility or suspicion; ask to participate in some of the online chats and e-mail correspondence.  Invite your children to sit in with you during your own online interactions.
• Parents should talk to their child's new online friends’ parents by phone and, eventually, in person before allowing contacts.
• Any attempt to induce a child to meet the correspondent alone or secretly should be reported to local police authorities for investigation.
• Suggestions that children engage in virtual sex play or sexual fantasies should be reported to parents right away. 
• Making, transmitting and storing child pornography is a felony; report all such cases to local police authorities at once.
• Children receiving a request for anything unusual (for example, a request for a piece of clothing) should immediately report the incident to their parents.