Online Profiles Can Be 'Predator Magnets,' Internet Safety Expert Warns
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
April 6, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An Internet safety advocate is warning parents not to let their children post pictures of themselves online. She warns that a simple and seemingly harmless posting of an young person's image or basic personal information can become, in the twisted mind of a predator, an opportunity and an open invitation to stalk the innocent child.The popular News Corp-owned web community known as Myspace.com recently removed 200,000 of what it called "objectionable" profiles from its site. The move was designed to allay fears over recent sexual assaults of teenagers that have been linked to Myspace.com.
However, Donna Rice Hughes of the group "Enough is Enough" encourages parents to remain wary. In particular, she urges them never to allow their children to set up an online profile, listing their name and certain personal details or even uploading a photograph of themselves, as many Internet community sites encourage users to do.
Hughes feels even sharing such information online with other Internet community users that have also posted information about themselves is inadvisable. And besides, she notes, "Anytime you have an online profile anyway, anywhere on the Internet, not only can those that you want to see that information see it, but also those that you don't even know or would not want [to view] that information can view it."
This is why online profiles are "predator magnets," the Internet safety expert explains. Even posting a simple school photo on an Internet site is unwise, she says, because any predator could then possibly use it to track down the young person depicted.
"Parents just need to understand," Hughes insists, "that even though something in and of itself does not seem like a bad thing, it is because of the way these areas and these sites and this personal information are misused in a dangerous way by, for instance, pedophiles and predators on the Internet."
Meanwhile, the Enough is Enough spokeswoman notes, another alarming trend is exacerbating the danger for young Internet users. Unfortunately, she says, more and more teenage girls are posting pictures of themselves in lingerie or bathing suits online. Such provocative images may seem daring and amusing to misguided youngsters, but the consequences can prove devastating or even deadly if a kiddie porn trafficker or child rapist comes across the image.
MySpace.com reportedly has more than 66 million users, most of whom are young people. However, there is generally no way for a child or teen frequenting such web communities to know for certain whether someone with whom they communicate online -- or someone who is simply monitoring the same youth-targeted sites -- may be a dangerous child predator pretending to be someone they are not.
Hughes is urging parents and children to be wary. And, for safety's sake, she says, kids should never post an online profile, a personal photograph, or any kind of personal information that could make it easier for an Internet predator to target them.
