[Lissa]

Protecting children is much more than a two-day per year task; it extends beyond the annual December and June dates pedophiles slated for celebrating their love for children. It is a responsibility that ensues 365 days a year, though pedophiles seem to be targeting times when parents may be at an elevated level of vulnerability to someone who comes along and offers to do something nice ~ so parents can attend to making the holidays and summer vacations from school enjoyable times for their children.

The best way to challenge those who exploit children is by education: Not only for oneself yet also for others who care about children, which can erode the opportunities made available to predators as a result of helping additional parents. There are more parents looking to protect children than there are predators seeking to abuse. The most productive step: Help reach and teach parents.

Each person can inform parents, parent groups, schools, civic/community centers offering children and/or families access to the Internet, local libraries, and others of what you have found both positive and negative about accessing the Net (bulletin boards, E-mail, web pages, newsgroups, et cetera). There is an upside and a downside, and, unfortunately, it is the latter that is fostered by a minority of people abusing services.

Adults seeking better ways to protect children ~ from those who would abuse ~ are best advised to: Educate themselves and guide their child(ren) on what's available, and what is the appropriate response if someone unwanted/previously unknown intrudes into a child's space (E-mail, areas Online, Chat, message areas and so on). Encourage children to speak ~ with parents or their care-givers ~ about what they have found Online and with whom they may be exchanging information.

Offer input on the type of information that is okay and what should not be shared with others on the Net; people aren't always as they claim (cloaked in relative anonymity) and some lie and allege they are children.

It's not always possible for parents to be able to supervise directly ~ since schools and libraries have access also available. The next best step: Find out whether the settings that offer access provide continuous supervision, and accept accountability and responsibility for the child Online ~ the effects that may result, though the negatives may be slim.

If the settings cannot ensure children's safety, then parents can invoke authority (as parents) and provide access within the home where supervision and clear guidance are entirely possible: set up the computer in a central, not isolated, location. Determine guidelines and a mutual understanding with a child ~ discussed and established up-front. Also, remember: You can exercise your voice through your vote when bond or ballot measures arrive, and you may approve or decline subsidizing Internet access through public terminals ~ placed in libraries and in other settings that, for whatever the reason/rationale, do not filter or block sites that are inappropriate for individuals under the age of majority; the ACLU has its voice and so, too, do you through the empowerment of your direct vote cast when it counts. (And, it is not suggested that any filtering be systematic -- to block or flood with warnings about sites addressing issues with educational merit; filtering can be affected by the individual client's data entry, appropriate for the given household or setting, and user-end determined. For additional information and examples, please visit: Peacefire.)

You also have the option to accompany your child(ren) to a setting that provides access so that you may offer supervision. (Schools and libraries are not baby-sitters for generations of children ~ who have become known as "latch-key" children.)

Suggest that parents creating or helping design Net pages for their children limit the amount of personal data posted. There is way too much information about individual children being offered by parents; it may be cute to the parents, but grist for predators on a hunt and holding out tease-sheets (initially comprised of non-sexualized images) to elicit and start a virtual swap. It is not cute to people working to protect children when parents have posted a child's name, age, photo, school location, teacher's name, fun-time activities, pictures of children's friends, and an E-mail address that routes direct to the IP used by the parent and/or child for dial-up.

You probably get the picture: With that much information, a location can be pinned, and it wouldn't take much to find the child. Children aren't abducted by space aliens, don't run-away from home to meet up with the space aliens encountered Online, and don't end up exploited ~ emotionally, physically, or sexually ~ by space aliens.

It starts somewhere, and it usually starts by a predator picking up a weakness in a child who may feel alone, isolated, lonely, or misunderstood. Parents need to seal-off the opportunity predators seek by: Clear, consistent, and continual interaction and involvement in children's lives. A child who feels as if he or she has a sense of belonging and is able to speak freely with his or her parent(s) is less apt to be the child a predator may scope and seek to either play-off a weakness or seek to drive a deeper wedge in a relationship between child and parent that may have pre-existing vulnerabilities. The same applies in Real-Time. (If an adult is self-consumed by his/her own dysfunctions, self-absorbed in unresolved conflicts, emotionally detatched, has a pattern of avoiding instead of addressing, or has not healed from abuses in one's past, a child will intuitively know that that parent may not be available to honest communication about difficulties encountered. Face yourself candidly before attempting to face a child with his or her truths.)

There are numerous law enforcement sites Online, including the FBI's website, that freely offer information to parents and additional adults wanting to better ensure children's safety. It is well worth the time for people to spend a few days reading the information ~ on a variety of sites ~ to have a comprehensive understanding of how to increase children's protection.

There are ways to increase children's safety while they're using a computer: Some parents, including some officers, make access possible only via CD ROM programs; it gives the child the opportunity to learn about computers, and safety is 100 percent. Others choose filtering software: The best is the application that enables the parent to input the type of data sought to be blocked rather than a company determining for a family, which may have differing beliefs and values. And, still, more: Use the computer with their children.

Take whatever information you find helpful and, then, share it with others who also have children (and this means, relate your thoughts in your own words, not copy text from this page and/or other pages to present as your own). Focus could be most effective if directed and applied toward a positive (parents) rather than on addressing the negative (predators).