Risky Online Behavior

A Closer Look:Who’s At Risk?

With the advent of social networking sites and detailed chat profiles, predators don’t need to work very hard to piece together information about a child online. Predators can judge by the appearance of a profile or by the behavior that a child is exhibiting whether he or she might be a prime target for an online relationship.

Teens who don’t use privacy settings on social networking and gaming sites often place their information—including their deepest desires, likes and dislikes, real-time moods, pictures, addresses, and phone numbers—for anyone to see. Teens who post personal information, blog, or journal about sensitive issues may also be easy targets for predators who seek to isolate children from their parents and friends and exploit a child’s emotional vulnerabilities.


Risky Online Behaviors

The more risky behaviors kids engage in online, the more likely they will receive an online sexual solicitation. These risky behaviors include:1

1. Posting personal information (50%*)
2. Interacting with online strangers (45%)
3. Placing strangers on buddy lists (35%)
4. Sending personal information to strangers (26%)
5. Visiting X-rated sites (13%)
6. Talking about sex with strangers (5%)

* Percentage of teens demonstrating indicated behavior.

(1) "Internet Prevention Messages: Targeting the Right Online Behaviors", 2007.

Some teens think it is fun to flirt with online strangers, seek “hookups” with other teens and adults, and discuss and share images of their sexual exploits publicly. Those who use sexually inviting usernames, discuss sex online, and arrange to meet for sex place themselves at great risk. Also in danger of becoming targets are teens who are exploring sexual issues online—including sexual orientation—and those interested in meeting strangers online.

Teens who don’t tell their parents when they meet someone or see something that makes them uncomfortable online are also at risk. Some experts suggest that these are vulnerable and at-risk teens to begin with, and are most likely to come from families where the parents are not sufficiently involved with their children.


Source: http://www.internetsafety101.org/predatorsrisk.htm
Also pls visit the above link and view the video.

8snaps.com parental control helps parents to identify risky behavior and intervene early before the child can get hurt.

8snaps -Introducing the worlds simplest parental control software

Welcome to the 8Snaps blog. Firstly let me introduce 8snaps.

8snaps was an idea born when a number of parents came together after viewing an episode of Dateline NBCs "To Catch A Predator" with Chris Hansen and decided that enough is enough.

Raising children has to be one of the most fulfilling parts of life. Protecting your children from the dangers in the environment around them is an important duty of the parent, however, with the emergence of new technologies many parents, even technically savvy ones, are not aware of the dangers in this new 'technological environment' and subsequently helpless when it comes to fulfilling their duty of online protection for their child.

Whats more, most parents are not aware that their child's online life effects and can come into contact with their real 'offline' life.

8snaps mission is to create a safe environment for children to grow so that the future is a brighter place for everyone. We will achieve this by raising the awareness to all parents and by offering the tools and services for parents to feel comfortable that they are meeting their duty.

We believe the first steps that need to be taken are:
1. Increase Awareness
2. Gain Visibility into childs online life

We aim to achieve these first two steps by launching our website 8snaps.com and offering a number of resources and tools. First off will be the 8snaps visibility service which is an easy-to-use service allowing parents to view screen pictures of their childs computer and know exactly what they are looking at and who they are talking to. This allows parents to become aware of any issues early and hopefully deal with them before they escalate to dangerous levels.

By creating an account on 8snaps.com, you as a parent, will be able to keep tabs on your childs online activities. Also we encourage you to spread the word to all your friends. This way, together we can make the important first two steps of Increasing Awareness and Gaining Visibility.