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07/08/08
Predators Hunting in Your Kids Xbox and Wii Consoles
Sexual predators have begun trolling the chat areas and backrooms of your kids online gaming consoles like Xbox and Wii. They are following the Internet habits of today’s kids who are spending countless hours playing online games through their new gaming consoles.
Services like Xbox Live will let your kid play others online in role playing games through their game console. It also lets them communicate, via live chat and real time audio (with headphones); with anyone that joins their particular session. That’s where the danger lies. You never know who is on the other side of the headphones talking to your child.
Detective Lt. Thomas Kish of the Michigan State Police, in a recent USA Today article, said that a 10 year old boy playing the Halo Xbox game got a video message from a man that showed the adult engaged in a sex act. Yes, these online games allow your kids to share messages, pictures, and videos and predators are using these functions to groom online kids into meeting them offline.
When a game console is connected to the Internet it becomes an open door in your home that must be guarded. Give these game consoles the same attention you would give your online PC to protect your child. Most of the console manufacturers have password protected “family settings”, use them!
I’ve included links to some of this information from these manufacturers’ sites. I would highly recommend that you take time to visit these sites and learn how to set constraints on your child’s game console settings, as well as how to track their content and contacts. Please check these settings from time to time to insure they have not been changed as hackers are always posting new ways for kids to disable them.
For the Xbox:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/family/activities/gaming.mspx
For the Wii:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/settingsParentalControls.jsp
For the PS3:
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/basicoperations/parentallock.html
For the PSP:
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/psp/current/settings/parental.html
Services like Xbox Live will let your kid play others online in role playing games through their game console. It also lets them communicate, via live chat and real time audio (with headphones); with anyone that joins their particular session. That’s where the danger lies. You never know who is on the other side of the headphones talking to your child.
Detective Lt. Thomas Kish of the Michigan State Police, in a recent USA Today article, said that a 10 year old boy playing the Halo Xbox game got a video message from a man that showed the adult engaged in a sex act. Yes, these online games allow your kids to share messages, pictures, and videos and predators are using these functions to groom online kids into meeting them offline.
When a game console is connected to the Internet it becomes an open door in your home that must be guarded. Give these game consoles the same attention you would give your online PC to protect your child. Most of the console manufacturers have password protected “family settings”, use them!
I’ve included links to some of this information from these manufacturers’ sites. I would highly recommend that you take time to visit these sites and learn how to set constraints on your child’s game console settings, as well as how to track their content and contacts. Please check these settings from time to time to insure they have not been changed as hackers are always posting new ways for kids to disable them.
For the Xbox:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/family/activities/gaming.mspx
For the Wii:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/settingsParentalControls.jsp
For the PS3:
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/basicoperations/parentallock.html
For the PSP:
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/psp/current/settings/parental.html
06/29/08
Five rules for every kid to obey while online
Welcome to the first of many SeeNoEvil posts that I hope will educate and enlighten you on the issues of online pornography, how they affect your family, and the ways you can protect your children online and insure they have a positive Internet experience. My name is Richard Maring and I am the CEO of Tribinium Corporation the designer and provider of SeeNoEvil technology.
As a father of seven and the grandfather of seven more, I am often asked what a good starting place is for a parent to start at when introducing a child to the online world of the Internet. For me it has always revolved around safety issues. It has become increasingly evident in today's society that "safety" should be our first concern.
In response to this I would like to offer the following “Five rules for every kid to obey while online” along with the reasoning behind each one.
RULE # 1. I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or name and location of my school without my parents’ permission.
a. Because of the Internet’s ability to conceal identities, you never know who your child is communicating with. A lot of children’s & teen’s chatrooms are frequented by child predators pretending to be underage kids.
b. These predators are only interested in one thing, getting a child to agree to meet offline in person.
c. Giving out an address or phone number allows a predator to gain additional personal information about the family, its habits, and its schedules as well as affording the predator the starting place to begin stalking a child. The same goes for the identity or location of a child’s school where they can watch a child at play or follow them to a sporting event.
d. With sites such as www.whitepages.com a predator can easily get personal information about you. If they know your name and city/state or if they just know your phone number your address can be available to them. If they are willing to spend a few bucks there are other sites that will give them much more detailed info on you and your family. With your address they can see an aerial photo of your neighborhood at Google maps and find areas that afford them the most secluded way to watch or meet your child.
e. The following links are to SafeKids.com online printable contracts to use between you and your kids to establish agreement on safe surfing practices. I highly recommend printing these and reviewing them with your kids. The kids agree to the terms of this one: www.safekids.com/contract_kid.htm . You, the parent agree to the terms of this one: www.safekids.com/contract_parent.htm
RULE # 2. I will tell my parent right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.
a. It is important for parents to know when a child is being made to feel uncomfortable. By finding this out a parent can begin a conversation with the child about the information that is seen, and bring an understanding to the situation for the child.
b. It is important to let the child know that it is not their fault that they have seen this content. That it does not make them bad, and they should not be ashamed or afraid to tell mom or dad what they have seen.
c. Pornographic imagery can be very unsettling to a young child. It is a strange site to them, and can seem unnatural and frightening to them. It can bring out feelings, of shame, fear, uncertainty, and/or curiosity. It is always best to be able to address these feelings as a parent with your child rather than let them continue unguided and un-addressed.
RULE # 3. I will never agree to get together with someone I “meet” online without first getting my parents’ permission. If my parents agree to the meeting, I will be sure that it is in a public place and bring my mom or dad along.
a. Again, you can never truly tell who you are communicating with. Someone may be pretending to be someone your child knows to try and get them to meet in person.
b. If your child believes this is a friend, they can have mom or dad confirm it by making a quick phone call to the individual or their parents.
c. It is important for parent’s to be involved in their child’s online experiences. A small amount of time invested in policing your child’s Internet conversations and relationships, could prevent an offline tragedy caused by a predator and save, hours, days, or weeks of worry, or worse… a lifetime of sorrow. These situations happen daily so stay tuned into your child’s Internet.
RULE # 4. I will never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents.
a. This is a huge milestone on the quest for the Holy Grail of predators, a face to face meeting with a child. A picture, as has been said, speaks more than a thousand words. With a picture in his hand a predator can pick a child out of a crowd.
b. Pictures of children have been used to identify a child’s school. Predators do their homework. They will sit outside a school looking to identify the child in the photo. With that they can follow a child home, to play, or to a friend’s home.
c. Predators traffic in children’s photos. Photo’s are traded and sold online.
d. Predators try to earn trust online by sending photo’s of themselves, or their fake identities to get kids to send them theirs. It’s the “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” scenario. The photo they send looks innocent enough to get a child to trust enough to send theirs.
e. The following is a video PSA from the National Center for Missing & Exploited children’s “Don’t believe the Type Campaign”. Get your kids to watch it.
RULE # 5. I will not respond to any messages that are mean or make me feel uncomfortable. It is not my fault if I get a message like that. If I do, I will tell my parents right away so that they can contact the online service.
a. Bullying is becoming a big problem online and in chat rooms. Recently a young girl committed suicide over some disparaging remarks made about her by a friend’s mother impersonating a teenage girl from her school.
b. There are new laws being developed in many states to address this situation, but it is still incumbent on a parent to take proactive steps to protect their kids.
c. Kids should be taught not to respond or engage in online chats that are offensive, abusive, or disparaging in nature.
d. These types of posts or messages should be reported to your ISP as soon as they happen, preferably along with a screen shot of the message showing the offenders screen name. The [PRT SCR] key copies the displayed page to the clip board on most computers and can then be pasted into the body of an email to abuse@yourisp.com. All ISP’s are required to have the “abuse@” address for their domain to allow for this kind of reporting.
As a father of seven and the grandfather of seven more, I am often asked what a good starting place is for a parent to start at when introducing a child to the online world of the Internet. For me it has always revolved around safety issues. It has become increasingly evident in today's society that "safety" should be our first concern.
In response to this I would like to offer the following “Five rules for every kid to obey while online” along with the reasoning behind each one.
RULE # 1. I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or name and location of my school without my parents’ permission.
a. Because of the Internet’s ability to conceal identities, you never know who your child is communicating with. A lot of children’s & teen’s chatrooms are frequented by child predators pretending to be underage kids.
b. These predators are only interested in one thing, getting a child to agree to meet offline in person.
c. Giving out an address or phone number allows a predator to gain additional personal information about the family, its habits, and its schedules as well as affording the predator the starting place to begin stalking a child. The same goes for the identity or location of a child’s school where they can watch a child at play or follow them to a sporting event.
d. With sites such as www.whitepages.com a predator can easily get personal information about you. If they know your name and city/state or if they just know your phone number your address can be available to them. If they are willing to spend a few bucks there are other sites that will give them much more detailed info on you and your family. With your address they can see an aerial photo of your neighborhood at Google maps and find areas that afford them the most secluded way to watch or meet your child.
e. The following links are to SafeKids.com online printable contracts to use between you and your kids to establish agreement on safe surfing practices. I highly recommend printing these and reviewing them with your kids. The kids agree to the terms of this one: www.safekids.com/contract_kid.htm . You, the parent agree to the terms of this one: www.safekids.com/contract_parent.htm
RULE # 2. I will tell my parent right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.
a. It is important for parents to know when a child is being made to feel uncomfortable. By finding this out a parent can begin a conversation with the child about the information that is seen, and bring an understanding to the situation for the child.
b. It is important to let the child know that it is not their fault that they have seen this content. That it does not make them bad, and they should not be ashamed or afraid to tell mom or dad what they have seen.
c. Pornographic imagery can be very unsettling to a young child. It is a strange site to them, and can seem unnatural and frightening to them. It can bring out feelings, of shame, fear, uncertainty, and/or curiosity. It is always best to be able to address these feelings as a parent with your child rather than let them continue unguided and un-addressed.
RULE # 3. I will never agree to get together with someone I “meet” online without first getting my parents’ permission. If my parents agree to the meeting, I will be sure that it is in a public place and bring my mom or dad along.
a. Again, you can never truly tell who you are communicating with. Someone may be pretending to be someone your child knows to try and get them to meet in person.
b. If your child believes this is a friend, they can have mom or dad confirm it by making a quick phone call to the individual or their parents.
c. It is important for parent’s to be involved in their child’s online experiences. A small amount of time invested in policing your child’s Internet conversations and relationships, could prevent an offline tragedy caused by a predator and save, hours, days, or weeks of worry, or worse… a lifetime of sorrow. These situations happen daily so stay tuned into your child’s Internet.
RULE # 4. I will never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents.
a. This is a huge milestone on the quest for the Holy Grail of predators, a face to face meeting with a child. A picture, as has been said, speaks more than a thousand words. With a picture in his hand a predator can pick a child out of a crowd.
b. Pictures of children have been used to identify a child’s school. Predators do their homework. They will sit outside a school looking to identify the child in the photo. With that they can follow a child home, to play, or to a friend’s home.
c. Predators traffic in children’s photos. Photo’s are traded and sold online.
d. Predators try to earn trust online by sending photo’s of themselves, or their fake identities to get kids to send them theirs. It’s the “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” scenario. The photo they send looks innocent enough to get a child to trust enough to send theirs.
e. The following is a video PSA from the National Center for Missing & Exploited children’s “Don’t believe the Type Campaign”. Get your kids to watch it.
RULE # 5. I will not respond to any messages that are mean or make me feel uncomfortable. It is not my fault if I get a message like that. If I do, I will tell my parents right away so that they can contact the online service.
a. Bullying is becoming a big problem online and in chat rooms. Recently a young girl committed suicide over some disparaging remarks made about her by a friend’s mother impersonating a teenage girl from her school.
b. There are new laws being developed in many states to address this situation, but it is still incumbent on a parent to take proactive steps to protect their kids.
c. Kids should be taught not to respond or engage in online chats that are offensive, abusive, or disparaging in nature.
d. These types of posts or messages should be reported to your ISP as soon as they happen, preferably along with a screen shot of the message showing the offenders screen name. The [PRT SCR] key copies the displayed page to the clip board on most computers and can then be pasted into the body of an email to abuse@yourisp.com. All ISP’s are required to have the “abuse@” address for their domain to allow for this kind of reporting.
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