Parents should do more to keep children safe online : CEOP
Not many parents access online resources and information on how to protect their children from internet threats, says Jim Gamble, Chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Comparing to the number of people who spend on online shopping or price comparison sites, a few people really try to get online advice (about child abuse online) and act according to it.
According to him, many online services available over internet are being exploited by the paedophiles to easily prey the children who are vulnerable and insecure. Online networks (social networks), instant messaging and mobile internet access have helped the offenders to identify, exploit and abuse the children. Webcam has become another bad tool at the hands of these psychos, it was obvious.
The Times reports Gamble as saying:
“Parents need to be aware of what is happening and what the danger is. This is not about paedophiles collecting pictures, this is about sex offenders using the internet to get to their victims. It starts with befriending, then they use webcams and entice people to expose themselves or perform or watch a sexual act and the next step can be abduction and sexual assault.”
“These are offenders who will seek to get at children by whatever means possible — whether it is finding a job that gives them access to children or exploiting social networking sites. They will do whatever they can, wherever they can, to live out their fantasy.”
Last year, CEOP received about 2500 reports about the vulnerable children exposed to internet threats, from its members. More than half of them (1,373) were received from the young peple aged below 18 years. Horribly, 89% of the complaints dealt with grooming of vulnerable children online by the offenders. For instance, webcams have continuously been used by the paedophiles to sexually exploit the children, CEOP reported.
One of the reports dealt with a man, who was arrested later, trying to abduct a child with motives of sexual harassment.
Gamble asked the parents to use all the useful internet resources to ensure the online safety of their children.
“Some in the online industry could do more and we have said that before. But parents and carers need to accept greater responsibility and go beyond stating that they don’t understand this new environment. We simply do not see evidence of parents using the resources we offer. The advice you need is there so please use it.”
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