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Teens online: Easy prey for cyberstalkers
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Teens often reveal personal information online .jpg)
Where adults generally are more aware and fearful of identity theft crimes and online safety issues, unsuspecting teens are less inhibited about revealing personal information. They’ll be more readily to disclose their full name, birth date, home address, school name, activities, feelings, likes, dislikes, and even photographs, putting them at higher risk for cyberstalking and cyber bullying than adults.
Social pressures and changing relationships increase risk
relationships increase risk Social pressures and immaturity also can lead teens to on- and
off-again relationships and frequent changes in friendships. Today’s best friends—who exchange
texts, photographs, and intimate details—can become tomorrow’s worst enemies. This relationship dynamic also can lead cyberstalking and cyber bullying.
Cyberstalking: a crime?
There are no current, accurate statistics regarding the number of teens who are victimized each
year by cyberstalkers or bullies. Cyberstalking crimes aren’t recorded because of the simple
fact that many states do not yet have statutes that identify and define cyberstalking and cyber
bullying. Without such definitions of lawful and unlawful activities, law enforcement may not take
cases of teen cyberstalking and bullying seriously—unless there’s a threat of a more “traditional”
crime, such as assault, battery, or even death. All of this, by the way, is also true in cases of
adult cyberstalking.
Entire families are at risk
Vulnerable teens not only put themselves at significant risk when they reveal intimate details to unknown cyber “friends,” who in reality may be convicted felons or pedophiles who prowl teen chat rooms looking for easy prey. By providing information such as home addresses, parents’ occupations, family vacation plans, and photographs, they may put everyone in their household at risk. An example was a teen in New York who “web advertised” her yearly family vacation using her my space, twitter and facebook accounts unknowingly giving prowlers the all systems go to burglarize the home in their absence, a house sitter taking care of the pets discovered the mess after the fact, however this could have had a far more unhappy ending more than the household valuables could have been lost human lives were also at stake and anyone else who got in the burglars way!
Monitoring teen online behavior
For these reasons and more, parents need to be aware of their children’s activities online. I prefer that parents encourage open dialog with their teens and openly monitor their cyber activities. However, I recognize that not all parents are close enough to their teens to be able to do this. Therefore—as a cyber safety expert—I strongly encourage parents to monitor their teens activities “undercover” if necessary.
The discord that might result if a teen discovers his or her parents’ “undercover black op’s
monitoring” is far preferable to the potential outcomes for the teen (and the rest of the family)
if cyberstalking is allowed to go unchecked. If communication isn’t an option, parents can easily stay
informed about their teens’ online behavior in and outside the home by monitoring text messages, instant messages, and chat room behavior.
There is software today that allows parents to covertly Monitor and Review All Computer Activity with Parental Control Software Captures All Online Activity: Websites Visited, Instant Messages, Searches, E-Mails & More. There are programs that will take Instant Screen Shots Of Websites in Stealth Mode and after consulting with Robert Siciliano personal security and id theft expert who is also a speaker, author and Survivors In Action advisory board member, it was clear that the programs to seek were those such as McAfee Family Protection.
This program blocks up to 35 categories of objectionable websites and filters inappropriate content by using key word filtering technology, objectionable content will be prohibited, yet permitting watching acceptable videos allows you to manage the amount of time your children use the internet. This program monitors and records instant message conversations to inform you of improper dialogue or
conversations with strangers and blocks unknown email addresses so children cannot communicate with strangers and records conversations on social networking sites so you can be aware of bullying.
If confidential information has been posted it blocks access to applications that parents feel are inappropriate and prevents sharing of confidential information which keeps your PC safe from security threats that are commonly found in peer-to-peer file sharing.
This program will also provide you with a complete view of all Internet and IM activity and can be used as a tool to teach appropriate online behavior and at the same time receive email and/or text alerts instantly when intentional or accidental website access is attempted and when confidential information is posted. For more information about this program use this link. http://home.mcafee.com/Store/Package.aspx?pkgid=342
Below are programs I found to be helpful and easy to use:
1. Parent Control Bar - The ParentalControl Bar is a free public service that helps concerned parents prevent their children from accessing adult-oriented Web sites. Complete our simple, three-step installation process below and start controlling your family's online activity.
2. K9 Web Protection - K9 Web Protection is easy-to-use Parental Control and Internet filtering software that helps parents protect their children online. K9 Web Protection has the ability to block adult, porn and other offensive content, prevent spyware infections, and monitor visited sites on any Internet access connection (AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Earthlink). Based on commercial-grade Web filtering controls from Blue Coat Systems, K9 Web Protection is unique among content filters and it is free for home use. K9 can be configured as a porn blocker, a spyware stopper, a gambling filter or various other configurations based on our over 69 Web categories.
3. Big Mother - A switchsniff with absolutely zero configuration for mamas and papas doing parental Internet monitoring and control. Unlike spyware-based parental monitoring products that need "bug implantation", Big-Mother is an eavesdropping program that uses a switch sniffer to capture and analyze communication traffic over a home network.
If you suspect your teen is experiencing cyber bullying or cyberstalking as a parent you can reach out for help contacting your local law enforcement agency or the school that your child attends for information on what you can do. Although cyberstalking is yet to be considered a crime in every state the behavior parallels conduct which is prohibited often endues other various federal and state laws. You are also encouraged to contact Survivors In Action, at www.SurvivorsInAction.com
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