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Net threat to children is ... from other kids
Source: Agencies |
January 15, 2009, Thursday
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WORRIES that the Internet and social networking services such as Facebook and MySpace pose a threat to child safety may be overblown, according to a report by industry, academics and technology experts of the United States.
The report, which was released yesterday, suggests that the biggest threats to children's safety online may come from other children, and that their own behavior could contribute to the trouble they encounter.
"Minors are not equally at risk online," the report said. "Those who are most at risk often engage in risky behaviors and have difficulties in other parts of their lives."
The report is the product of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, created last February by 49 state attorneys general to address what many of them said was the growing problem of sexual predators soliciting children online.
"The risks minors face online are complex and multifaceted and are in most cases not significantly different than those they face offline, and as they get older, minors themselves contribute to some of the problems," the study said.
The task force included executives from social networking services, as well as other technology and media company representatives.
The findings, if accepted by the law enforcement community, would be important for Facebook and MySpace.
Both sites have large numbers of younger members, and parents have expressed concern over strangers approaching their children on those sites.
Both have signed agreements with the attorneys general to increase their efforts to protect their youngest members from sexual predators.
MySpace was the subject of a 2006 lawsuit by a 14-year-old girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met on the site.
But the report suggests that the biggest threats to children's safety online come from other children.
"Youth report sexual solicitation of minors by minors more frequently, but these incidents, too, are understudied, underreported to law enforcement, and not part of most conversations about online safety," the task force said.
Bullying and harassment, especially by peers, were the most frequent problems minors faced online.
MySpace, which helped fund the study, said it supported its key conclusions. Other companies that helped to pay for it included Microsoft and AOL.
The report, which was released yesterday, suggests that the biggest threats to children's safety online may come from other children, and that their own behavior could contribute to the trouble they encounter.
"Minors are not equally at risk online," the report said. "Those who are most at risk often engage in risky behaviors and have difficulties in other parts of their lives."
The report is the product of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, created last February by 49 state attorneys general to address what many of them said was the growing problem of sexual predators soliciting children online.
"The risks minors face online are complex and multifaceted and are in most cases not significantly different than those they face offline, and as they get older, minors themselves contribute to some of the problems," the study said.
The task force included executives from social networking services, as well as other technology and media company representatives.
The findings, if accepted by the law enforcement community, would be important for Facebook and MySpace.
Both sites have large numbers of younger members, and parents have expressed concern over strangers approaching their children on those sites.
Both have signed agreements with the attorneys general to increase their efforts to protect their youngest members from sexual predators.
MySpace was the subject of a 2006 lawsuit by a 14-year-old girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met on the site.
But the report suggests that the biggest threats to children's safety online come from other children.
"Youth report sexual solicitation of minors by minors more frequently, but these incidents, too, are understudied, underreported to law enforcement, and not part of most conversations about online safety," the task force said.
Bullying and harassment, especially by peers, were the most frequent problems minors faced online.
MySpace, which helped fund the study, said it supported its key conclusions. Other companies that helped to pay for it included Microsoft and AOL.
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