Assessing the Risks


People can send visual images such as photos and videos out into the world in a variety of ways. Images can be sent via e-mail or instant messaging, uploaded to blogs, and posted in online auctions, in classified ads, or on discussion boards. Sending images that identify you or your location isn't the problem. Posting them publicly is. Putting images where anyone can view them can create risk if you have not been taught how to look at these images through a predator's eyes, and become conscious about exactly what information you are sharing.

Think About It

According to Consumer Reports WebWatch, half of Internet users (47 percent) say that, while browsing, they have seen digital images that have been manipulated. Tens of thousands of images have been manipulated in some way for a wide variety of reasons. Some people touch up images to make them clearer or to be funny; some are committing fraud; and still others are out to make money from the billion-dollar pornography industry.


What Forms of Visual Information Put You at Risk?

The potential risks in posting identifying images publicly don't stop with photos uploaded from your computer. Two other forms of images pose a risk: videos and videocam feeds. These images might be made public through a computer, mobile phone, game console, or other devices.

Video and Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies are a great way for grandparents, friends, and even parents who travel to stay in touch with their kids. These technologies remove the barrier of typing that young children and some elderly people struggle with. They allow for a natural flow of conversation.

But the flip side of this particular coin is that video and VoIP also allow predators to communicate with those very young children who can't type, widening their field of potential victims. These audio and visual messages also can't be tracked by parental control software yet, as some text-based communications can be.

Video cameras (also called videocams or webcams) make it possible to send a live image of yourself out onto the Web. It's in the nature of many predators to want to see as much of their victims as they can. They encourage victims to show more of themselves or their surroundings in videocam images. A child can progress from taking his shirt off when sitting by the pool at the urging of a predator to providing live sex shows for money. Each small step in between will seem innocent, only a small increment in the process, until the child is hooked on the money and/or attention he or she begins to crave.

A predator uses such images for a variety of purposes, from simply viewing them for a thrill to selling them or using them to blackmail the victim into further cooperation. These images can even be used to train new victims about behaviors the predator wants them to emulate.

Not every videocam show is homegrown. Technology advances actually allow scheduled sex-abuse broadcasts, often involving children. These occur live for potentially large audiences who can participate virtually from around the world. People actually subscribe to these shows, just as you subscribe to a cable channel. Catalogs of potential victims are available to allow the viewing audience to pick the program and even to select new targets that match their interests.

Find Out More

Check out a revealing article about a real-life webcam sex scandal in the December 19, 2005 New York Times: "Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World" (www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/national/19kids.ready.html?ei=5090&en=aea51b3919b2361a&ex=1292648400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print). The teenage boy discussed in this article eventually became a videocam porn star, lured by the money a predator offered him, as well as the attention he received.




Look Both Ways. Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
Look Both Ways: Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
ISBN: 0735623473
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 157
Authors: Linda Criddle

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