Information an
d Communication Technologies (ICT) have created a new space in which children can both learn and play. It is a space of both opportunity and threat where they can develop, but where they also may become victims of crime or get entangled in illegal and immoral behaviour. Cyber-crime is an extension of conventional criminal activity, which capitalizes on the virtual operating environment. The fact that cyber-crimes are beginning to evolve is not surprising in light of the ever-increasing Internet usage. ICT makes it possible for the wrongdoers to target children individually or collectively. Possible motives include personal gratification of the offender, often by way of sexual exploitation, making money, or alluring children to gain access to emails or web sites from which viruses may be launched or the security of the child's computer may be compromised. Children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation via ICT because the medium is attractive, and they often use the Internet unsupervised and increasingly have access to portable devices with the capacity for data storage, digital photography and communications such as mobile phones. Electronic communications allow offenders to exploit the curiosity and interests of children for a number of purposes. Sexual exploitation may commence using seemingly innocent facilities such as Internet chat-rooms. Initial contact may be part of 'grooming' the child, whereby the child begins to trust the perpetrator and is desensitized to sexually explicit material including child pornography. Possible motives for grooming a child are: to engage in cyber sex, to distribute pornographic material to the child, or to persuade the child to submit pornographic images of themselves online. In some cases, grooming leads to a physical meeting in which the perpetrator sexually assaults the child. There are many ways that are used to redirect children who are online to pornographic sites. One is to send unsolicited email that contains images or links to images. 'Page-jacking' occurs when a normal search is diverted to a pornographic web site. An offender may deliberately set up web domains using common misspellings of sites popular among children to divert them to pornographic sites. Another method used is to manipulate the metadata associated with a site to allow it to be falsely indexed. Once a suspect site has been entered by a child, they may be subject to trapping where they cannot back out from that site and instead are referred back to the same site or other (usually pornographic) sites. Pop-up advertisements may also appear on screen to encourage traffic to pornographic sites. Peer-to-peer exchanges may also occur, especially in online chat-rooms. ICT can also make criminal exploitation of children possible without the child being directly involved. For example, it may be used to facilitate access, storage, trade or possession of pornography, to support information sharing among pedophile networks, and to assist with the organization of illegal activities such as child prostitution. Such activities can be done in relative secrecy. The issue of crime prevention is vital for the simple reason that holding back the reach of the Internet is futile, particularly in light of technological advancements. In addition, it is well accepted world over that law enforcement agencies or governments through the enactment of legislation cannot fully prevent any type of crime in isolation from the community. Equipping the community with effective crime prevention strategies designed to meet these new challenges is a priority. Filter software can be used to ensure that personal information such as name, contact details and credit card numbers are not released over the Internet. Essentially, filters work with the web-browser to either block selected sites, pages above a predetermined rating, or those containing certain language deemed explicit (referred to as blacklisting, white-listing and neutral labeling). A number of the programs rely on rating systems and therefore, parental setting of parameters is required. Filter software are widely available in the market. Some websites that provide useful crime prevention information for parents include:
d Communication Technologies (ICT) have created a new space in which children can both learn and play. It is a space of both opportunity and threat where they can develop, but where they also may become victims of crime or get entangled in illegal and immoral behaviour. Cyber-crime is an extension of conventional criminal activity, which capitalizes on the virtual operating environment. The fact that cyber-crimes are beginning to evolve is not surprising in light of the ever-increasing Internet usage. ICT makes it possible for the wrongdoers to target children individually or collectively. Possible motives include personal gratification of the offender, often by way of sexual exploitation, making money, or alluring children to gain access to emails or web sites from which viruses may be launched or the security of the child's computer may be compromised. Children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation via ICT because the medium is attractive, and they often use the Internet unsupervised and increasingly have access to portable devices with the capacity for data storage, digital photography and communications such as mobile phones. Electronic communications allow offenders to exploit the curiosity and interests of children for a number of purposes. Sexual exploitation may commence using seemingly innocent facilities such as Internet chat-rooms. Initial contact may be part of 'grooming' the child, whereby the child begins to trust the perpetrator and is desensitized to sexually explicit material including child pornography. Possible motives for grooming a child are: to engage in cyber sex, to distribute pornographic material to the child, or to persuade the child to submit pornographic images of themselves online. In some cases, grooming leads to a physical meeting in which the perpetrator sexually assaults the child. There are many ways that are used to redirect children who are online to pornographic sites. One is to send unsolicited email that contains images or links to images. 'Page-jacking' occurs when a normal search is diverted to a pornographic web site. An offender may deliberately set up web domains using common misspellings of sites popular among children to divert them to pornographic sites. Another method used is to manipulate the metadata associated with a site to allow it to be falsely indexed. Once a suspect site has been entered by a child, they may be subject to trapping where they cannot back out from that site and instead are referred back to the same site or other (usually pornographic) sites. Pop-up advertisements may also appear on screen to encourage traffic to pornographic sites. Peer-to-peer exchanges may also occur, especially in online chat-rooms. ICT can also make criminal exploitation of children possible without the child being directly involved. For example, it may be used to facilitate access, storage, trade or possession of pornography, to support information sharing among pedophile networks, and to assist with the organization of illegal activities such as child prostitution. Such activities can be done in relative secrecy. The issue of crime prevention is vital for the simple reason that holding back the reach of the Internet is futile, particularly in light of technological advancements. In addition, it is well accepted world over that law enforcement agencies or governments through the enactment of legislation cannot fully prevent any type of crime in isolation from the community. Equipping the community with effective crime prevention strategies designed to meet these new challenges is a priority. Filter software can be used to ensure that personal information such as name, contact details and credit card numbers are not released over the Internet. Essentially, filters work with the web-browser to either block selected sites, pages above a predetermined rating, or those containing certain language deemed explicit (referred to as blacklisting, white-listing and neutral labeling). A number of the programs rely on rating systems and therefore, parental setting of parameters is required. Filter software are widely available in the market. Some websites that provide useful crime prevention information for parents include: - Cyber Patrol (http://www.cyberpatrol.com/)
- Net Nanny (http://www.netnanny.com/)
- Bess (http://www.bess.com/)
- CYBERsitter (http://www.solidoak.com/)
- Internet Watchdog (http://www.charlesriver.com/titles/watchdog.html)
- KinderGuard (http://www.intergo.com/wow/kguard.htm)
- SurfWatch (http://www.surfwatch.com/)
- Time's Up! (http://www.timesup.com/)
