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Web Dangers Challenge Parents, Teens

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Ivonne D'amato, Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.

Mar. 15--STATE COLLEGE -- Kim Kling set boundaries on Internet use by her two daughters when they were very young.

That foundation has built trust, and the State College resident says she no longer feels she has to monitor their every online move.

"There are people that are out there that are not safe, that would do anything they could to prey on young people who don't know any better," Kling said. "But you have to trust your kids. I have a lot of trust in them because I taught them at an early age."

Kling, whose daughters are now 14 and 17, said it's important to ask your children a lot of questions and take advantage of the parental settings on home computers. Until trust is established, children should only be allowed to go online when an adult is present.

The need for parents and children to beware on the Internet was highlighted earlier this month when FBI officials in Connecticut said a pair of undercover agents went on MySpace, a social networking Web site, to track down two men who had sexually assaulted underage girls they contact through the site.

In January, a 14-year-old New Jersey girl was found dead after friends say she had been in contact with an older man online. Later that month, a Houston man was accused of luring a 15-year-old-girl into a relationship through MySpace.

Kling's youngest daughter, Christine, has a MySpace account. And although Kling occasionally monitors it, she was surprised to find that Christina submitted a false age.

MySpace doesn't allow members younger than 14 and puts restrictions on 14-year-olds.

Christina said she wasn't trying to get around the restrictions -- she just didn't want to give much information about herself.

"I left out my hometown and put an older age," Christina said. "I don't want to put any real information about me out there."

MySpace, a division of News Corp., has 60 million members. Facebook and Xanga are similar sites.

MySpace's CEO Chris DeWolf maintains that the hazards are not in the site itself, but on the Internet, and he says parents should monitor their children's Internet activity.

"If you go to the mall and start talking to strange people, bad things can happen," said DeWolf, a co-founder of the site. "You've got to take the same precautions on the Internet."

Teri Bunton, of Bellefonte, said she is not surprised that teens lie about their ages to get on MySpace.

"You can lie no matter where you are online," she said. "You have to be aware of what your children are doing."

Bunton's daughter Ashleigh has a MySpace account.

The 15-year-old said she avoids providing personal information for the site's user profiles and doesn't correspond with anyone she doesn't know. She admits that she knows teens who lie about their ages on the site but still feels MySpace is "pretty safe."

Sara Warner, 16, of Fairview, formerly of Centre County, said that when she set up her MySpace account, she opted for the privacy controls that allow her to block people she doesn't want to talk to.

"Don't approve anyone to be your friend if you don't know them," she said. "If you approve them, you open a direct connection."

DeWolf recommends such safety precaution for all MySpace users.

"Don't post anything you wouldn't want the world to know. On the Internet, people aren't always who they say they are," he said.

"If you keep some of those safety tips in mind, the Internet can be a pretty safe place."

DeWolf said the site uses a computer program that analyzes user profiles and flags members likely to be under 14. More than 200,000 users have been deleted, he said.

But "it's way too easy" to lie about your age, said 15-year-old Taylor Zimmerman, who lives in Mifflin County.

Taylor said she does not have a profile on MySpace, but her friends are members and they post personal information and often lie about their ages to avoid the restrictions.

"They just do it because everybody else does it," Taylor said. "It's not safe."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.

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Source: Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.)

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