College football star Manti Te’o likely will suffer just personal embarrass-ment after the girlfriend he supposedly met online did not really exist. The same cannot be said for the teenagers who met Richard L. Finkbiner online.
Finkbiner has agreed to plead guilty to sexual exploitation of minors. Federal authorities say Finkbiner would visit anonymous video chat websites where he deceived teenagers into conducting sexually inappropriate behaviors that he secretly recorded. Finkbiner then allegedly threatened to post those images digitally unless the teens allowed him to record more explicit behaviors.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports 42 percent of 7th-9th graders reported communicating with at least one online stranger in the last year. In addition, one-third of children have experienced unwanted exposure to sexual material online, and 14 percent of youth 10-17 years old have received unwanted sexual solicitations online.
“Online predators currently seek out minors who are already engaging in risky behavior using online social networking sites and ‘anonymous’ chat websites,” said Joe Hogsett, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, whose office prosecuted Finkbiner. “In almost every case, the predator used online attention, affection and gifts to victimize the minors.
“The key to solving this problem is for parents to understand the scope of the challenge and become involved in a minor’s Internet social networking at an early age,” Hogsett added. “Street-smart minors, with involved parents, stay safe.”
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller recommends the free information and resources available at www.netsmartz.org. And Walt Mueller, whose Center for Parent Youth Understanding hosts the Digital Kids Initiative (www.digitalkidsinitiative.com), recommends the web filter Covenant Eyes.
But Mueller says filters do not guarantee online safety. Parents, he says, should assume their kids are going to encounter sexually explicit content or activity online, and handing technology to a child does not mean handing your parental duties to technology.
“It’s pretty simple,” Mueller said. “Set limits. Kids need limits.”
For example, parents can purchase password protected technology and keep computers where screens can be viewed at any time. Set a daily time limit for online activity, and increase the limit with age as parents see fit. In addition, set a curfew to turn off technology for the day. Importantly: no talking to strangers.
Mueller also encourages parents to join their kids online and stay ahead of the technology curve.
“Kids are always going to look for someplace to go where parents are not. We need to stay informed on what’s happening in the youth culture and know where our kids are because that changes almost daily.”
Locking the doors of our homes is much easier than guarding the doorways to cyberspace. Staying involved with kids online offers the highest return on Internet safety.
Bill Stanczykiewicz is President & CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute. He can be reached at iyi@iyi.org.
Columns
Columnist: Keeping kids safe online
- Columns
-
-
MAUREEN HAYDEN: Indiana liquor laws are confusing to all
Are they intended to regulate sales or level the playing field?
-
RAY DAY: Why not public schools?
School vouchers aggravate the misconception that private schools are better than public schools.
-
ED VASICEK: 'Ed'-itorial comments concerning the news
Chicago natives just don't lack opinions.
-
Hayden: From good to great in education
On the campaign trail last year and early into his administration, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said repeatedly that his goal as governor would be to take Indiana from “good to great.”
-
Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research. Instead, their words of wisdom come from a greater source — the heart, where they store and process life experiences. Unfortunately, some folks don’t receive the gift of maternal guidance, for various reasons.
-
Wolfsie: Making bird calls
One afternoon in 2011, my friend Eric spent a couple of hours over lunch explaining Twitter to me and I thought I understood it all, but as you’ll see from my first few tweets, I wasn’t very confident: “Is anyone getting this?”
-
Vasicek: Mother’s Day stresses
For two hours, the lady sitting next to another airplane passenger boasted about her grandchildren, producing a barrage of photographs. She finally realized that she had been talking the whole time, so she tried to make amends:
“Oh, I am sorry! I have monopolized the conversation. I will listen to you now. So please tell me: what do you think of my grandchildren?” -
Day: Sports as I see it
Most of us have times when we want to vent our anger about things that happen for no good reason whatsoever and there are some who just don’t give a darn about what changes we have each day. Take me for example. There are things going on every year in sports where we are the ones who buy the tickets, yet we have no say about what’s happening
-
Hicks: The real cause of Indiana’s ‘brain drain’
This week across Indiana bright, talented and well-educated young people pack up their meager campus belongings and head out to new jobs. Their employment prospects, for the minority who don’t yet have jobs, are fantastic
-
House of Burgess: Committing virtual identity suicide
I joined Facebook Sept. 22, 2004. That was just seven months after Mark Zuckerberg and his cohorts created the site. Needless to say, it looked and felt much different back then. At its inception, the social network was only open to a few select Ivy League colleges
- More Columns Headlines
-
MAUREEN HAYDEN: Indiana liquor laws are confusing to all
Johnson: Don't Blame Islam or UK Policy
Raw: 80-Year-Old Climbs Mount Everest
Wash. State Man Arrested Following Ricin Scare
Chain-Reaction School Bus Crash Injures About 50
Raw: Scuffles in London After Hacking Death
Texas Students Coach Teachers on Fitness
New Forecasting Tool Eyed for Hurricane Season
Meet MJ, the Bike Riding Tabby Cat
Britain Attack Believed Linked to Radical Islam
Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge
Man Shot While Questioned in Boston Probe
Weiner Launches Bid to Become NYC Mayor
Okla. Teens Get Video of Deadly Tornado Overhead
School Storm Protection Spotty in Tornado Zones
9-year-old Tornado Victim Loved Family, Singing
Moore Native Toby Keith Tours Tornado Damage
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Raw: Aftermath of Deadly Attack in London
Paperless Scanner, Vision of the Future
