Protecting Online Youth from Internet Predators and Their Own Innocence
Last Thursday, Oprah repeated a story on Justin Berry. The original airdate was Feb 2006, but this rebroadcast was the first time I had seen or heard of this story. Thus, it’s worth discussing here…
Justin was an average 13-year-old honor student. One day, as the Internet was still blossoming, his friend brought over a webcam. Justin was impressed and got one for himself. The self-proclaimed “computer nerd” decided to join – as Oprah said – “an internet site where kids post profiles of themselves hoping to connect with each other” – aka social network site.
Almost instantly he got messages from other members. He had joined the site hoping to meet girls… instead, he unknowingly met a world of manipulative sexual predators and pedophiles.
What started out as friendly conversations with his webcam, turned into odd requests from his online friends. It started with ‘take your shirt off for $50’. The pedophiles helped him set up a paypal account and even an Amazon.com wishlist and would pay him and send him gifts as he continued to fulfill requests. Each request was another step forward… leading to full nudity and explicit sexual acts – alone and with others – on camera.
His mom had no clue. Ironically, she worked with kids who were sexually abused as her profession. She had installed software, but he circumvented it. [NOTE: this was old school filtering. Not any monitoring software. We pride ourselves in making PC Pandora so stealthy that no kids will ever know its running on the machine unless you mess up and let them know.]
When Justin was 16, pictures of him leaked out into his high school. He decided to move to Mexico with his father. This wonderful father of Justin’s only offered to help further his online child porn business and maximize the income when he learned of his son’s activity.
From about age 14 to 18, Justin owned and operated several different subscription-based professionally designed (with the help of his online friends) pornographic sites, where he was the star. He competed with other kids in the business, became addicted to cocaine and marijuana, and made lots of money while losing his childhood and teenage innocence.
When Justin turned 18, he continued to run his site and effectively went from victim to perpetrator. Not only that, but he basically hired other kids and got them into the business. He was a bonafide child porn king.
Then he met Kurt Eichenwald, a New York Times reporter who came across Justin’s pictures while working abroad on an entirely different story. He asked to meet Justin and slowly but surely convinced him to shut down the site, stop doing drugs (he was a full blown addict) and go to the authorities… he did. And the rest is now an FBI case and investigation.
You can read the full New York Times article written by Eichenwald that exposed this terrible side of the Internet in December 2005: Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World. It’s long and a bit older, but PLEASE READ IT.
What parents need to take away and understand here is that as much as he is a victim, he also consented to everything… On several occasions, he actually took plane trips to visit his “online friends” in various states and locations. Each time, he was repeatedly molested, then went home and carried on. He didn’t stop.
The argument here is that he is a victim because adults manipulated him. That may be the case and that is certainly a part of it… but another part is the inability of this common current-generation teen to distinguish between what is and what is not appropriate on the Internet - not knowing or conceiving of a world without it where not everyone is nice and anonymity doesn’t transpire. Remember, he turned on the PC each time. He gladly accepted money and gifts. [It's also worth noting he even tried several times himself to stop, but he couldn’t.]
What parents need to understand is that all kids are like this. It’s not the parents’ fault; it’s not he kids’ fault. It’s nature. It’s the reason our children need our protection form the dangers in the world that they will not recognize themselves. It’s a reason why parents need to be there and be active in their child’s life - to teach them and show them what is appropriate and what is not, so that in the event they are given this path – they will be able to say no on their own. Justin was young. The predators got to him and were successful. But parents everywhere can stop this from happening to their kids. They just need to be active. Justin’s mom openly said her son was being secretive in his room and would ‘x’ out of Internet sites when she walked in. If just ONCE she had been forceful and demanded to see what he was doing she would have discovered the truth.
Though this story is old and, yes, I will freely admit it is an EXTREME SCENARIO case – it is nonetheless a reminder that kids are kids. They can be manipulated by sickos online and without realizing what they are doing they will consent. (FYI: I do argue that there is a huge difference between a 13-year-old who is methodically groomed and 16-year-old who wants to live a promiscuous lifestyle.)
Parents need to be there to protect kids from both Internet predators – and their own innocence, which can turn to teenage stupidly in the blink of an eye. Parents need to monitor computer activity of their kids. Period. This is a whole new ballgame and it’s a whole new mentality of youth.
Use PC Pandora in your home to know exactly what your kids are doing online. Know whom they are talking to and where they are going. The virtual world is quickly melding with the real one, and consequences and ripples from each carry over into one another. You cannot afford to just let your kids roam the Internet without knowing what they do. PC Pandora monitoring software can be your eyes and ears. It’s a matter of personal safety… not spying or snooping. It’s called being a parent and letting your child know that you are the boss and you are going to protect them by any and all means necessary, which includes not letting them do stupid things that can haunt them later in life… or worse, end it prematurely.
I guess that’s enough of a rant. Again, the article is long and older, but please read it. We can always use a reminder… Oh yeah, and one last thing… for Pete’s sake people: DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS HAVE WEBCAMES INTHEIR BEDROOMS!!!!
Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World
Tags: computer monitoring software, cyberbullying, electronic bullying, facebook, internet predators, internet safety, key logging software, keylogger, monitor online activity, monitoring internet activity, monitoring PC activity, monitoring software, MySpace, online bullying, online predators, online safety, PC monitoring software, pc pandora