I have been shouting from the proverbial mountaintops for more than a decade over this issue. I am very pleased to see that there is some action taking place, but there needs to be much more and of the right kind.

The truth that hurts the most is very simple, the only way children can ever be truly safe on the Internet is with an adult supervising their activity. This means that the adult must make the same effort in teaching their children the dangers of the Internet as they would teaching them to walk, talk or even drive. We can’t expect children to teach themselves the dangers of the Internet, just as we can’t expect them to self-teach safe driving, or how to be good citizens. As parents it is our responsibility to protect our children.

One recent proposal is the use of age verification which would require anyone on the Internet to prove their age when using certain resources. The implication is not that they would be stopped from seeing what they shouldn’t but that adults would not be allowed in the same forum or to communicate with these children.  This is a fundamentally flawed approach for several reasons. First, there is no real way to verify the age of the user on a particular computer. Second, even if there was a legitimate way to be sure that the individual signing up for the account or email address is really a child, there is nothing stopping the adult who signed them up from using the same account. Some adults have no problem using or exposing children to bad things and have been known to take their own children to meet other children for illicit activities. Third, age verification will only lead parents into believing falsely that their children will be safe if left unattended. Finally, there is rapidly growing evidence that many of the offenders on the Internet are under age themselves.

The same issues go for those who are asked to register their email addresses or screen names. Also, it takes all of a few seconds to sign up for an email address or new screen profile. This will no more assure that a pedophile doesn’t get to a child than a breathalyzer can assure that a drunk won’t drive their car. I have actually witnessed a foolish helper blowing into the electronic breathalyzer that was installed on a car to prevent a drunk from getting behind the wheel. In addition, there is a plethora of ways to hide the identity of a computer. With the vast number of Bots and other resources out there, any real creep who wants to prey on children will be able to do so with impunity.  

What we need to do is get serious about the criminal behaviors that are happening with increasing frequency. We have to make tough choices about funding the system that will make the people who prey on our children pay dearly for their transgressions.  The harsh reality is that we have too many people in prison for far less serious crimes than attempted sex with a child or lewd acts with a child. We need to get real about our priorities and enact laws that remove these people from our society. Find the money for more prison space or let the non-violent criminal go to make room for those who are really dangerous.  

Now to the only real solution, we must make it a national priority to be sure that every child and parent in America is educated about the real dangers of Internet use. There are many groups like Web Wise Kids, iKeep Safe and others that are ready for the job. If the government, and the companies making billions of dollars from our use of the Internet wanted to get serious about education they could very easily make a difference. The problem is that if they support comprehensive education, they might have fewer customers. If you look at the cost to provide the current program offered by Web Wise Kids, it cost around a dollar per child for comprehensive Internet education.  This includes the issues of predators, intellectual property theft, cyber bullying, identify theft, modeling scams and more. Why are these types of programs not a mandatory part of education?

Taking the Internet away from a child is not a solution either. I hear that many people have just decided not to allow their children to use computers. This is a huge mistake because, if they are to succeed in the new computer world, they must use them, know them and leverage the power they offer.