Monday, April 6, 2009

Hypertext Essay Revised Final Draft

Purpose: Government awareness regarding prevention of online predators.

Research Question:

What role does and/or should the government play for online predators?

The government is usually a group of people that sets and controls public rules, and puts these rules into effect through traditions, organizations, and laws within each state in a country. For example anyone in law enforcement, federal agencies, etc.

The role of the government is to monitor people when using the internet to keep everyone safe, and to see if anyone is breaking the law rules. They also proactively investigate and take action on online predators that pose as minors or elders to get their victims. The government does and should inform a lot of information and enforces any serious or non serious issue that concerns the public's safety in its country.

What authority/role should/do non-government groups - like facebook - play?

Non-government groups such as facebook, etc are social networking groups that enable individuals to communicate with their family, friends, and/or coworkers, etc. These social networks also require rules. They have the authority to monitor and block/ban users from using their website if they find or receive any inappropriate action or information displayed on their site. These social networking sites are working, trying their best, are making an attempt, and should keep working on coming up with new and effective ways to minimize things like being a victim of online predators and/or identity theft, etc. and are trying to work to keep everyone safe and everyone's information on their profiles safe. These sites give people the option to publicize or keep their information private. Facebook has account and privacy settings that lets a person control what he or she wants to or does not want to show to the public.

What are the effective strategies that the government can use or are already using to prevent online predators?

Research says that Governor John Lynch from New Hampshire asked the senate committee to help protect children from online predators by supporting, continue supporting and spreading the news about "The Online Child Safety Act" that was created with the Attorney General and Law Enforcement. This comes from the Child Protection Act of 2006. In the year 2008, the state added an internet crimes prosecutor to address this issue.

Another way the government or even ourselves can do to protect and/or prevent online predators is for everyone everywhere to be educating parents and children about the harmful aspect of the Internet. The government has already put up a system online for example a "Nationwide sex offender mapping" where anyone can go to and search for any sex offender near or in the area they live in. Once the sex offender is spotted an individual can call for help if they have any concerns. Also, some sites are free and others have to pay to get more detail. New Technology from the government: http://www.mapsexoffenders.com/

Another way to prevent online predators is to install two parental security programs called the "Sentry At Home Protect Your Children From Online Sexual Predators and Inappropraite Content" and "Sentry Remote Monitor and Control Everything Your Children Do Online" on your computer. It is fast and easy to install and use in no time. Only "You" the parent can see your child's every move online you name it. No one else knows your on but you. Parents and any adult can log on from any computer and cell phone. It has a built in library that has keywords and phrases that police give out to help identify possible problems before they actually happen.

There is also a an act/law that is called "The Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-400, 122 Stat. 4224-4228)". This act allows sex offenders to give the attorney general information of internet identifiers by using a safe system that allows them to compare users of the internet identifiers websites to information on the National Sex Offender Registry. This system allows them to catch who is pretending to be someone else, sexual harrassing others, and much more.

According to research, Myspace and Facebook are taking precaution measures due to parents and law to keep everyone safe to have private profiles with limited information. They are going to come up with better ways to check if the user's age is actually there real age because young children fake their age to have a nice cool looking profile to either show off to their friends and/or want to be able to communicate with others because others are doing the same, therefore in their minds they might think "Why can't i do it or have one of my own". Children may also think this way to have that sense of independence "I have my OWN Myspace or Facebook, etc".

Online predators is not a joke and needs to be taken seriously and the more informed we are (to extend and apply) the more we can come together to diminish harmful encounters such as this one. One is in need of help online and offline, and it is our duties as parents, teachers, professionals, and especially "the government" to stop matters like this one in more ways than one. There is a solution. It is possible if we all work together as a team.


Preliminary Sources:

Governments role:
http://www.usaservices.gov/pdf_docs/Spring2008.pdf
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagNews/release.php?id=2828

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-15113981.html
http://www.enough.org/inside.php?tag=internetsafety101

Includes safe websites for children:
http://www.darkness2light.org/prevention/online_safety.asp

New Technology from the government:
http://www.mapsexoffenders.com/

Government help:
http://www.governor.nh.gov/news/2008/031008child.html
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/operationpredator.htm
http://www.glin.gov/view.action?glinID=71826#
http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?RecNum=5368&SubjectID=50

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