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A
Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
What
Should You Do If You Suspect Your Child Is Communicating With A
Sexual Predator On-line
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Consider
talking openly with your child about your suspicions. Tell them
about the dangers of computer-sex offenders.
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Review
what is on your child's computer. If you don't know how, ask a
friend, coworker, relative, or other knowledgeable person.
Pornography or any kind of sexual communication can be a warning
sign.
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Use
the Caller ID service to determine who is calling your child.
Most telephone companies that offer Caller ID also offer a
service that allows you to block your number from appearing on
someone else's Caller ID. Telephone companies also offer an
additional service feature that rejects incoming calls that you
block. This rejection feature prevents computer-sex offenders or
anyone else from calling your home anonymously.
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Devices
can be purchased that show telephone numbers that have been
dialed from your home phone. Additionally, the last number
called from your home phone can be retrieved provided that the
telephone is equipped with a redial feature. You will also need
a telephone pager to complete this retrieval.
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This
is done using a numeric-display pager and another phone that is
on the same line as the first phone with the redial feature.
Using the two phones and the pager, a call is placed from the
second phone to the pager. When the paging terminal beeps for
you to enter a telephone number, you press the redial button on
the first (or suspect) phone. The last number called from that
phone will then be displayed on the pager.
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Monitor
your child's access to all types of live electronic
communications (i.e., chat rooms, instant messages, Internet
Relay Chat, etc.), and monitor your child's e-mail. Computer-sex
offenders almost always meet potential victims via chat rooms.
After meeting a child on-line, they will continue to communicate
electronically often via e-mail.
Should
any of the following situations arise in your household, via the
Internet or on-line service, you should immediately contact your
local or state law enforcement agency, the FBI,
and the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children:
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Your
child or anyone in the household has received child pornography;
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Your
child has been sexually solicited by someone who knows that your
child is under 18 years of age;
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Your
child has received sexually explicit images from someone that
knows your child is under the age of 18.
If
o If one of these scenarios occurs, keep the computer turned
off in order to preserve any evidence for future law enforcement
use. Unless directed to do so by the law enforcement agency, you
should not attempt to copy any of the images and/or text found on
the computer.
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