RISKS TO CHILDREN ON THE INTERNET

Developing the Next Generation of Responsible Cybercitizens

Several years ago, I attended a seminar on Educational Technology in University of Sto. Tomas (sponsored by the eLearning Society). Part of the two-day seminar is a discussion on cyber ethics. Yesterday, I was trying to clean up my stuffs and came across the leaflet which was handed out to us by the PCMEC Manila. So I thought of sharing it to you. Note: This was a leaflet of PCMEC Manila and they own the rights to this material.

RISKS TO CHILDREN ON THE INTERNET
(Categories of Computer Crimes against Children)

1. Online Harassment

• Cyberbullying. Children/youth are using the Internet to hurt other children/youth by sending unwanted messages(hate mails) that are cruel, vicious and sometimes threatening.
• Cyberstalking. Persistent sending of emails, obscene images, blackmails, or even death threats.Impersonating a victim online and sending abusive emails or fraudulent spams in the victim's name.

 2.  Online Extremism
                Extremist Content found on the Internet:

• Hate speech and overt racism
• Graphic images of blood and gore (without medical purpose)
• Depictions of human violence
• Expression of extreme nationalism or extreme political views
• Materials recruiting new member into a non-traditional religious group or cults
• Information on drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and the means to gain access to them
  

3. Exposure to Pornographic Materials

• Deliberate or Voluntary Exposure
• Going straight to known websites offering various types of sexual preferences.
• Going to chatrooms, newsgroups, e-groups that have topics for discussion relating to sexual issues.
• Going to chatrooms and starting a sexual conversations or "cybersex".
• Sharing pornographic files in a peer to peer discussion.
• Subscribing to mailing list of pornographic sites.
• Accidental or Unwanted Exposure
• Receiving unsolicited email containing sexually explicit material or links to such material.
• Improperly guessing the address of a website and as a result receiving pornography.
• Searching for terms with both sexual and non-sexual meaning in a search engine and clicking on the links returned (some of which may contain sexually oriented material).
• Mistyping a request for information or the address of a website.
• Misleading websites or "porn-napping".