Sexual Predators Can Create Online Dangers

Channel 8 wants to warn parents…There are popular websites that sexual predators can use to meet your children. And believe it or not, your kids may be dangling the bait right in front of these sexual predators.

What many parents may not know is that their kids are exposing every little detail of their lives…so much so, that anyone, including sexual predators, can find them at any minute.

Myspace, facebook, xanga, buddypics… These are the names of just some of the most popular blog sites on the Internet.  They're names many parents don't have a clue about.  But for many teens, life revolves around these pages.

The Nebraska State Patrol says these sites can be dangerous.  Officials say anybody who's online, and isn't protecting their information, is putting themselves in harm's way. They say sites like myspace are catologs for sexual predators, especially when teens put too much information on their pages. Things like their full name, phone number and even addresses, not to mention enticing photos.

Nebraska has had some recent cases involving predators who found their victims on blog sites.  19-year-old Jason Spiehs of Elkhorn was arrested on 1st degree sexual assualt charges for engaging in sexual activity with a 13-year-old victim in La Vista that he met on myspace. 34-year-old Brandon Le of Lincoln was also arrested on 1st degree sexual assault charges after he was caught with a 15-year-old male victim he met on buddypics, posing as someone he wasn't.

There are ways parents can help protect their children.  It's good to get familiar with kids' favorite on-line sites.   Parents should ask to see their teens' blogging pages.  Also, they should place computers in family rooms so they can monitor their childrens' computer use.  You may even want to buy software to monitor web activity.

It's also a good idea for teens to never post their full name, date of birth, phone number, address or school name. Myspace actually has safety tips such as these on their site, but the popularity of the blogging craze at times seems to override the fineprint…They told us that the safety and importance of their 78 million members is of utmost importance. Myspace officials say they just recently hired a chief security officer to better monitor their site.

If you are a parent who is interested in finding out more information about software you can put onto your kids' computer, you can contact any sales associate at a software or electronic store.