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 Children warned of internet dangers 27/12/2004 - 11:09:05 More Irish children are now displaying their photographs on the internet which can lead to strangers discovering their location, it has emerged. Rachel O’Connell of the University of Central Lancashire said all children needed to use more “critical reasoning” when considering giving anyone their picture or passing out contact details. Ms O’Connell, who is working on a new internet site Websafecrackers.com to ensure children form a more “critical reasoning” when using technology, said the latest development involved children uploading pictures onto the internet from their mobile phones. “It is going to become a much bigger issue as the ease with which people can send photos from their phones to immediately be published on the net carries a risk,” Ms O’Connell, who also worked to establish the world-renowned Irish database Copine to help identify the children in abuse pictures on the internet, said. The concern about cyber stalking and online grooming by paedophiles has been growing rapidly in recent years with the onslaught of the internet and mobile phone technologies. Ms O’Connell, who is now the director of the Cyberspace Research Unit at the university, said there had been a strong safety campaign in the UK, and similarly in Ireland, emphasising the dangers of giving out personal information like phone numbers. The website consultant said that out of a group of 11-year-old children surveyed this year there was a decline in the number of children giving out their personal information. “However, there was an increase of around 6% reported in children giving out their photos. A key message to get across is that a photo is like an identity, if you can see the picture, you can see the kid,” Ms O’Connell stressed, with many children receive camera phones for Christmas. “For example they may unwittingly be giving out location information when they send a photograph of yourself and a friend, as a bus might be passing and it might say an area, or there might be a street name.” She warned that adults with a sexual interest in children can look at the portfolios for chatrooms, that often contain pictures, to judge if they might want to contact them. Ms O’Connell, who is working on the website project with Microsoft, said young adults need to consider who is receiving the picture and what kind of information it contains. “It is not only users out there with really bad intent. People can take a picture, modify it so the person has a big nose, and use it to bully. We need to make sure they are aware of such an issue and what can be implemented to measure the risk.” Ms O’Connell said that young people adapted quickly to new technologies, such as bluetooth which allows people pass information via mobiles over short distances. “The whole ethos of websafecrackers is to educate and increase the critical reasoning scenario of children,” said Ms O’Connell. She said the new sub-section on the website, which has canvassed teenagers’ opinions, would focus on the safe use of mobile phones including theft, bullying and then sending pictures over the internet. “The critical reasoning strategy is developed using real world cases, such as stalking, to take children through each stage so they have an understanding of what can happen.” She added: “Parents fear the dangers and they then over-emphasise. They say if anything bad happens to you on the internet or on the mobile phone we’ll turn it off and that is counterproductive. As it is putting them in a position that they can’t take any problems to the parents as they might lose something that is really important to them.” The website, which had four million hits last month, will form part of the resources highlighted in the European Internet Safety Day, which is being held on February 8 next. The National Centre for Technology in Education, which has been working to increase awareness of the internet and the risks associated with it for the past two years, will be organising the Irish events. |
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