Friday July 20, 2007, 5:41 pm
http://www.netpredator.com/

Friday July 20, 2007, 5:42 pm
NEW YORK–Almost every lesson on Internet safety warns against posting personal information.

Researchers now suggest, though, that such advice, however well-intentioned, doesn't necessarily make children safer from predators and related threats.
In a recent study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, researchers found no evidence that sharing personal information increases the chances of online victimization. Rather, victimization is likely to result from other online behaviour, such as talking about sex with people met online or intentionally embarrassing someone else on the Internet.

Michele Ybarra, one of the study's authors and president of the non-profit Internet Solutions for Kids, warns that parents and educators must now reassess the lessons.

Instead of discouraging children from communicating, she says, the better approach is to teach them about which at-risk behaviours to avoid and warning signs to spot.

"We now need to be a lot more specific and accurate in our message," she says. The research was based on telephone surveys of 1,500 Internet users ages 10 to 17.

"Most of these sexual-victimization (cases) happen at the hands of people they know, and a lot happen at the hands of peers," says Janis Wolak, co-author of both studies and a researcher at the University of New Hampshire.

The research also found that online victims tend to be teens with troubles offline, such as poor relationships with parents, loneliness and depression.

Many Internet-safety experts, however, remain skeptical that parents and educators can let their guard down on the posting of personal information.