FAIRMONT — Within the last several years, the Internet has become a prominent source for a copious amount of useful and beneficial information.

However, along with every positive phenomenon, there typically comes some negative side effects.

One of these side effects is the emergence of Internet predators. A group of disturbed adults who frequent the Worldwide Web looking to prey on children and teens to feed inappropriate and illegal sexual fantasies, Internet predators are becoming increasingly common in online chat rooms, blogs and Web sites popular among youths nationwide.

“It’s an emerging crime,” said Lawrence Nichols, associate professor and chair of the Division of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University.

Nichols, who specializes in the study of white collar crime, crime and deviance, and social crime, said as the Internet becomes more popular, these types of disturbed criminals will continue to emanate.

“Electronic and Internet behaviors are going to surface. The Internet is a new category, a new phenomenon, and it has changed the world in which we live in many ways,” he added. “As our lives become more mediated by the Internet and the Worldwide Web, these things are going to be emerging. The same way you have electronic commerce, you’re going to have electronic crime.”

According to Crisis Connection, a nonprofit group out of Indiana that serves victims of domestic and sexual violence, Internet predators are typically 94-96 percent male and range in age from 13 to 65 years of age. This group’s Web site goes on to explain that 12.5 percent of these male offenders are married, 1.5 percent are divorced and 86 percent are single.

Nichols agreed that judging from reports he has read, perpetrators who have been caught illegally soliciting youths on the Internet seem to fit into these basic demographics.

“It seems to be somewhat middle-aged males from reports,” he said. “Females go on, too, though. They are usually looking to date and searching for contact.”

Generally, Crisis Connection also classifies these offenders as polymorphous, meaning they will prey on anyone and anything. It then went on to state that the predators are generally very ritualistic and spend much of their time going to incredible lengths to locate and groom their prey.

The Web site goes on to classify these individuals into four basic categories — Collectors, Travelers, Manufacturers and Chatters — and lists various demographics and behaviors for the members of each of these groups.

In many cases, Crisis Connection reported that these Internet predators have the room where they keep their computers stocked with cameras, extra film, Viagra, soda cans to urinate into, towels, lubricants, pictures of other children, fetish objects, props and souvenirs from past victims to feed their obsessions.

According to the online Netsmartz Workshop, which serves as an educational safety resource provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, sexual predators frequent public chat rooms open to anyone and everyone on the Web and look for children to engage in conversations with.

The Web site said the offenders target victims by first making contact and then working to develop friendship, emotional reliance and interest in sexual topics. If this draws the victim, the predator will initiate meeting the child offline for sexual relations or spend as much time as necessary coaxing the youth toward a sexual relationship. In some cases, the Web site added that these people have gone as far as sending bus tickets or money to cover travel costs for children to come and meet them.

To catch these individuals, Nichols said law enforcement officials tend to use sting operations, such as those within MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” series.

On this show, officials target online sexual predators in chat rooms by pretending to be a youth who wants to meet him or her in person. Then, when the offender shows up to meet the “child,” sometimes driving long distances and making grave efforts to do so, they arrest the individual for their attempted pedophilia. The program is then aired to show viewers the dangers that could arise from seemingly harmless Internet chatting.

“It’s kind of like a blood sport,” said Nichols of the efforts made to catch offenders in these sting operations.

As the age of information continues to take off and things become more technologically advanced with the passage of time, Nichols said it is important for people to pay attention to the possibility of Internet predators and make efforts to safeguard themselves from the dangers that could arise.

“Given the Internet has only become available recently, this would have to be a growing problem,” he said. “In some cases, it’s not even a computer anymore because of things like hand-held wireless devices. With these things, more good things could happen on the Net, but it’s important to realize that more bad things could happen, too.”

E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.





MySpace.com site sparks deep concern



By Mallory Panuska

Times West Virginian



FAIRMONT — For Marci Leon, a local mother of four children between the ages of 8 and 15, the Internet can be a scary place.

To ease this fear, Leon said she and her husband make sure to monitor the online sites their children visit on a regular basis to make sure they are not exposed to anything suspicious or inappropriate.

“We know the sites they visit and once and a while, we get on and check the histories,” she said. “We tell them not to talk to anybody they don’t know or give out any personal information.”

One site that is a significant concern for Leon, as well as many other parents across the country, is MySpace.com.

Publicized as “a place for friends,” the online phenomenon that is MySpace.com seems to be becoming the nation’s latest cyber-fad.

For those who are unaware of the concept, MySpace is a public networking site that allows members to create online profiles about themselves and connect with fellow users by way of the Worldwide Web.

Complete with general information, lists of hobbies and interests, pictures, videos, journals, blogs and message boards, member profiles can contain as much or as little information about the user as he or she desires.

Typically using their accounts to connect with friends, acquaintances, family members and co-workers by adding them as “friends” to their personal sites, many ill-modest members divulge loads of personal information on their MySpace profiles. Additionally, all public messages sent to members by “friends” on their lists can be displayed for anyone who logs on to see.

According to the rules of the site, anyone age 14 and over can create a MySpace account and add anybody to their “friend” list who accepts their invitation. However, there are restrictions on listing telephone numbers, street addresses and last names as well as photographs containing nudity or obscene, lewd, excessively violent, harassing, sexually explicit or otherwise objectionable subject matter.

For those users who choose to keep their profiles public, anyone surfing the Web can log on and read everything on their sites. However, it is possible to keep MySpace profiles private except to users’ established “friends,” which the parents of several area youths said they have required of their own children due to the possible dangers that could arise.

“As far as MySpace goes, my oldest daughter has one, but she has protected herself by making it private,” said Vera Sansalone of her young teenage daughter. “She is only to invite people she knows on her site.”

Sansalone has three children between the ages of 8 and 13 and while her oldest daughter uses MySpace, she said she does not allow her younger children to create profiles yet.

In any case, she said she and her husband make sure to periodically check what their children are doing online and enforce basic ground rules about who they should and should not talk to when using MySpace or various instant messaging programs.

“A lot of what you teach your children is not to grant access to people just because they say they are somebody. We tell them to make sure they verify people’s identities,” she said. “We have talked about if a message pops up from someone they don’t know, they should not respond.”

Sansalone added that when it comes to strangers talking to her children on the Internet, it is no different than if a stranger comes to the door and asks to be let in. It is just something that should not be allowed.

“Sort of like how they are accustomed to the protocol of a stranger who comes to the house, the computer is not any different,” she said. “Someone is knocking on the computer, so to speak, and they should just not answer.”

Like Leon and Sansalone, Carmela Walter also monitors what her 12-year-old son does on the Internet to ensure that he is safe, especially when logging on to sites like MySpace.

“I heard they can be pretty dangerous,” said Walter of these public sites and chat rooms. “We try to watch him, read his profile and look at who he talks to. We try to sneak up on him when he is on the computer and see what he is doing sometimes.”

While Walter said she and her husband have discovered that their son pretty much just talks to friends his age that he knows from school, she said they make sure he still follows certain ground rules when logging on to various sites.

“We tell him not to talk to anybody he doesn’t know and not to give out his phone number, address or anything like that,” said Walter. “At first, I didn’t really think about any of this, but then I read things in the paper and saw things about predators, I started getting some concerns. Basically, it’s just the same rules as when you go out — you don’t talk to strangers on the street, so you don’t talk to strangers on the Internet.”

In all three of these cases, the parents said they have fortunately never experienced a situation in which someone strange or suspicious was trying to contact their children. However, they all agreed that it is something that should always be watched out for.

“I’ve had them read articles and watch things on television about MySpace and other sites, and warned them about dangers of giving out all of their information over the Internet,” said Leon of her children. “ We’ve talked about it all and so far, we haven’t had any trouble. But you never know what could happen.”

E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.





Law enforcement forced to develop new tactics



By Mallory Panuska

Times West Virginian



FAIRMONT — In today’s technological world, the newest place for sexual predators to graze is from behind their own computer screens.

Targeting youths in chat rooms and other public messaging and blogging sites, these dangerous individuals can be found all over cyberspace propositioning children and teens to engage in illegal online sexual conversations and activities. In some cases, these people have even gone as far as meeting their victims and proceeding to stalk, violate and even kill them.

As these offenders become more commonplace across the nation, law enforcement officials are developing new ways to find and capture them while also implementing programs to educate youths and parents about how to prevent scary online situations.

Even in Marion County, where recent online sexual predator cases have been few and far between, according to several local officials, efforts are still being made to make sure area youths are safe when surfing the Internet.

“We haven’t had much in Marion County, but we know it’s out there and know kids and parents need to be more aware when kids use the Internet,” said Cpl. Donnie Neal of the Fairmont Police Department of these types of cases. “With most people we talk to, the parents have become more aware because of things that have occurred nationally.”

As the county’s D.A.R.E. officer, Neal spends time within the schools, educating children about drugs, alcohol, violence and other issues that come up as they graduate into adolescence.

In the case of Internet crime, children are told not to give out any personal information such as their age, sex or location to people, to online chatters they do not know, and to report any suspicious activity to a parent or guardian, Neal said.

Neal added that even though Marion County has not seen many cases of this yet, he expects that some will emerge as the Internet becomes increasingly more popular.

“The more technology we see, the more you’ll see these crimes,” he said. “Usually, West Virginia runs a tad bit behind. But as people get more access to computers, there will be more of a likelihood it could happen.”

Agreeing with Neal’s predictions for the future of these types of crimes in Marion County, Sheriff Junior Slaughter said it is important for people to realize that online sexual predators can prey on victims anywhere.

“Any crime that can happen in a big city can happen here,” he said. “It can happen here, and it will happen here.”

Slaughter added that if a predator situation arose in Marion County, officials would probably try to catch the perpetrator in a sting operation. Much like other law enforcement teams have done in other areas of the country, officials would simply pose as a young child online, lure the offender somewhere, and then arrest him or her for attempting to victimize a minor.

If an online predator is caught this way, Detective Doris James said the offender’s official charge would depend on the extent of the involvement of the crime, which would range from contributing to the delinquency of a minor to sexual assault.

James added that in many cases, it is not always easy to catch these people, though, because children are not always aware of the dangers until it is too late. This is why it is important to educate youths about the possible risks of engaging in certain activities online.

“Unfortunately, a lot of kids don’t report things until it’s too late,” she said. “I think parents need to monitor what the children are doing on the Internet — not just the sites, but who they are chatting with. It’s also important to keep the computer in a common area of the house.”

Joining law enforcement officials in the fight against Internet crime, area schools are also instilling awareness among students through several local programs.

In the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff’s Association’s Safe-T-Net Program, local seventh- graders are given booklets with safety tips and guidelines for both children and parents about Internet predators. These booklets are sponsored by local businesses and help warn and educate young Internet users about the dangers that can occur online.

Another program that the schools sponsor for students is the 21st Century Skills Program, which educates children now from kindergarten to high school about safe Internet practices.

Since it is fairly new, this program has only recently been designed to include education about specific sites and how safe they are, but should develop more as it continues in the future, said Sally Morgan, technology integration coordinator.

“We are definitely aware of what can happen on the Internet, and we try to make other people more aware,” said Morgan. “So far, the program is going well and the teachers have been receptive. Everyone knows that students are on the computer non-stop when they go home.”

In addition to this program, Morgan also said that the state has installed a firewall on the school’s computer system. This firewall tracks things going in and out of the system through the Internet and keeps kids safe from any suspicious activity while they are surfing the Net at school.

Overall, local school and law enforcement officials said it is important to stay aware of the risks of the Internet as it becomes more popular in order to keep youths safe from the dangerous people lurking through cyberspace.

“There is a potential for problems as more and more kids learn to use the Internet and have computers at home,” said James. “More and more children are left to their own devices with no parent supervision, which puts them at risk.”

E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.





Internet predators lurking



These are the four categories that typical Internet Predators (males between the ages of 13 and 65) fall into with a list of some of their characteristics, according to the Crisis Connection Web site:

Collectors:

• Entry Level Offenders

• Begins with photographs of children from static locations on the Internet

• Generally escalates over time to dynamic locations which involves real-time interactions and the collection of Web Cam photos

• Range in age from 13 to old age



Manufacturers:

• Distribute child porn, usually by way of videotapes or CD-ROM’s

• Many are sexually involved with children and have criminal histories of sex offending

• Most likely to harbor runaways they coerce into making porn videos and posing for pictures that they eventually sell

• Have the latest computer camera equipment and are known to frequent public

locations where children congregate

• Range in age from 26 to 53

Travelers:

• Engage in online chat with children and use skills of manipulation and coercion to meet the child in person

• Most also collect child pornography

• Develop trust, chat about children’s concerns and interests and sympathize with the children and then begin conversations of sexual nature

• Send children money and bus or plane tickets to facilitate the youths running away and joining them

• Usually fall within the ages of 17 and 56, but majority are between 17 and 29

Chatters:

• Rarely involved in child porn

• Prefer to take on the role of mentor to children in Internet chat rooms where they spend lots of time

• Quickly engage in conversations of sex and are avid fans of cybersex

• The smallest group of Internet child sex predators



Here are some statistics from a Teen Internet Safety Study commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC2 focusing on details of teen Internet usage that was posted on the Netsmartz Workshop Web site:

Of polled 13-17 year-olds:

• 61 percent have a personal profile on a site such as MySpace, Friendster or Xanga and half have posted pictures of themselves online

• 40 percent who receive messages online from someone they don’t know reported they will usually reply and chat with that person

• 20 percent report that it is safe to share personal information on a public blog or networking site

• 37 percent said they are not very concerned or not concerned at all about someone using information they have posted online in ways they don’t want

• 33 percent said their parents or guardians know very little or nothing about what they do on the Internet

• 22 percent said their parents or guardians have never discussed Internet safety with them



Here are some results from a similar study on the level of Internet monitoring of parents:

• Over 51 percent either do not have or do not know if they have software on their computers that monitors what their teens do online

• 42 percent do not review the content of what their teens read and/or type in chat rooms or via instant messaging, while 58 percent said they do

• 28 percent do not know or are not sure if their teens talk to strangers online

• 30 percent allow their teens to use computers in private areas of the house