FACEBOOK is not safe for your children

Predator groomed girl (14) for sex acts after 'meeting' on Facebook

www.independent.ie...

A 42-year-old father of four has been jailed for nine years for grooming a 14-year-old girl for sex after he had made contact with her through Facebook.

www.independent.ie...
Another horrific story has emerged about Facebook today. A 42 year old man used the site to groom a young girl for sex.

Members must be 13 or over to join facebook. Many children join facebook and fake their year of birth. Many parents allow their kids on facebook and think it is a safe environment. It is clearly not. Most parents allow their children on sites like facebook thinking its fine. Children should not be allowed on Facebook or any internet sites unless they have an adult present with them.

Story's of children being groomed on facebook and the site been used by predators are becoming more and more commonplace.

More and more parents I talk to tell me they have to let their kids online or they are going to be loosing out. Many also claim to be too busy to be able to supervise their kids online. Fair enough if you want your kids internet savvy but don't leave them alone on it.

Parents must realise that facebook and the internet are not child friendly. You would not leave your child alone in a room full of strange men, so why do parents think this is ok on the internet?
www.independent.ie...

The only guaranteed way is to sit and be watching what they do with a itchy trigger finger on a power switch, but by the time they're 14 they should be net savvy enough to be able to spot someone dodgy and know how to report it up the line

Remember all the men are boys, the women are men and the boys are the FBI

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Remember all the men are boys, the women are men and the boys are the FBI

Really?

This was a 42 year old man grooming a 14year old girl?

More and more people think the internet is safe for kids and it is only getting worse.

Its an old saying i remember for basically don't trust anyone on the internet as nobody is who they seem

and anyone who thinks the internet is a nice place full of bunnies and rainbows doesn't know much about the web or lives in a world with a whitelist of websites and even youtube has been raided posting pr0n hiding in videos that seemed safe

reply to post by lacrimaererum







In the article, the presiding judge "told him to stay away from the internet and refrain from befriending, associating with or otherwise engaging with persons under 18." Isn't that similar to having a wolf on a chicken farm without a fence? Puhleeeese.....This is the problem, as the sentences are not harsh enough...do you really believe this man will get any worthwhile rehabilitation while in jail? Will he REALLY serve 9 years? I suspect NOT!

reply to post by lacrimaererum


I have never joined (Facebook) or (Twitter) etc....I just never felt they were safe; my son has never joined them either.

You are right...Facebook is not safe for children and many adults too.

Unfortunately not all parents ...are good parents...and some of the wonderful, good, innocent children get fooled by crafty criminals who lie to them and fool them; and their parents do not take enough of an interest in their lives and what they are doing; they allow the computer to babysit their children.

The safety of children is a major concern of mine; if I had the power to protect and save them all...I would.

Same thing with Twitter. I have been so careful with monitoring my 11-year-old daughter's laptop computer, but she also has an ipod touch. I thought she was only playing games on it, but found out after the fact that she had opened a twitter acct on her ipod. I never even thought to monitor the ipod. Needless to say, she had the ipod confiscated for a period of time as punishment -- and now I monitor the ipod as well as the laptop. Damn technology!!!

ETA: she is not allowed to have a facebook or twitter acct at all - and probably won't 'til she 18, if I have anything to say about it.

reply to post by elrem48


no chance he serves 9. maybe half that. that's a big maybe. also he will be in a special prison for sex offenders so no harm will come to him. can you believe that. they keep them safe in a special prison.

i just can't get over how many parents think i am mad because i will not allow my kids on the net without being present.


facebook is also linked to askfm on its site in Ireland. several kids in Ireland have committed suicide because of abuse on the site in the past year.

its just not a good place for kids.

Originally posted by lacrimaererum
reply to post by elrem48

 

no chance he serves 9. maybe half that. that's a big maybe. also he will be in a special prison for sex offenders so no harm will come to him. can you believe that. they keep them safe in a special prison.

i just can't get over how many parents think i am mad because i will not allow my kids on the net without being present.


facebook is also linked to askfm on its site in Ireland. several kids in Ireland have committed suicide because of abuse on the site in the past year.

its just not a good place for kids.

I commend you for your parental vigilance!

reply to post by lacrimaererum


Potential members might have to be 13 to sign up, and people do easily lie about their ages, and even though it can sometimes be difficult to watch everything a kid does online (or away from home), the parent still needs to take some responsibility for the safety of their children (obviously).

There ARE security measures that can be taken to where no one can find or contact a person on FB without being in the same network (such as a school) or without being "friends," which pretty much shields one from everyone else. Hell, you can even prevent anyone except for friends from messaging or friend requesting you. A parent could do this, easily, and should have, for a minor.

That said, maybe FB should have some sort of parental controls for minors. While a teen could easily change the privacy setting as mentioned above, if they were "locked out" from undoing the changes, it might make predators less able to target these people. And being outside the network, no contact could likely be made.

Just a thought.

ETA:

This guy's pretty messed up. The most determined predator with spend as much time as necessary gaining trust to achieve his or her goal. In case, "grooming."

Scares the crap outta me when I think of the future and the online/new wave of social network websites as I have two toddlers (boy 4 and a girl 6). Me and my wife discuss this often. I even downgraded my smartphone to a regular flip phone. We do monitor their time on our laptops for the cartoons they watch on it but no Ipads or tablets in the house (though my daughter has been asking for it). The cable channels are limited with few kids channels so they're not left outta touch with the latest kids shows or toons. We do let them handle our laptops and desktops which are password protected and child safety enabled. They're still too young but it is amazing how both of them picked up the functionality and usage of the hardware. General rule of thumb is allow 2 hours max per day of entertainment (tv/laptop/desktop).

Originally posted by lacrimaererum
reply to post by elrem48

 

facebook is also linked to askfm on its site in Ireland. several kids in Ireland have committed suicide because of abuse on the site in the past year.

Is the media supporting by spreading the news or bringing awareness to the public in Ireland? or the outlets are sold out?

I've seen some of the nasty arguments on Facebook. Are you sure Facebook is safe for adults

reply to post by lacrimaererum


Children are not supposed to be on Face Book. I wish parents would pay more attention to what their children are doing on line. That poor girl could have been murdered.

Children should not be allowed on Facebook. Facebook shouldn't allow anyone under the age of 18 to register. Then, the parents should make sure their kids aren't on it.
Facebook is a government psy-op. Everyone should know this by now and stop adding updated photos of themselves and their children.
It's also a hotbed for criminal activity since so many adults are too stupid to know you shouldn't be saying, "Hey! I'll be on vacation until April 15th!", which translates to: "Please come rob me!"
If adults are this dumb, what should we be expecting from the children on Facebook? I'm sure they're revealing much more sensitive information.