Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408040045
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SANDY ROVNER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Some of them, in fact, may be prowled by real-life villains every bit as evil as those in the fantasy games the youngsters play on-line.
``You can become very close to people very quickly when you're on-line,'' says Dan Fisher, a Palm Bay, Fla., police investigator and a member of the Law Enforcement Electronic Technology Assistance Committee, part of a new effort to make police as familiar with the computer world of virtual reality as these savvy criminals.
Law-enforcement officials say children, often not realizing the danger, sometimes give out their names, addresses and phone numbers to people they meet over the computer network. This makes them vulnerable targets for a number of illegal activities, including sexual abuse, officials say.
For people who have computers with modems that allow them to call outside the home and connect up with networks, there are a number of on-line services, such as Prodigy, America on Line and Compuserve, that offer a wide variety of options to users.
Included in these services are forums called bulletin boards that allow users to talk electronically with other users by posting public notes. These boards are divided into special interests, such as arts, television, lifestyles, seniors, health or teens. These permit individuals to contact other computer users privately by sending electronic mail, known as E-mail, through the Internet, the vast network of computer connections throughout the world.
Although there are laws banning transmission of child porn by computer, the FBI does not monitor bulletin boards, and, in a special statement issued recently on computer bulletin boards, it notes it does not keep statistics on the problem. Law-enforcement efforts are complicated by the fact that E-mail transmissions are ``regarded as having the same privacy rights of surface mail,'' the FBI statement noted.
Frank Clark, a computer-crime specialist in Fresno, Calif., who helps teach other police departments about electronic crimes, said there are about 25,000 private boards on the Internet in the country. Yet, ``we found that virtually no one was working those kinds of crimes at all,'' he said.
He travels throughout the United States and Canada giving courses to law-enforcement agencies on computer crimes. He cites one episode at a recent meeting in Ottawa at which he had a group of investigators sign on to a major computer service with false identifications and pretend to be children. ``Then I had them post a couple of innocuous messages on teens' boards,'' he says. ``The next day we had solicitations for nude pictures, phone sex and offers to meet in person for sex.''
Myrna Blinn, an Idaho grandmother, has worked with child-abuse groups for years and is among a number of volunteers who warn teen-agers via computer bulletin boards not to give away too much personal information to overly friendly electronic mail pals.
She said she received an anguished E-mail letter from a 14-year-old girl who had been corresponding on-line with someone she thought was a teen-age boy. She had given him her phone number, but the boy turned out to be a 51-year-old man and he began barraging her with indecent phone calls. She was afraid to tell her family. Blinn and two of her friends confronted the man electronically and turned over information about him to police officials, who are investigating the case. They also arranged for the girl to get counseling.
Clark believes the tide is beginning to turn as parents and law-enforcement officials are recognizing the possibility of problems. Computer services are also beginning to monitor their bulletin boards and helping police stop any unlawful activities, he said.
Despite increasing concerns, parents are often stymied in their efforts to monitor their kids because ``the children are more computer-literate than the parents,'' Clark says. To counter that, Clark and his colleagues have developed a brochure they distribute at schools, churches and community meetings. It recommends:
If possible, keep the computer in a common area of the home. If a modem is being used, monitor times and numbers dialed.
Know the warning signs of ``computer addiction'' to make sure children aren't becoming obsessed with the computer service. One clue is the storage of computer files ending in GIF, JPG, BMP, TIF, PCX, DL and GL. ``These,'' the brochure notes, ``are video or graphic-image files and parents should know what they illustrate.''
The brochure also offers ``Tips for Safe Computing'' for teens and parents:
Never give out personal information, especially full names, addresses or financial information, to anyone you meet on computer bulletin boards.
Never respond to anyone who leaves you ``obnoxious, sexual or menacing E-mail.''
Never set up face-to-face meetings with anyone you meet on a bulletin board.
The brochure also urges parents to notify police of ``all attempts by adults to set up meetings with your children. This is by far the most dangerous situation for children.''
Sandy Rovner is a reporter with The Washington Post's Health section.
The Washington Post
by CNB