Parents: Wake Up to the New Red-Light District

by   Bill Parker                                                                                                                                              Vol. XIV, No. 3, March 2001

Imagine your eight-year-old straying, open-jawed and wide-eyed, into the littered passageways of your city's red-light district. Flashing neon signs ensnare him in their spell, luring him with tempting curiosities -- nude dancers, peep shows, XXX videos, sex toys. Sinister characters enveloped in smoke and lust usher him through dark doorways into their depraved world of perversity, hate, and destruction.

As a parent, not much could be more horrifying than to watch my child's innocence prematurely shattered by exposure to the worst degradation our society can dredge up. Yet, that's just what many parents do by granting children unrestricted access to the red-light district of the new Internet cyber-city. Daily, we hear horror stories emanating from this danger zone of bomb-making instructions, child pornography, pedophiles seeking children, and hate propaganda. Have we not heard enough? American parents must wake up and protect our children from the real and present danger of Internet excesses.

The answer is not to flip the power switch and deny children access to the cyber-city. On the other side of town from the red-light district, the Internet boasts a collection of cultural and educational opportunities to rival any modem metropolis. Museums, zoos, scientific laboratories, encyclopedias, games, and other interactive tools of learning are too valuable to pass up with a flick of the switch. There are better solutions.

Just because the red-light district thrives doesn't mean parents are powerless to protect their children while giving them access to all the benefits of the Internet. A recent study by Family PC said that only 20 percent of families use parental controls built into their browser or Internet Service Provider (ISP), and only six percent use blocking software. Nearly 20 percent of parents say they take no special precautions for their children. Yet, in a baffling contradiction, a study by Arbitron NewMedia reveals that 71 percent of parents are extremely concerned about children's web habits and believe that careful adult supervision is needed. The same study shows that almost half of adults think the Internet is dangerous for children due to easy access to X-rated content.

American parents need to recognize the incongruity between our handwringing over the dangers of the Internet and our failure to protect our children. Are we waiting for the government to pass a law regulating Internet pornographers? Or are we hoping the industry will regulate itself? Protecting children is ultimately not the government's responsibility, nor the technology industry's responsibility -- it's ours.

Sadly, too many of us as parents have an unrealistic expectation that our children will resist the easy access, temptations, and ever in-your-face exposure to the worst of the Internet. Or somehow protect themselves.

Do we need more evidence of the dangers? Take a look at a few recent news items. A North Carolina man pleaded guilty to charges that he traveled to New York to have sex with a 15-year-old girl he met over the Internet. A Golden, CO, man dealing in hard-core child pornography via the Internet offered clients around the world more than 200 videotapes and 4,300 photos of young boys engaged in explicit sexual acts. In March 1995 there was one hate site on the lnternet; by March 1999, there were 1,426, with more appearing daily. A virtual visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue turned out to be an XXX-rated tour of a sex-oriented site. In 1998, profits from cyberporn topped $1 billion, up 30 percent from the year before. "Sex" is the third most frequently searched word on the Internet.

Don't deceive yourself by thinking that your child won't encounter sex, hate, or violence while exploring the Internet either intentionally or accidentally. Stumbling into the Internet's red-light district can be as easy as typing "Barney," "toys," or "games" into a search engine.

Do you think your child isn't vulnerable? What if your child met a schoolteacher on the Internet -- would your child trust him? A teacher in Culpeper, VA, was recently arrested for possessing child pornography obtained via the Internet. A former teacher and coach in Birmingham, AL, was caught in an Internet child-pornography sting operation. Police found 100 images of children in various sexual acts on the home computer of a high school band director in Jacksonville, FL. Would your child trust a minister? An Arizona minister pleaded guilty to sending child pornography over the Internet to a 14-year-old boy. Would your child trust a soldier? A former Fort Campbell soldier was convicted of using the Internet to entice a minor to have sex. Would your child trust a firefighter or police chief? A Kansas City firefighter, a 12-year veteran of the Orange County, FL, sheriff's office, and a former fire chief in East Chicago have all been convicted of charges stemming from Internet child pornography. Think your child isn't vulnerable? Think again.

Do you think that protecting your child is too complicated? The intimidation factor can be high when new technology is involved, but that's why there are tools to help parents. The most basic precaution is to spend time on the Internet with your child. Help her find the child-friendly streets of the cyber-city and steer clear of the red-light district. Place the computer in a high-traffic area in your home where you can monitor your child's activity. Contact your ISP to find out how to access your computer's "history" file in order to monitor the sites your child has visited.

While these precautions are needed, they aren't enough to ensure adequate protection. Many children use the Internet most after school when parents may not be home. Internet filtering can protect your children even when you're not around. While filtering software and parental controls have been popular in the past, the proliferation of new pornographic sites at a rate of 500 or more a day makes them impractical to keep updated. Instead, I recommend server-based filtering, which ensures that objectionable sites are blocked before they enter your home. There are a number of good filtered ISPs, and crosswalk.com offers a server-based filter at no charge to families who want to access the good of the Internet without the worries. That way, you don't even have to change your ISP to get web filtering. But don't take my word about what's best for your family. Examine the options and pick a solution. I don't care which one-just do something!

The Internet has so much good to offer-kids can benefit tremendously from the interactive offerings of the cyber-city. Yet, while providing our kids access to the benefits of the web, there's no excuse good enough to warrant the risks of exposing our children to the Internet red-light district. The dangers are too great and the solutions too easy for us to remain paralyzed between fear and inaction.

[Bill Parker is president and CEO of crosswalk.com, the premier Internet gateway for the Christian community, providing a comprehensive range of content and services to support the integration of faith and values into everyday life. Its featured channels include Homeschooling, Music, Money, Health, Careers, Spiritual Life, and Sports. Article reprinted from Light, a journal of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.]

[Another way to help protect yourself and your family from the dark side of the internet is the American Family Association filter for only $36 per year. Go to www.afafilter.com.]