News

"Kids Don't Need to Be That Wired," Investigator Says

Tom Evans

(October 5, 2007, GBOD/UR) — The number of Internet users worldwide grew from 61 million to 147 million in twenty-four months, said Tom Evans, an agent investigator with Internet Crimes Against Children, speaking to almost 150 United Methodists gathered for a CyberSAFEty training event sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship, October 1-3.

According to Evans, "Internet safety with kids is so important because the problem is prevalent and exposure to inappropriate material and file sharing are growing."

Evans has seen a rise in the number of cases involving children, including (in order of prevalence):

• Possession of child pornography
• Distribution of child pornography
• Solicitation of a minor
• Manufacturing of child pornography; and
• Endangering the welfare of a child.

"There is a need for legislation to put offenders behind bars for crimes against a child. We need to increase sentencing guidelines, and stiffer penalties are needed," he said.

Evans offered the following advice to participants.

• Reign technology in. Kids don't need to be that wired.
• Parents should have a MySpace account.
• Kids shouldn't include identifying information on sites like FaceBook and My Space.
• Know all user names and passwords.
• Prevent right click and save.
• Limit the number of pictures that are put there.
• Don't include names. Stranger-Danger is still a good thing.

"It is not unheard of for children to be abducted. Anything that identifies a child on a website can be used by a predator to focus on where a child is located," said Evans.

Alerting participants to the dangers of file sharing, Evans warned that "it is not just in big cities. It's everywhere. File sharing is important because it lets us know how prevalent child porn is. Kids are using this for free," he said.

Evans also said that the typical profile of an Internet child sex offender is a nineteen to sixty-five or a seventy-year-old white male.

Streett, Douse, and O'Briant lead a panel discussion

The workshop included a panel discussion on things to think about and things to do with social networking and technology in ministry.

More than half (55 percent) of all online American youths, ages 12-17, use online social networking sites like MySpace, according to Pew Internet Research.

"Cybersafety is not a one-time event," says Stephen Streett, an associate pastor from the North Georgia Conference. "We must have an awareness of youth culture…and find out what they are listening to."

Nashville media specialist Karen Douse said, "Don't be overly fearful. Teen Angels warns teens of the dangers, but also shows how you can be safe and do the things you need to do online."

"Be an adult teens can go to. Keep the lines of communication open," she told the group.

"Know how to set privacy settings, which keep people out who are looking for an easy way in. Privacy settings are only as good as your passwords," says Paul O'Briant.

"Learn the value of a strong password. Strong passwords have numbers and letters, and include capital and lower case letters," he said.

In 1996, the United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, passed a resolution calling on every church to develop policies and procedures to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse in its ministries and facilities. Regional training sessions followed, inviting conferences to send representatives who could return and train local churches on safe sanctuary procedures.

GBOD's mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD (www.gbod.org) is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at 877-899-2780, ext. 7017.