Internet predators after 'easy targets'

PROVO — Internet predators prey on children who have poor relationships with their parents and are emotionally isolated, so LDS teachings about family togetherness can be a major safeguard for families.

Charles Knutson, associate professor of computer science at Brigham Young University, told an Education Week audience Wednesday that predators are very patient in zeroing in on "easy targets.

"Predators are masters at manipulation and skillful at extracting information over time. They will try to hack into kids' passwords to get personal information that helps to groom them," he said.

"The easy targets are kids with low self-image, who are lonely and friendless, have a poor relationship with their parents and are emotionally isolated from immediate friends and family. They spend a great deal of time online," often with a computer in their bedrooms where monitoring by other family members is difficult.

While parents often don't want to learn about predators' tactics, when parents take the time to understand those tactics and work to counteract them, most predators will move on to an easier target, Knutson said.

"The lion's share of battle is won when you limit the amount of time your children spend online, when they eat dinner with you, have family home evening and family prayer with you and are close to you emotionally. "But if your kid is online playing Warcraft 16 hours a day, that emotional and spiritual separation creates a greater level of risk," that they will be targeted by a predator online, he said.

In a recent survey, 48 percent of teens reported that their parents or guardians know "little or nothing about what they do online." About two-thirds of all American teens have profiles on MySpace, Facebook or other social networking sites, and half of those have posted pictures of themselves there.

Knutson said 71 percent of those surveyed have received messages or e-mails from someone they didn't know online. "We're not talking about spam but about someone actually looking to talk specifically with them. Half of them replied to the message or chatted with a perfect stranger."

One in five children will receive a sexual solicitation online in any given year, he said, noting only 25 percent of those told a parent about it and less than 10 percent reported it to authorities.

Predator behavior almost always begins with soft Internet porn, he said, and most predators are adult men. Consumption of pornography turns to hard core, illegal porn and then "from private fantasy into the spaces where children are," he said.