Young people should be careful what they say in online conversations. In a chat, precious information can be revealed, such as the name of the school, city or any other identifying data. Children and teenagers should be reminded that just as we don't pass on our personal information to strangers in real life, we cannot pass it on to strangers on the Internet.
Pedophiles are on duty online, looking for specific names and profiles of potential victims. Most of the time they lie about their age in order to make the victim believe they are as young as she is.
Some pedophiles may ask seemingly harmless questions, but the combination of answers tends to reveal a lot about the victim. Indirect issues can include issues such as weather, local events, favorite football team, etc. With the information in hand, the criminal can observe the child at school and then follow him home. You can see that the danger is real, not virtual!
Also, in chat rooms it is possible for people to enter and remain invisible just to read what is written by the participants, which requires extra care with what is written online, even if you are talking "only" with a known. When passing information to a friend, you run the risk of having it read by a malicious person.
It is important for young people to be aware that, on the Internet, anyone can pretend to be whoever they want, since we cannot see who is really on the other side of the computer screen.
Kacie René Woody was 13 years old and lived in a small town in upstate Arkansas. Her mother had died in a car accident in 1997 and the girl was living with her father (a police officer) and a 19-year-old brother. The teenager had befriended a 17-year-old boy over the Internet and didn't see any harm in that (after all, it was “just the Internet”!).
On December 3, 2002, Kacie's father left for work and her brother to go to the library, leaving the girl alone. While playing on the computer, Kacie had no idea that she was being watched through the window by the “virtual friend” outside.
Upon returning to the house, the brother noticed that Kacie was gone. Immediately, Arkansas police and the FBI were called in and searches began. In less than 20 hours, the police had a suspect and his possible vehicle, easily finding them in the vicinity. The pedophile had shot the girl in the head, killing himself the moment he noticed the police approaching.
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The person responsible for the murder was 47 years old and not 17 as he claimed in online conversations.
“Kacie was a real angel. It is my goal to educate as many parents and children as possible about the dangers of predators in the Internet, so this doesn't happen to someone else's little angel,” said Rick Woody, father of the victim (available in http://home.alltel.net/rkw/kaciewoody_a.html).
In São José do Rio Preto, countryside of São Paulo, the grandmother of an 11-year-old girl was suspicious when a boy who claimed to be 28 years old asked the child's age in a chat room. The grandmother then, pretending to be the child, exchanged messages for 50 days with the pedophile from Pitangui, Minas Gerais (who was actually 46 years old). The criminal was eventually arrested by the police after revealing his phone number.
In Brasília, the police also detained a 49-year-old architect who pretended to be a child in chat rooms. The arrest came after a carioca merchant met the pedophile on the Internet and decided to nurture their friendship in order to gather evidence for investigation. Using the fictitious name of Cíntia, the merchant gathered photos and 63 videos sent by the pedophile, as well as detailed conversations about the encounters with the children. The prosecutor in charge of the case said that in the videos "some are chained and you can hear the screams."
Through the examples mentioned, we want to alert the reader (parent or teacher) to the fact that on the Internet anyone can pretend to be whatever they want, and seemingly innocent conversations can result in damage very serious.
It's natural for teenagers to feel super-powerful and unattainable, believing that “a chat on the Internet doesn't hurt anyone”, with everything “under control”. What the young person should know is that while the victim's intentions are one, those of the manipulative pedophile are completely different!
Making appointments with “virtual friends” is always a risk, even when in public places, since the young person can be taken away by force. Parents, children, teachers and students must maintain an open communication channel to discuss this type of situation. If there is insistence on the part of the young person, the ideal is for the meeting to take place in the company of parents or guardians.
Available in:. Accessed on July 4th. 2006.
Available in:. Accessed on July 4th. 2006.
By Carolina de Aguiar Teixeira Mendes,
lawyer and consultant in Law and Digital Education.
[email protected]
education - Brazil School
