Deputies Offer Tips to Keep Kids from Sexting, Other Cyber Threats

“Sexting” and sexual predators trolling for new victims are just some of the dangers that children face when they cruise the Internet, Orange County sheriff's reserve deputies warned local parents Thursday.

Sgt. Josh Money and Lt. Jim Ellis presented an adults-only Internet safety course at  and encouraged parents to keep tabs on their kids' Internet and phone use. The topics ranged from sexting—a combination of sex and texting, usually in the form of explicit photos—to identity theft to bullying.

“Our purpose was to first train the parents, and then we’ll start working with the kids, as young as second grade. We wanted to get the parents ahead of the curve,” said Jayson Beck, who is in charge of information technology for Capistrano Valley Christian. The night's presentation is the first step in implementing a new Cyber Citizenship program at the school.

Parents “don’t have to have a degree in information technology” to figure out what their kids are up to, so Money offered suggestions.

They can use the drop-down feature of the URL bar of the Internet browser or check the history to see where previous users have been. If a child has been on the Internet for two hours yet the history has been erased, that’s a sign parents should take heed that their child is hiding something, Money said.

Besides talking with children, monitoring their texts—when they’re in the shower is the safest time to do that—and explaining the dangers, parents can also use their router to control Internet access to all of the home's devices, including game consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation that can also Web surf.

Going to the router manufacturer’s Home page and logging in will enable the administrator to block specific websites, set up hours of operation and more, Money said. In a residential setting, it’s important that parents are that administrator, even if their children are much more computer-savvy.

The deputies presented many statistics from various sources, including a statistic from a January 2009 survey from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy that found one in five teens have sent suggestive photos.

While teens percieve sexting to be just like flirting, it is illegal for children under 18 to take naked or half-naked pictures of themselves. With that first act, they are violating the law. The recipient of the photo is also breaking the law.

“The average sexter assumes their dirty message or revealing photo is only going to be seen by one person," Money said

It’s often the girls who are hurt when their boyfriend forwards the photos to all his friends—even to his phone’s entire contact list, he said.

Beck said there are even websites available for spurned boyfriends to upload of their ex-girlfriends. So just because a boy doesn’t forward the photos immediately doesn’t mean they won’t end up for public viewing eventually.

“Most of the girls,” said Money, “if you ask them why do you do this, a lot of them will say [it’s] pressure from the boys.”

Girls can lack the maturity to figure out when someone is a sexual predator, Money said. These men will often pose as teens and are willing to chat online for months to build trust. They will either ask to meet or figure out where the girl is when she innocently posts a “Headed-out-to-the-movies” status on Facebook or tweet a similar post to Twitter.

Photographs taken with a smart phone are also a danger (see video), Money said. They contain metadata that, when used with decoding and map apps, can pinpoint exactly where they were taken.

The term for it is “geo-tagging,” Money said. It can lead sexual predators right to children’s homes, schools, even their favorite hangouts. For adults, coupled with posts such as, “On vacation for three weeks,” there an invitation to an empty house, vulnerable to theft.

Regarding identity theft, Ellis recommended annualcredit.com as a truly free way to check one’s credit—something adults should do three times a year. Also, watch for bills that don’t arrive when they should, unexpected credit cards showing up in the mailbox, “dumpster divers” who look for unshredded personal information and denials of credit for no apparent reason.

Money offered some signs that your children may be a victim of bullying (whether online or in person). They might be if your child is:

•   Physically or mentally battered
•   Stressed
•   Quick-tempered
•   Experiencing a drop in grades
•   Not wanting to go to school.

By the Numbers

The number of parents who know their kids don’t want them to see what they do on the Internet

How many times per year you can check your credit for free with the three credit-reporting agencies