Debate Guide: Online dangers
- "The web is a dangerous place for children, and they should be protected by constant observation when online. Each year 1 in 5 children is sexually solicited online"
The 1 in 5 figure is an example of the all too common deception used to scare people and deny young people intellectual freedom (supposedly granted by the UNCRC).
- It originated with a study done in 2000 by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, which surveyed 1,501 Internet-using youth age 10 through 17. The actual relevant findings of the study were as follows:
- The 1 in 5 figure was the number that had received at least one instance of unwanted sex talk (including from other teenagers), or sex talk from an adult (whether wanted or not), in the past year.
- The proportion of respondents who received a sexual flirtation from an adult, followed by a request to talk on the phone or meet in person, was about 1%.
- The number of survey respondents who actually befriended an adult online and then met the adult in person for sexual purposes, was zero.
- Source [1].
Elsewhere, even establishment authorities such as David Finkelhor and associates point out that the common fears regarding the violent, involuntary nature of online solicitation as well as the myth that withholding personal information is an effective solution are all unfounded. Professional consensus is moving towards "self-victimisation" - which to any sound critical analyst, equates to the sexual agency of young people.
- Source, "Just the facts about online youth victimisation" - Finkelhor and others.
Some, including Perverted Justice engage in scaremongering over the networking site, Myspace.
- "There are nearly 100,000 Registered US sex offenders on Myspace!"
The source for the 90,000 claim is highly contentious, and if correct, would actually demonstrate that Sex Offenders are particularly careful not to partake in social networking, since [blogs.orlandosentinel.com/etan_on_tech/social_networking/ Pew] informs us that at least 50% of US adults have a profile on that site, and the US Sex Offender population of ~750,000. As it happens, Myspace only have a public registry to go by, and the Myspace registrant's purported details. As a result of this, the number of false positives and false negatives is likely to be huge. The term "cutting edge technology" (or the like) is used by MySpace to appease US Attorneys General and Government. They actually have no way of knowing the IP addresses and other electronical data of registered SO's.