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A report from our 2/9/01 issue...
We're glad to report there is solid support out there for parents of online kids - and, in emergencies, the right kind of rapid-response help. It's great to see that the US "safety net" of resources for families facing online challenges is becoming quite seamless, providing everything from great online-safety ed on the Web to a live human voice at the other end of the phone line. [Breaking news, January 2005: Canada launches its own Internet hotline, quite similar to the US's CyberTipline: Cybertip.ca.] Here's an update on where to turn for what:
- In an emergency
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has had to define "emergency" because it has a whole reporting system that prioritizes and responds to reports of kids in danger: the CyberTipline (and its toll-free phone number, 800.843.5678). "If a child is contemplating running away, is traveling, or if s/he's been contacted by an individual who has made statements that he's coming to see her," those are emergencies that get immediate action at the Tipline, Ruben Rodriguez, its Exploited Child Unit director, told us in a phone interview.
Parents become aware of such situations in various ways. Examples Ruben gave us include the child saying, "somebody's coming to see me," parents finding an email about meeting in the PC "trash can," or the family's monitoring software turning up that information. There are some great online-safety-ed Web sites that offer signs to look for. For example, Cyberangels.org has both victim and cyberstalker profiles in its Cyberstalking resource.
But "the first thing to do is contact local law enforcement if there's an implied or perceived threat to a child," Ruben told us. If parents do call the police, they'll probably get faster action if they use the words "crime against a child," not just "computer" or "Internet crime."
"You have over 18,000 independent police agencies in the US, and the majority have 30 or fewer officers," Ruben told us. That means fewer resources for Internet-related crime than for "real-world" crime, so there may not be as quick a response at the local police department to the phrase "computer crime," especially in small towns and rural areas. However, Ruben added, law-enforcement [in the US and probably most countries] is a small, tight community in which "everybody talks among themselves and knows who can do what," so police officers - and the NCMEC, which is very plugged in to that network - will know who in the network to connect parents with quickly.
Which leads to the No. 2 place to go in an emergency: the NCMEC, via either its Web-based CyberTipline.com (where you type information into a Web form) or its phone hotline (1-800-843-5678 or 1-800-THE-LOST).
"The Web's better," Ruben said. It cuts out one step - you type the info in (to the Web form) instead of the NCMEC hotline operator, who has to interview you in order to type it in. The info goes directly into a database to which both the FBI and US Customs also have real-time access. An NCMEC analyst views the information immediately and "looks at the threat level to a child," Ruben explained. If it's deemed top-priority, they contact the parent immediately, "do searches at our end [for the right kind of help], then contact law enforcement in the jurisdiction of responsibility."
Our own research indicates that, for some time, no organization in the US has known better than the NCMEC which law-enforcement agencies could handle what Net-related cases. That's still true, but now it also appears that no organization can take action more quickly, except for local police themselves - so, parents, it's a good idea to contact both in an emergency.
- Non-emergencies (information, support)
And what if a parent has concerns about a child's activities online but the situation doesn't seem urgent? Ruben offered an example: someone's sending a child pornographic images. That's illegal, he said, and law enforcement wants to know about it, but - because not an immediate threat to a child - it's ranked lower-priority.
For this situation, too, CyberTipline.com can help. An NCMEC analyst will get the report to the right authorities and get back to the parent as well - just not quite as fast as in an emergency. And because it has basically become the "main switchboard" for all exploited-children issues, the National Center can also give parents guidance on where to get information, on the Net and out in the "real world." Its analysts receive calls about everything from porn spam (unsolicited junk email with URLs to sexually explicit Web sites) to what filtering software to use. "We don't endorse, we educate," Ruben told us. Analysts will go into the functions, limitations, and advantages of different types of software. If they can't answer a question, Ruben told us, "we say, 'we'll get right back to you,' and we'll make some phone calls to get [the caller] the right solutions."
Two other organizations offering hands-on help in the non-emergency category: Cyberangels and SOC-UM (Safeguarding Our Children-United Mothers). They are where parents can go to "talk to" (usually via email) fellow parents if they have questions about potential child exploitation online. Both organizations have trained volunteers, some of whom have experienced child online-safety concerns and crises in their own lives.
SOC-UM focuses specifically on sexual exploitation of children. Cyberangels is broader in scope, with volunteers that speak to Internet fraud and scams, monitor chat rooms, and seek out sites that promote or link to pedophilia. They know how to use software and other technologies to track the online activities of cyberstalkers and other predators, and they have ties to law enforcement so that they know what evidence to turn over, when, and to what agency.
- For more information
- The CyberTipline.com at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the Washington, D.C., area and Canada's Cybertip.ca - besides local police, the best resources in North America for getting help fast for online kids at risk.
- Outside North America, visit the site of the UK-based Virtual Global Taskforce for information and links to law-enforcement agencies worldwide which cooperate in protecting online kids and fighting online child exploitation. For links and phone numbers to Europe's hotlines for reporting child pornography, go to INHOPE.org, supported by the European Commission.
- ChatDanger.com from London-based Childnet International - the best resource on the Web for keeping young online communicators safe.
- GetNetWise.org - a very complete online-safety resource, including an Online Safety Guide detailing risks to online kids by age levels, a searchable database of online-safety tools (e.g., filtering, monitoring, time-out software), and a guide to "Reporting Trouble."
- SafeKids.com from our partner, the Online Safety Project.
Parents, if you've found and benefited from other online-safety services and would like to spread the word, do email us about them - especially how they've been helpful.
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