FEATURE -- INTERNET SAFETY: Internet predators are usually people who are inadequate in adult relationships, staff at a British research centre say. But they can be especially enticing to a child.
By Elena Sosa Lerín
Posted: Nov. 19, 2004
Internet predators log into chat rooms with fake names and fake identities to lure teenagers and children. PHOTO: Elena Sosa Lerín
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"Don't talk to strangers," has a different meaning in the Internet world. Logging to a chat room or e-mailing people isn't anything like talking over the phone or meeting someone in person.
In July 2000, a 14-year-old British Columbia girl, met a 28-year-old Washington State man in a teen chat room. Two-and-a-half weeks after their first encounter, she agreed to give him her phone number. She ran away with him and police found them next morning as they were preparing to board the ferry for Vancouver Island.
The girl had told him how unhappy she felt living with her single mother and brother. The man, according to the police, took advantage of that to lure her into a friendship that quickly turned into a romantic one.
In July 2002, C-46, s.172.1 of the Criminal Code's Sexual Offenses, Public Morals and Disorderly Conduct came into effect to punish Internet predators. People caught using the Internet to lure children would get up to five years in prison.
Canada is a world leader in Internet usage with almost 17 million users in over two thirds of all households, according to Statistics Canada. And young Canadians are a prime target for 'internet luring.'
'Internet luring' can mean a variety of activities according to the Canadian Department of Justice. Children or teenagers are enticed by a predator, which covers his or her identity and pretends to be a child or a teenager. Predators convince youth to share personal details about their lives, send pictures of themselves and eventually meet, with the purpose of involving youth into sexual situations.
"A pedophile is a person who's sexually attracted to a child or an adolescent," British research analyst Joanna Price says in an e-mail interview. "A pedophile is sexually aroused because a child is a child, regardless of the pedophile's sexual orientation or child's gender."
Price, who is involved in the development of educational safety materials at the Cyberspace Research Unit (CRU) at the University of Central Lancashire, says the cyberspace has appeal for these people.
"The Internet is a good place for a pedophile because it's a safe, secret place where they can pretend to be anyone," says Price. "Internet luring is frightening because pedophiles can chat with children in the computer as their parents sit in the next room."
Price works with the unit's director, Dr. Rachel O'Connell, who has done extensive research in relation to children security, chat rooms and pedophilia.
On the CRU's website, O'Connell believes that predators are usually immature adults.
"[Pedophiles] are individuals who cannot adjust to the sexual role of adulthood," she states. "They feel inadequate in adult relationships and have unstable social adjustments. They perpetrate crimes against children to ease stress and as a reaction to aggressive moods."
Teenagers between 15 and 17 years-old are visiting chat rooms more frequently than other ages. PHOTO: Elena Sosa Lerín
O'Connell believes there's a "fairly consistent" pattern in the way Internet predators approach minors in chat rooms.
First, they isolate the child from the chat room which contains many other chat users, by flattering him or her, an starting a conversation in a one-to-one private chat room.
They'll move onto a relationship-forming phase where the Internet predator will ask the children or teenager what problems she or he has, and in most cases, ask for a picture.
Whether the girl or boy is having problems at school or with his or her parents, the predator takes advantage of it.
The predator then uses powerful language to create a sense of trust or even love.
"Often victims really do believe they've actually fallen in love," she tells on CRU's website. "They think that this is the fairytale romance that's come true in a chat room."
Price warns that it's very dangerous for children to send pictures over the internet to strangers. In most cases, the Internet predator might cut and paste the child's image into a pornographic photo. Internet predators usually trade these images with other predators. This creates an underground market for child pornography.
She mentions as well that "pedophiles frequently rationalize and make excuses for their behavior saying that the incidents were educational, that the child derived sexual gratification from the encounters, or that the child had been the sexual seducer."
But she says in her e-mail that it's important to point out that the child isn't in any way responsible for the behaviour. "They're looking for an excuse for their actions because they know what they're doing is inappropriate."