How quickly a sexual predator using the Internet might get information about an unsuspecting youth was driven home for about 20 Schaumburg-area parents last week.
In the gymnasium of Hoover Elementary School, they listened as an expert guided them through the cyber-sources available to anyone to learn about a real-life teen named “Sissy.” They quickly learned her penchant for Beanie Babies, her e-mail address, chat rooms she used and driving directions to her home.
“Sex predators use the Internet to groom their victims over time,” Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan told the parents. “Even things done innocently can jeopardize your children.
“Good parents today will make sure their kids have a computer, but parents must monitor their Internet access.”
The presentation was part of Project Surf Safe, a program of the Illinois Internet Child Exploitation Task Force, which has resulted in the arrest and conviction of 400 Internet sexual predators since 1998.
Officials from Community Consolidated School District 54 invited Madigan to speak because the school provides 4th, 5th and 6th graders with laptops to take home for research and homework.
Although many parents believe troubled or lonely kids are the most susceptible to Internet predators, children who fall prey are more likely to be from stable homes, often in the suburbs, said Assistant Atty. Gen. Keith Chval, chief of the high-tech crimes division.
Very often, he said, trouble arises when young people innocently provide information about their hobbies to interest-based sites.
“These are Web sites where kids post pictures and personal information about themselves, including age, school and e-mail address, and anyone can do a search on them,” Chval said. “With search engines, no one is safe; nothing is private.”
Kim DiVito, a parent of five school-age children who attended the presentation, called it a good first step.
There’s “so little control … over the things that can come up over the Internet and the places that children can go to that are not safe,” she said. The presentation made her more aware of the necessity that “your child be accompanied when on the Internet,” DiVito said.
School administrators interested in offering similar programs should call Chval at 312-814-3505.
