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Parents blasted for ignoring online threats to children

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 Sep 2009 at 13:23

The head of the body responsible for keeping children safe online has blasted parents for failing to act on the advice given to them.

"It is too easy to say, 'Oh. I don't understand the technology'. How many parents go online to book their holidays or use the internet to compare insurance prices?" Jim Gamble, head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) told the Times Online.

"But when it comes to learning what you should do to protect your child, we're not seeing people accessing that information in the right numbers."

People don't want to face the reality, it's too horrible to contemplate

According to Gamble, a recent CEOP media campaign urging parents to visit a site explaining how to safeguard their children online yielded a paltry 300 hits in the 24 hours after it was aired. He puts it down to parents not wanting to face the "harsh reality".

"Most of us will go through life without having to deal with the horrible situation of having a child groomed online or abducted by someone they meet on the internet. People don't want to face that reality, it's too horrible to contemplate."

"But if you have ever worried about your child, you need to take heed of the advice available," says Gamble.

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User comments

Education not Condemnation

As suggested in the brief; MOST people will NOT ever experience this type of crime.
It is also apparent that some parents teach their children the harsh realities of life and warn them about grooming.

Grooming (probably of a much higher count) also takes place outside of Internet circles when young people get enticed by lots of money for "favours".
Parents tend to trust and believe their children's capacity of intelligence than to get involved on-line.

Let us not forget that many adults also get caught out by on-line crime.
Crimestoppers recently posted an article I found heinous.
In the interest of education.....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8222087.
stm

By lenmontieth on 9 Sep 2009

Don't understand...

My girlfriend has 2 daughters, they both had 10 year old hand-me-down computers, she didn't have a computer, doesn't see the point in them and can't use them...

The youngest daughter has received 2 solictor's letters for non-payment of the €250 subscription fees to "free" music sites. Luckily she is to young to be held accountable and a friendly solicitor, who loves taking on these scammers, dealt with it for free.

I'm slowly trying to teach her to use a computer, but she just can't see the point in them...

By big_D on 9 Sep 2009

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