Young Internet Users Targets
 Washington Times, June 9, 2000
Young Internet users targets of unwanted sexual advances.
By Lisa Ing.

One in five young Internet users has received an unwanted sexual approach on line within the past year, according to a new survey.   "If you are a parent and your child uses the Internet, it is very likely that your child has received an inappropriate solicitation over the Internet," Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, sponsor of the congressionally directed study, said at a news conference yesterday.

While acknowledging the Internet's value for research and entertainment, the study reported that "several million young people ages 10 through 17 get propositioned on the Internet every years."

None of the 1,501 children surveyed for the study, "Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation's Youth," reported being sexually assaulted by anyone they had met on line.

But 19 percent reported that they had received an unwanted sexual solicitation or approach within the past year, according to the study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Though most children affected were able to ignore the advances without difficulty, 25 percent of the recipients of unwanted solicitations reported feelings of serious distress.

"If even some small percentage of these encounters results in offline sexual assault or illegal sexual contact - a percentage smaller than we could detect in this survey - it would amount to several thousand incidents," the study concluded.

Contrary to stereotypes of the middle-age molester, 48 percent of the sexual solicitations came from other youths.  Females generated one in five sexual approaches and one in four of the aggressive solicitations, which encouraged children to meet physically.  However, the Internet's anonymity makes the age and sex of solicitors unverifiable.

In addition, 25 percent of the respondents reported viewing pornographic material that they were not looking for and did not expect, as in the case of a 15-year-old boy looking for information on his family's Ford Escort who was directed to a site for an escort service.  Twenty-three percent of these episodes, based on Web searches and mistaken addresses, were considered distressing.

Non-sexual harassment and threats were directed toward 6 percent of respondents.   Unlike the sexual solicitations, most recipients reported knowing their harassers off line and becoming upset or afraid.

Whether influenced by feelings of shame or wrongdoing, or fears of losing Internet access, most of the children affected did not report the advances to parents or other authorities.  Few parents of children knew where to turn for help from authorities.

"Information is the key to child safety on the Internet," said John Wilson, acting administrator for the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

In addition to increased mobilization of law enforcement on the Internet, efforts are being made to notify parents, children, and schools about resources such as CyberTipline, an on-line 911 for sexual and other forms of harassment.

"Just as in the physical world, there are threat to children in ,cyberspace," Mr. Wilson said, but added that "children need to be on line, to become familiar with the technology available."

The study suggested:

• Wider use of filtering software by individual families, increased parental supervision and discussion of on-line harassment.
• Involving teen-agers in the process of improving on-line safety because their desire for autonomy often produces a strong resistance to parental control.
• Encouraging parents and children to call or e-mail reports of threats or sexual solicitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which runs a Web site - www.cybertipline.com - and also maintains a 24-hour hotline at 800/843-5678.

Internet Solicitation
Although most incidents of sexual solicitations over the Internet are brief and easily deflected, some become more aggressive, according to "On-line Victimization: A Report on the Nation's Youth."  The following are some of the finding of the survey:

Note" Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
Source: Crimes Against Children Center

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