has posted a rebuttal to yet another of those panicked congressional reactions to alarmist news.
This time around it's the threat of online predators of children.
Now, bad people are out there - people should take precautions and pay attention, however -
-they might also do well to take a look at this graph:
The percentage of sexual predators who are related to the victim is 85%
Unknown, Missing or Other adds up to 9% of reported cases.
Laws should keep up with changing technology, but the idea that there is an army of abusers waiting in the tall grass is directly contradicted by these numbers.
The internet is a new threat to children - but it's nowhere close to the worst threat.
2 comments:
my very favorite part of losh's post was (paraphrased) "...and your kids can do all the same social networking stuff with the cell phone you bought them."
people just. don't. think.
-thorn
I'd supplement that with:
"...with the cell phone you bought them [so they would be safe]."
Not in the sense to be very afraid, but just that going after devices and software is beside the point.
Being an involved and caring parent protects your kids from the bulk of these dangers.
People who use devices as surrogates for their own involvement are fooling themselves.
Likewise people who vote for knee jerk regulation of the internet.
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