Donald Findlater Director of Research and Development Understanding Sex Offending Against Children Preventing Child Abuse

Internet Safety Seminars for Parents & Carers..and a couple of other things

Background to Seminars Surrey ACPC and LEA 2005 (67 events) Hedge Funds Care 2007/2009 (60 & 60) Surrey, Hants, Kent, Medway, Sussex, Bucks, Oxon, Leics Materials – Stop!; Childnet; CEOP; IWF DVDs – “Jenny’s Story” & “Let’s Fight it Together” parents/carers to date Presenters – LFF therapist/professional staff Critical – not a technical event & v participative

1.Name 5 positive aspects of the Internet for children and young people

2.What harm (if any) could come to children and young people as a result of using the Internet?

Opportunities and dangers  Illegal content  Paedophiles, grooming, strangers  Extreme or sexual violence  Other harmful or offensive content  Racist/hate material/activities  Commercial exploitation  Biased or mis-information  Exploitation of personal information  Online-bullying, stalking, harassment  Gambling, financial scams  Self-harm (suicide, anorexia, etc)  Invasions/abuse of privacy  Illegal activities (hacking, terrorism)  Access to global information  Educational resources  Entertainment, games and fun  User-generated content production  Civic or political participation  Privacy for expression of identity  Community involvement/activism  Technological expertise and literacy  Career advancement or employment  Personal/health/sexual advice  Specialist groups and fan forums  Networking and new friendships  Share experiences with distant others Sonia Livingstone, Presentation to the London Grid for Learning E-Safety Conference, 20 th April 2007

3.Where could you get information about Internet safety and protecting children and young people online?

Do you know how your child uses the Internet?

WE NEED TO DO MORE THAN SUPERVISE - WE NEED TO HELP EDUCATE IN SCHOOL Generally, supervised, protected & monitored OUT OF SCHOOL Often no filtering, supervision or monitoring Supervised vs Unsupervised access Where is the computer at home? Developed by Childnet International

ContentContact Commerce  Pornography  Racism/hate  Inaccurate information  Threatening s  Sex offenders in chat rooms  Invasion of privacy  Blur between advertising & content Potential dangers to children Developed by Childnet International

Conduct  Pornography  Racism/hate  Threatening s/texts  Sex offenders in chat rooms  Identity theft  Cyberbullying Potential dangers to children Developed by Childnet International

Pornography Can be used to sexualise children and young people Easily available on the Internet Children/Young people may deliberately search for it

Child Pornography What does the law say? R v Oliver and others 2002, (1) images depicting erotic posing with no sexual activity; (2) sexual activity between children, or solo masturbation by a child; (3) non-penetrative sexual activity between adults and children; (4) penetrative sexual activity between children and adults; (5) sadism or bestiality.

What is ‘Personal Information’?

What can you do now?

SAFE – Staying safe online involves being careful and thinking about whether it is safe to give out personal information MEETING – Meeting up with someone you have contacted in cyberspace can be dangerous. Only do so with your parent’s/carer’s permission and then when they can be present. ACCEPTING – Accepting s or opening files from people you don’t know can be dangerous. – they may contain viruses or nasty messages. RELIABLE – Anyone can put anything on the net and remember people can lie and not be who they say they are in chat rooms. TELL – Tell your parent/carer or teacher if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried. Developed by Childnet International

Summary 2) Use Tools Available –But Don’t Rely On Them 100% 1) Get involved in your children’s online activity at home. Check you know what applications they are using, especially chat rooms, social networks and games played with others online. Ask who their “e-pals” are. Get them to teach you about how things work. 3) Teach the SMART rules or Create your own 4) Encourage Positive Use – Do Your Research 5) Know what the school says about Internet safety 6) Talk to other parents

...and for younger children...

Results “what action will you take?” Discuss the issues with my partner Talk to my children about their computer use and personal information Move the computer to a public area Install and use filters Talk to other parents (Review “actions” after 6 months)

Further Information? Attend a seminar?

…..and the other items

What is SECURUS? PC monitoring product that allows schools to Identify: –Bullying or threatening behaviour –Visits to inappropriate internet sites –Cyber-slacking –Predator grooming –Signs of depression or suicide Control PC use –Applications –Times –Users –groups Web logs Block individual sites AUP display/acceptance

How does it work? Plug in and play appliance Monitors PCs for set key words/phrases (not key logging) Saves a screen capture every time a violation occurs

How does it work? Monitors PCs for key words and phrases relating to : –Bullying –Racism –Pornography –Predator Grooming –Drugs –Weapons –Hacking/Downloads –Gambling –Inappropriate Language/SMS –[Bespoke Words & Phrases]

Surrey Pilot – Surrey Police/Securus/LFF -“I actually felt it was protection… because it could prove then that I wasn’t going on anything that I shouldn’t be going on.” (P01) -“As far as I’m concerned, put it on people’s computers. I don’t think it should stop. That’s my personal opinion, as an offender. I think it should go on people’s computers…” (P01) -“…better to have a 24 hour monitor like that and see the team once every two months, or once a month…[rather than] have someone coming in once a week to check your computer… that would be OTT as far as I was concerned. Plus I think the neighbours would start to get a bit… ‘what’s going on’ sort of thing.” (P01)

Surrey Pilot – Surrey Police/Securus/LFF “[It was] positive from the point of view that you weren’t constantly being, sort of saying ‘by the way, you’re being watched’” (P02) -“I think the most important thing, that you can’t really measure, is that it acts as a deterrent. That for me is very important.” (Surrey DI) -“ If the machine was in a tidy state, we could be in and out in minutes.” (Securus Technician) -“I think it’s worked well. In some respects it’s disappointing there have been no serious violations, but then in other respects it’s good, because it indicates that they’re not offending and therefore no-ones being abused.” (Surrey DI)

Services for internet (child pornography) offenders and their families

INFORM + For those admitting accessing etc. indecent images of children on-line 10 X Weekly sessions Up to 8 participants Cost £300

Aims of Inform + To provide information to aid understanding of Internet Offending To encourage participants to explore their personal involvement with internet offending To consider practical and realistic methods of control

Inform+ The Programme Offence Pattern Sexual Arousal and Fantasy Management Addiction and compulsion Sexuality and Relationships Victim Awareness and Empathy Relapse Prevention

INFORM For partners/family/friends Up to 8 participants 5 X Weekly sessions of 2 hours each Cost: £150

Aims of INFORM To provide factual information about ‘child pornography’ and the Internet To arrive at a better understanding of the process of Internet offending To examine the notion of risk as associated with this behaviour

Aims of INFORM To recognise and explore the impact of Internet offending on the families of offenders To discuss practical ways in which Internet offenders can be helped/help themselves not to re-offend

Thanks for your attention. Please get in touch Donald Findlater Teresa Hughes Chris Pummell Steph Hunter Tel: Mob: