After reading chapter three in A Gift of Fire, and various class discussions, it is clear that the issue of online predators has been an ongoing, sensitive and controversial topic. There have been multiple attempts to resolve this issue, such as The Communications Decency Act and The Child Online Protection Act, but both have been problematic and deemed unconstitutional. Clearly is has been a struggle to find common ground in this subject but there have been multiple somewhat effective measures in protecting children from sexual predators online. A few of these measures include Dateline MSNBS’s series“To Catch a Predator,” websites such as Family Watchdog, and the FBI’s publication “A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety.”
I think that Dateline MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” is eye opening and informative. Sexual predation is a major issue and this series highlights the huge problem thriving in our society. However, in a sense it is comforting that police efforts are being made. I hope that the fact that shows and projects like this are happening will make predators think twice. Chatrooms and other online social websites unfortunately host online predators, and kids tend to make poor decisions when talking to strangers. It would be beneficial to have to register for these sites. A higher level of security may be beneficial.
Privacy advocates criticize such sites due to exposition of the predators. Websites such as Family Watchdog locate registered sex offenders in any given area. I have mixed feelings about this issue. There are few circumstances in which this is problematic. For example, a person may be a registered sex offender for urinating in public. There are many levels of sex offenders and I think that there are definitely some innocent people who are being labeled and publicly exposed as a sex offender when in reality they are good people. I also understand the issue that spouses, children or parents of the sex offender are facing consequences due to the sex offenders name being listed, and I feel sorry for them. There may be a better solution to this problem. For example, if sites just listed the number of registered sex offenders in an area, but not the name of the person. Another solution could be to only list the major sex offenders in an area, and discriminate based on the extent of the crime.