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'That's a scary, scary thing'



Truro-area youth provided unsolicited personal information including photos of themselves and others, addresses, phone numbers and daily activities to college students this summer as part of an internet investigation by the Truro Police Service.

Truro-area youth provided unsolicited personal information including photos of themselves and others, addresses, phone numbers and daily activities to college students this summer as part of an internet investigation by the Truro Police Service.

Published on September 8th, 2010
Published on September 8th, 2010
Jason Malloy RSS Feed

Police hope findings serve as wakeup call to parents

Topics :
Truro Police Service

TRURO - Local teenagers shared personal information and photos of themselves with total strangers, a Truro Police Service online investigation has determined.

The force said the five-week study shows "social networking sites are an unsupervised playground." Local area university students, under police supervision, created fictitious profiles and using passive means were able to add 296 friends between the ages of 12 and 17 this summer. The university students posed as teenagers who moved to the region and accessed a fan page of a local school, they said, they would be attending in September.

Only two people said they couldn't add them as friends because their parents monitored their social networking activities.

"That's astounding," said Const. Todd Taylor, of the force's community enhancement division that led the project.

The friends or contacts provided unsolicited information to the university students that could have allowed them to be located ranging from their home address to where they were playing sports on a given day. That is a concern for police officers with pedophiles utilizing the internet more and more.

"They find their perfect image by flipping through these catalogues" of photos, Taylor said. "That's a scary, scary thing."

Const. Jon Keddy said the force had applied for federal funding for a component of its' Cyber internet program, but was turned down because the proposal was not based on statistics. The officers hope the data raises the public awareness as the primary vehicle to socialize today is becoming these internet sites like Facebook.

"Parents have a significant role in this," Keddy said.

"The kids are a lot more educated" than the parents, Taylor added, but "they need supervision."

The officers are willing to share the data in order to help protect as many people as possible. "We know Truro is not the only community that can benefit from our study," Keddy said. "It's all for the public's safety."

Taylor said kids know not to talk to strangers in public, but some don't suspect the people they are speaking to online are not who they appear.

The university students spent between five and seven hours a day on the social networking sites and said the friends/contacts they made were online about 20 per cent of that time.

jmalloy@trurodaily.com

Comments

  • Username
    shaking her head
    - September 13th, 2010 at 07:35:17

    Unfortunately, we live in a society where some parents expect others to educate their children, who have dropped the ball on teaching their children respect, and have instead fostered an attitude of entitlement and irresponsibility in their children. We as parents must teach our children respect for themselves AND others, empower them with knowledge and self-esteem, and trust them to make good decisions. This does not mean we turn a blind eye. They need to be monitored, and know that computer access is a privilege and not a right. Schools and police do try to educate children of the dangers of the internet. A good example of this is Cyber. However, this does not absolve parents of full responsibility of protecting and monitoring their children, and if they won't listen, get the computer out of the house, or lock it up. They may still be able to access elsewhere, but it's better than sitting on your hands saying there's nothing you can do.

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  • Username
    Susan
    - September 10th, 2010 at 08:27:39

    My daughter did this exact experiment last year as a sociology assignment at CEC. We were shocked by the results which were so similar to the ones in this study. I am glad the idea was used again to help parents realize just how serious this issue is.

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  • Username
    Jason
    - September 9th, 2010 at 15:05:28

    What an interesting story. On one side you have an argument "Parents supervise your children" , which honestly... should be a given. Kids should not have open access to the internet. It is a cesspool of flith and stuff children should never ever see. On the otherhand, you have "supervised pedophilia" .. I don't know which is worse. It's pretty much common sense that there's freaks on the internet, we don't need a "study" to tell us that. Hollywood has taught us that. COMMON PARENTING SKILLS have taught us that. I know I was born before the internet, and I always got the "Don't talk to strangers" speech. And to "Hands Are Tied" ... Your hands are never tied. If you let your children have control over you then your not much of a parent. Sorry.. I had to say it. Nothing personal.

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  • Username
    Tricia
    - September 9th, 2010 at 08:31:08

    Why are parents always looking for someone else to handle these situations with their children? As a parent, you have the lifelong responsibility to protect your children. My teenage daughter had a facebook account, but I always had access to it. She eventually lost the rights to it because I didn't approve of the way her friends used the forum. Kids today act like the internet has no consequences and they need to realize that it is actually real life with real hazards.

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  • Username
    hands are tied?
    - September 9th, 2010 at 08:11:34

    I have teenagers and I understand the seriousness of this problem, but what is a parent to do when their children will not respect that a parent could be right? Most teenagers are going to say that is their personal space and are smart enough to make the right choices, while, at the same time, adding accounts they do not REALLy know in order to boost their friend totals, etc...I feel children need to be educated as early as possible by police in a school setting...If younger kids, who still look up to and are in awe of a police officer, are educated on the dangers, that knowledge would hopefully follow them into their teenage years and they might then be a little more vigilant and aware on their own terms at that age? How much time and money would it really take to have an officer tour the schools in each county...The powers that be need to wake up and make a place in the budget for this NOW!!! hands are tied of a concerned parent

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  • Username
    Charles
    - September 9th, 2010 at 08:09:30

    I am going to just say this because after reading this I am just beside myself with anger. The same law enforcement people (Truro Police) told me 2 summers ago that if I monitor my children’s internet activity because I am concern about pedophiles.. And this part is a verbatim quote of their response. "We would have reason to arrest you and charge you for interfering with their privacy". I would really love to have them explain how you "supervise" your children in these matters without fear of being charged for interfering with there privacy?? Oh and Mr Taylor I find your statement ""The kids are a lot more educated" than the parents," very very insulting.

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    • Username
      STEP UP AND JUST SAY NO
      - September 9th, 2010 at 15:06:09

      The way I monitor my ELEMENTARY SCHOOL child with facebook is SHE DOESN'T HAVE AN ACCOUNT....and I am absolutely shocked that at 8years old, there are more of her friends that have an account than don't...I just don't find it necessary PERIOD...also it always shocks me when I see ADULTS posting their vacation schedules...etc etc..well don't be surprised when your house gets broken into as you have published what time your flight leaves, comes in, who is going and where etc etc etc.

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