Destito: Internet shouldn’t provide a safe-haven f

[Swimmy]

Destito: Internet shouldn’t provide a safe-haven for sex offenders

This is great and I'm glad to see our local representatives do more than make public speeches about how they overtaxed us and are giving us "rebate" checks.

But I think I'm going to write her and suggest that something be added to provide for educating children. The proposed law only deals with sex offenders already convicted, but what about the countless others yet to be caught? Our children are still vulnerable to them and our children have not been fully educated on the dangers and threats the Internet poses to them.

Let's start preventing sexual predators from gaining access to our uneducated children rather than reacting when it happens.

[frankcor]

My question to Cuomo and Destito: Tell me how, exactly, this law will defend "all New Yorkers, especially our children, safe from unwanted sexual advances and online harassment by sexual predators" when the predator is in Thailand? Or Bulgaria?


What a waste of time: making something illegal, illegal. It don't feed the bulldog.

[Clipper]

I would think with all the advances in technology, it would be possible to control access by kids. Instead of "Blocking" sites on the internet, why would it not be possible to only "allow access" to certain sites? Make it so a PARENT has the discretion to allow access only to sites limited by the parent, and making it neccessary to have a parental code entered before a site can be accessed.

Education begins at home. Simple rules and access to computers is a parental responsibility. Kids should simply not be allowed "total, unrestricted access to a computer", and should be supervised in the use. Keep the computer used by children in the living room or kitchen, and not behind the kid's closed bedroom door.

The exposure offered by computers has made sexual predation spread like wildfire. I am amazed and disgusted everytime I see the predator show with Stone Phillips. There are a lot of sick bastards out there, and it isn't limited by geographical area or any other limitation.

It used to be that "curiosity killed the cat", now it is quite possible that curiosity can kill your child, if they are allowed to roam unsupervised around the web.

[Ralph]

There will be a way to get around this sooner or later. Public PC's at cafe's or other venues can be used to start anonymous accounts that skirt the law.

Clip, the only way to insure your children are doing what they are supposed to is put your PC in the room you are all in the most and to sit there with them, period. Just like monitoring their TV viewing.

There isn't a monitoring program made yet that can't be worked around by a kid that has a little computer knowledge.

[Swimmy]

admin said:

Education begins at home. Simple rules and access to computers is a parental responsibility. Kids should simply not be allowed "total, unrestricted access to a computer", and should be supervised in the use. Keep the computer used by children in the living room or kitchen, and not behind the kid's closed bedroom door.

True, education does begin at home. And those are effective measures to keep a watchful eye on some of your child's computer activity. Before AOL 3.0, we had the computer in the main room so that my parents could make sure i was not playing computer games when i was supposed to be doing my homework.

But not many parents know about the different "text speak" phrases kids use to signal their chat partner that a parental figure is in the room. Also, parents might not be fully aware of the dangers their child faces as opposed to a police officer who deals with this cyber crime. I was thinking of a program along the lines of DARE or something that involves both parents and children, with a focus on educating children.

The trouble with putting the computer in the family room or where ever the parents spend most of their time is that parents try to be their child's best friend. What kind of friend would violate another friend's privacy rights? Not that I'm defending this attitude, but that's part of why you will see a 12 year old with her own cell phone, a laptop, and a tv in her own room.

[frankcor]

swimmy said:

Not that I'm defending this attitude, but that's part of why you will see a 12 year old with her own cell phone, a laptop, and a tv in her own room.

Add a web cam and it's a perfect storm of child neglect.

[Swimmy]

New law to monitor social networks, track sex offenders

Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito ... says once it is [passed], New York State will be the model for the rest of the country when it comes to protecting teens online.

This is great for all the offenders we caught and are aware of. But what about the ones still lurking out there? How are going to protect children from them, they're the ones I'm really worried about. Some model for the country.

I've been swayed by some others that this bill does not go far enough.

[Ralph]

While I agree that there should be something extra here that we could use to protect our children, it seems to me that the State is becoming a reactive nanny for those parents who refuse to become proactive.

[Swimmy]

Nicely stated.

[losjibaros]

Guys.. I have said this before.. Make MySpace follow the laws of the land and 99% of the problems are gone,


If somebody actualy understood what was going on they might be able to pass or enforce laws that would actualy do something.

[frankcor]

That's so very true, losjibaros. But sometimes I think that they really do know what's going on but pass stupid laws anyways just to show they're fighting hard for us.

I know that goes against what my mother always told me: Never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to ignorance.

Well, she didn't really say that, but I'm sure she would agree with me.