The Awareness Advisor

In a recent article at crookstontimes.com, Special Agent Eric Szatkowski discusses his job, which is to hunt and capture the Internet predators who prey on children.

He makes a list of suggestions that parents can follow to protect their kids from Internet predators. He includes keeping the computer in a common room, NEVER in the bedroom, talking to your kids, keeping them away from net profiles and diaries (like myspace), and investing in parental monitoring software.

He also makes it clear that the Internet is a very dangerous place for kids. More than 2,500 predators are arrested each year for using the Internet to prey on children. And many more are never caught.

And don't think its only kids who are online all the time that are in danger. One in five kids who uses the Internet at least once a month has been approached online by a sexual predator.

Szatkowski's tip to pick up monitoring software is a good one -- you can talk to your kids all day, but that doesn't mean they'll listen, especially with teens and pre-teens. There are more than 2,500 predators after your kids every month, and that's 2,500 good reasons to know exactly who they're talking to, and what's happening when you're not looking.

A professor of communications skills in Northwestern University has been quoted by foxnews.com as saying that your teenager's access to the chat rooms and message boards of the internet may actually be beneficial.

Apparently, some studies have shown that online communities are simply replacing the mall or youth clubs as places to socialize with one's peers. So surfing chat rooms may be teaching teenagers to develop their personalities and get more social involvement.

But what should parents do about the dangers of the internet? The Courierpostonline posted an article the very next day that says that allowing kids uncontrolled access to these chat rooms is like inviting a pedophile to target your child. It may be true that kids will encounter dangerous people anywhere, but the anonymous nature of the internet makes the sexual predator even more dangerous.

Once again we see the benefits of good parental control software. By running such a tool parents can know with whom their kids are chatting and when. Ours is also completely invisble, so revealing its presence is a decision for the parents to make. Adults can optionally choose to block web pages based on content the family wants to be on the lookout for.

Kids today are high-tech; parents need high-tech solutions to keep them safe.

A recent article at heraldnews.com quotes that images of child porn have increased 1500% in the last eight years.

And, over half of the child porn websites in the entire world are hosted right here in the US of A.

Why? In part, it's the internet.

The internet provides child predators with a sense of anonymity. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, while the vast majority of men caught with child porn are white, they are:

from any economic background

any age and...

any marital status.

This is another reason why we have to be vigilant with the safety of our children. The smartest bet is to talk to your kids about sexual predators, and talk to them often.

Good Internet monitoring in the Information Age comes not just from being active in our childrens' lives but also from running software their PCs to stop problems before they start. This allows you to know who is trying to approach your kids online, as well as who is looking at what from your computer.

What's more, these programs can (and should) even be purchased by employers who want to make sure nothing of this sort ever happens in their workplace.

With 40,000 to 70,000 images of child porn being seized each week, and with good software like UltraView Plus, there's no excuse for not knowing what's happening on our computers--at home and the office.

There were students, an Army Lieutenant Colonel, a fireman, a plumber, an actor, and more.

And they were all arrested in a New York sting operation for approaching undercover police officers. These men thought they were soliciting sex from minors, but when they arrived at the "meeting place," they were arrested.

It's great to hear about police officers who work hard to protect our kids. But it's still scary to see how dangerous sexual predators can seem just like anyone else. They have jobs and live lives just like ours; they don't always look as dangerous as they are.

The days of letting kids walk home alone in your "safe" neighborhood are certainly over, especially in the internet age, where anyone can hide behind anonymity while they troll the internet looking for victims.

If you have kids, parental monitoring software on your computer is a must.

The bizarre case of Neil Entwhistle took another turn this week, when it was revealed that he allegedly used the internet to plan the murder of his wife and 9-month-old-child.

While he told his wife that things were fine, and that there were funds on the way to support them and their lifestyle, he was online searching terms like "suicide," "euthanasia," and "killing people with a knife."

He was also searching through various internet escort services, looking for sexual partners, and all of this was being planned right under his wife's nose.

The Internet can be a dangerous tool, or a useful one, depending on the type of person at the keyboard. Here is just one more reason why keystroke logger software can be a very useful safeguard.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are several indicators that internet pedophiles look for when choosing their target.

First and foremost, they look for a child or teenager who is spending a lot of time online. Predators need time to build trust in their victims -- what they refer to as "grooming." This usually involves lots of online contact, the exchange of photos or gifts, and then offline contact via telephone or in person.

It makes sense that this requires a kid who spends a lot of unsupervised time at a computer.

Next, predators look for someone who is naive, curious, adventurous, and eager for attention or affection. These kinds of kids are more likely to believe that this predator is harmless.

Signs of a young person who might be easy to manipulate include rebellious or angry kids, kids who are curious about or confused about sexuality, and lonely kids.

Of course, talking to your child is the first step towards protecting them from internet predators. But if your child resembles any of the above descriptions, its best to get some kind of parental control software. You can't control what they're doing when you aren't around, but at least at home, you'll know exactly who they're talking to online, and when.

One would think that in today's day and age, watchful parents would know that when their kids are online, they're potential targets for internet predators. We've said it before and we'll say it again: 1 in 5 kids is approached online by an internet predator.

So, why are so many parents letting their kids have internet capable computers in the bedroom? According to msnbc.com, 1 in 10 kids ages 8 to 10 years old has internet access in the bedroom. The numbers are, of course, higher for teenagers. This means that your kid can be emailing or chatting with someone, anyone, while you are sleeping.

And if you think your kid would never do such a thing, or would tell you what they were up to, you clearly don't remember what it was like to be a kid, especially a teenager. That kind of naivete is dangerous.

If you're concerned, but can't stay up all night to find out who your child is chatting with at 2am, you could remove all internet access from the room -- including handhelds, cellphones, and computers.

Or, you can rely on quality parental control software. This will allow you to check on who your child contacts and when it happens. The right brand is also easy to use and undetectable, allowing you to keep being the parent, even at 2am.

Did you know that, statistically, if your spouse or partner were cheating, Valentine's Day would be the most likely day to catch them? Sadly, it's true. Martin Investigative Services in Anaheim California declares that they get booked on Valentine's Day assignments well in advance.

In a way, it makes sense. If you're two-timing someone, Valentine's Day is the real test. How do you juggle two people on that day, without arousing the suspicion of your spouse or partner? According to Thomas Martin, founder of Martin Investigative Services, everything from receipts for gifts, to cell phone bills, to missed lunch dates, to hastily rearranged schedules (on February 14th) give a clue that there's cheating going on.

And of course, there's the ultimate tool, the Internet. If your spouse or partner has a separate email or chat account kept hidden from you, this would be the perfect way to communicate with another person on Valentine's Day, or any other day.

Of course, there's always Ultraview Plus to track what is and isn't happening on your computer -- it's fast, it's thorough, and it's completely invisible. Better to know the truth than to spend your Valentine's Day with someone who doesn't deserves it.

The Centredaily.com reports that in Florida, some of the most violent sexual predators are being released from treatment facilities without having had even one hour of actual therapy.

Apparently, all of the funding promised by politicians seeking to look "tough on crime" has never appeared, and now hundreds of the most dangerous pedophiles and rapists are being re-released into society.

But an even more chilling truth is this: even sexual predators who receive such treatment, or alternately serve jail time, aren't likely to quit preying on women and children. According to the Bureau of Justice, sex offenders are four times more likely to be arrested again, for the same crime, than any other criminal.

The rates for recidivism -- meaning the likelihood that this criminal will do this again -- are 70%! That's right, sexual predators have a 70% chance of getting out of jail or treatment and attacking another innocent victim.

And their new favorite method of finding those victims? The internet. It's anonymous, it's global, and it's available to your children.

Recidivism: It's just one more reason why every parent should invest in parental controls.

Would you know if your child was online with an internet predator? According to cbs11tv.com, 42 percent of teens post personal information online and almost a third of them have chatted online with strangers about sex.

In one online experiment, an internet predator prosecutor posed as a 5th grade girl on myspace.com. Within 12 minutes she was contacted by an adult male, asking her questions of a sexual nature, and trying to get her phone number.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, you should be concerned whenever your child is online. But, be especially careful if your child seems to spend a lot of time online, doesn't want you to know what he or she is doing online, becomes withdrawn, or suddenly makes unexplainable phone calls.

Or, you could buy some piece of mind with good parental monitoring software. With the right software, you can block webpages, addresses, and even monitor everything your child does at the computer--online and offline. It's scary, but in today's world you can't be too careful.

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) a staggering 1 in 5 kids who are online at least once a month, be it at home, school, or at a friend's house, are approached sexually by an Internet predator.

Even worse, 1 in 33 is aggressively approached meaning the predator tried to arrange some kind of offline contact (often referred to as IRL, short for "in real life") with that child.

Disturbing indeed, and what can parents do in today's information age? Kids have access to computers just about everywhere, and internet pedophiles spend hours a day trying to contact children via chat rooms, web sites, instant messages, etc. In their lingo this is disturbingly referred to as, "grooming."

Aside from talking to your kids about the dangers of the internet, parents simply must assert control over internet access in their own home with the use of some sort of parental control software.