Sextortion Threatens Teens, Adults
RSSBy Lauren Barack
"Unfortunately, what we find is that many parents and educators are behind the curve when it comes to understanding the risks and the benefits of the Internet," says Cris Clapp Logan, director of communications and congressional relations for Enough Is Enough, an Internet safety group. "Parents and other caring adults need to be involved to help raise digitally safe and savvy kids." Sextortionists sometimes coerce their victims into performing sexual acts. In a recent case, a 19-year-old from Mechanicsville, MD, was indicted in June on federal charges of sexual extortion when he threatened to expose photos of a 17-year-old flashing her breasts on a webcam while visiting an Internet chat room. Also in June, the Federal Bureau of Investigation charged a 31-year-old from Santa Ana, CA, with downloading malware--or malicious software--remotely into computers, recording teens and adults with their own webcams, and then threatening to expose the videos and images if they didn't send him X-rated videos of themselves. While educators often emphasize to students that information they share and upload online can be permanently stored and accessed by an unintended recipient, adults also need to guide them on how to handle scenarios in which kids may find themselves in over their heads. "Parents should talk to their kids and let them know that if they ever end up in a situation like this, they should come to them immediately," says Logan. "A lot of kids are understandably ashamed and fearful when facing any situation like this, but parents need to be a safe place for them to go, otherwise, they could end up meeting the demands of the perpetrator." As kids grow up in their increasingly online world, their sense of what's appropriate--and inappropriate--to share over the web can get blurred. Helping them understand that delineation is a critical role for adults, says Logan. Even if education can't stop criminal activity, it can help students better navigate how to engage online. "Kids seem to still experience a dis-inhibition with regard to what they say, post, and do online, so we need to get through to them that what they do online can have consequences offline," she says. "We see the most critical need as being parental involvement. Without clear guidance from adults, kids will make their own rules."
Teens who send digital nude images of themselves generate concern among educators and parents alike. But criminals who threaten to expose those very images to a wider audience are an even stronger reason adults need to be well-educated on Internet safety--and pass that information on to their kids as cases of sextortion, or sexual extortion, are reportedly rising across the country.
