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Assignment #12
Instructions
The internet is a wonderful tool with resources that are expanding every day, but with the benefits also come dangers, especially to the youth.
With many new communication tools available, such as email, chat rooms, and instant messengers, the exposure to unknown people increases greatly, and so does the danger to the person using them.
In our society, children are taught not to speak or give information to strangers, and this rule must carry over to the internet if they are to remain safe. In a chat room, there is no way of knowing who the people you meet truly are, or if they have some alterior motive. One should never trust that someone is truly who they say they are, as many times they really aren't. All to often, child molestors or paedofiles find their targets in chat rooms.
Most children are quite aware that they shouldn't give out any personal information, like their name, age, or address, to people in a chat room, but references to simple things could be added up to narrow down the child's location, so they should avoid giving out those as well.
These dangers seem obvious and easily avoidable, but there are also other dangers to children on the internet, like pornography. Even the best filters in the world cannot remove 100% of pornographic or hate sites, so it is important that children and teens know how to search for websites, read warnings, and determine which sites are acceptable. Young children should be guided and monitered by parents when using the internet, so that they will learn how to avoid, as much as possible, the dangers of hate web sites and pornography.
Adults are by no means immune to the dangers that the internet brings- giving out personal information can prove just as dangerous, leading to stalking or even assault. Furthermore, information given in forms to insecure sites can be sold to other people and result in credit card fraud or contant spam mailing.
The internet is a magnificent resource brimming with valuable information, but it is important the the youth of today are taught to use the internet wisely, for their own protection, so that they may avoid the dangers that the internet brings.