MySpace, Our Problem

The internet is a wonderful communication tool that can bring people from different ages, races and locations together. This is the positive feature of the internet, but it is also the negative.
As much as we as a society have taken a step forward with all the advancements of technology, we have also taken a step back as information sharing sites like myspace.com bring light to problems that have existed for many years.
The Hartford Courant reported on Friday, March 3 that Federal law enforcement officials arrested two out-of-state men who allegedly had sexual contact with two young girls from Connecticut that they met on myspace.com. The Courant reports the two men were considerably older than their targets. One man who is 39, is accused of traveling all the way from Elrama, Pa to have sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl. The other man, 22, from Queens, NY is reported to have had sexual contact with an 11-year-old girl.
These cases of older men preying on younger children – not just girls – seem to be popping up more and more in the media. I remember an investigative piece by one of the major national networks last year that did an undercover operation to nab sexual predators in their track. The piece repeatedly showed numerous men appearing at this same house to meet a juvenile and were quite shocked when they found out they had been set up.
These recent stories shed light on the problem of sexual predators and how the internet is making it easier for them to target their victims. Authorities are trying to counter this problem by running undercover operations and monitoring sites like myspace.com, but they can’t be everywhere.
I think this is a problem that will only continue to get worse until parents take a more active role in monitoring and educating their children about the dangers of the internet.