news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7171589.stm

Not at all convinced on the researcher's claims that she was harassed online. Certainly many young teens can be very forward online, and even though their are predatory paedophiles who use chatrooms, there will also be a great percentage of pubescent males who also enjoy flirting with girls of a similar age.

Online activities are still the safest way for young people to communicate. Certainly a good deal safer than on the streets outside, sadly.

Yes, it's very easy to fool people online, but paranoia and the imminent threat from a 'danger' which is minimal can only result in causing web users to be overly cautious and therefore stifling what is a fantastic medium to make friends and chat with people from across the globe.

Added to that is the nasty after taste which suggests that the majority of British white pasty faced middle aged males must be sexual deviants even when browsing the web innocently in their
own homes.

Result? An uneven and unbalanced investigation, which is typical of the BBC just lately.

Panorama: One Click From Danger. Tonight BBC 1 8.30pm

Chrissy

I have to agree with everything you say.
These days "bogey-men" are everywhere (otherwise what would the Murdoch rags have to write about?)

I'm sure there are some "weirdos" out there - but doubt very much that the percentage has changed over the years. When I was a lad (sigh !) we went out over the fields for hours on end, taking bottles of pop and crisp butties, and (in summer) often not getting home till it was late. It never did any of us any harm (and we never actually met a weirdo !).

These days people are "looking" for weirdos everywhere - and what you look for you can usually find !

Meanwhile, children have a very unbalanced upbringing, have little self-esteem, hardly any ability to communicate, and less able to face the "grown-up" world when the time comes, than at any time previously.

Facts that come immediately to mind.

1: Most child abuse is committed by people the kids already know - very few by strangers.

2: Most kids chat online via webcam so they can see who they are chatting to. This is something the media don't seem to have caught up with.

Agreed. And it's disappointing that the BBC is following the rediculous News Ltd gutter rags in this ( where would the Sun etc be without their saucy stories to report ?).

Online has to be the safest place for youngsters to chat..and so what if they meet a creepy person ( there are creepy young people as well !). The impression always given is that someone can reach through the screen and grab your child. It's a total beat-up.

In fact there is a good argument to say that it's helpful for young people to encounter a fraud online..it may give them skills to deal with people later in life. Stop treating kids like delicate flowers.

Parental supervision is needed here. They need to teach their children that everything they read (online and elsewhere ) isn't necessarily true and to question everything.

Personally-I think the whole focus on this is dangerous and more sinister. I believe "pedo panic" is calculated and the ultimate aim is for governments to hand control over to private corporations whereby they set up "gates" which you must pass for access...the more you pay the more access you get.

The internet is ultimate anarchy and no government or corporation can handle that !

veritas wrote:

Personally-I think the whole focus on this is dangerous and more sinister. I believe "pedo panic" is calculated and the ultimate aim is for governments to hand control over to private corporations whereby they set up "gates" which you must pass for access...the more you pay the more access you get.

The internet is ultimate anarchy and no government or corporation can handle that !

Yes - it's all part of the "hand over all your freedoms to us, and we'll protect you from the baddies (the baddies that we invented) syndrome !

Very sinister indeed.