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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Who's online chatting with your children?
Chat-monitoring software prevents children from talking to strangers
By Cynthia Fugate
Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
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| Learn cyber-lingo | Acronyms provide a way to defy chat room rules, filters
Most chat rooms have a no-profanity rule and some rooms have foul-language filters that screen out inappropriate language.
To get around rules and filters, some chat room users and e-mailers use a coded language that is based on acronyms. This is a rapidly developing language and some parents find it near impossible to break some of the codes.
The Exploited Child Unit of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has compiled a list of the most commonly used acronyms. For a complete list, check out the Kokomo Perspective's Web site at www.kokomoperspective.com.
Acronym Meaning
ASL Age/sex/location
ASLMH Age/sex/location/music/hobbies
CYO See you online
DL Download
EG Evil grin
F2F Face to face
FTF Face to face
FUD Fear, uncertainty and doubt
G Grin
GBH Great big hug
IPN I'm posting naked
IRL In real life
KOTL Kiss on the lips
PDA Public display of affection
PM Personal message
QT Cutie
SMAIM Send me an instant message
WYWH Wish you were here
XO Hugs, kisses
Emotional and symbolic acronyms
Acronym Meaning
(( ))** Hugs and kisses
((((name)))) Cyber hug
:-{} Blowing a kiss
:-# Lips are sealed
:*) Clowning
;-> Devilish wink
0:) Angelic
:-> Devilish
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Busting online predators could be considered one of Kokomo Police Lt. Don Whitehead's career goals. Keeping children safe from those who prey on young children is an even bigger ambition for Whitehead.
"We've been involved in cases in Indianapolis where we've done the 'Dateline' type of thing," Whitehead said, referring NBC's "Dateline," which airs programs showing the arrest of alleged online predators.
"People will travel from all parts of the state and beyond the state to meet someone online," he said. "Not difficult to get somebody involved in an inappropriate conversation with a minor."
Law enforcement officials estimate that 50,000 predators nationwide are online at any given moment, and they have just one thought in mind: your child. And that's what the Kokomo Police Department and Zihtec, a provider of online child safety, want the community to learn at a Jan. 18 seminar at City Hall.
"(Predators) target elementary-age children to young teen-agers," Whitehead said.
Zihtec CEO Gabriel Luu, the Kokomo Police Department, and the mayor's office will provide a free demonstration of "Safe Chat" and a discussion about Internet crime.
Whitehead explained that sexual predators are shown to come from all walks of life and all social and economic backgrounds. They do not discriminate on race or gender, and they target children from as young as 6 years up to 17.
Safe Chat, the only Web-chat monitoring product that prevents children from communicating with strangers before they ever begin, is something that Whitehead said no parent can afford not to purchase.
"This is a $35 product that will absolutely give parents total control of the Internet," he said. "It gives parents control over who their child chats with, which Web sites they are on, and how long they can be on the Internet."
To verify the quality of the product, Whitehead said he and detectives from the computer forensic department tested the system. He explained that the software prohibits kids from getting into certain chat rooms and allows parents to create a list of authorized e-mail recipients with whom they want their child to chat.
"If parents aren't looking for this program, they should be," he said. "For something that does as much as it does, I can't imagine parents not wanting it."
Luu said that unlike other parental-control software products on the market, Zihtec has taken a pro-active approach and allows parents to monitor online activity before logging on, not afterward when it may be too late.
"Safety experts warn us not to reveal personal information online, but kids aren't always careful about this," Luu said. "Safe Chat allows parents to have specific key words and phrases automatically censored from online communications - an address, a phone number or school information, for example. They can also block offensive language in both incoming and outgoing chat messages."
Safe Chat can also thwart peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing through networks such as Neo-Napster, LimeWire, eMule, and Mopheus.
"It doesn't just block Web sites; it gives parents the ability to control who their child chats with," Whitehead said. "If you set it so that your child is only allowed on the Internet on Monday from 3 to 4 o'clock, that's the only time they can get on. It won't let them do it any other time."
Mayor Matt McKillip said that parents are diligent about with whom their children hang out in neighborhoods and where they are; they should be just as diligent about what they are doing online.
"This is an excellent opportunity for (parents) to learn how to protect their kids from online predators," he said. "Safe Chat allows parents to control who their kids hang out with in this (the) enormous online neighborhood."
Safe Chat includes features that prevent anyone from bypassing or hacking the parental controls and is compatible with Windows XP, 2000, and 98SE.
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