Online Privacy

Online Privacy – Are our children easy prey?

Children today spend more time socialising online. Parents now have to pay attention to their online friendships as well as their friends in real life.

How online predators work

Online predators hide behind the anonymity enjoyed in cyber space and try  to entice their targets to meet up face-to-face.

The online predator would often begin by befriending the child so as to gain his or her trust. He would typically pretend to be a younger person and would sometimes create a fake profile on social media platforms in order to carry out the deception.

Are our children easy prey?

The unfortunate truth is many children and youths make it easy for the predators by broadcasting their information online. This includes sharing personal identification such as name, age, gender, photos and information about their whereabouts and contact details, or using web cameras.

Location-based services on mobile applications or social networks can also broadcast the users’ current physical location.

Based on the 2011 Norton Online Family Report ⁽¹⁾:

1. More than 47% of Singaporean kids aged 8-17 have experienced a serious negative online situation.
2. The most common negative online situations experienced here are:
   1. A child/teenager whom I don’t know tried to befriend me on a social network (35%)
   2. An adult whom I don’t know tried to add me as a friend on a social network (26%)
3. The main reasons kids won’t tell their parents about negative online experiences are:
   1. They worry their parents would overreact (32%)
   2. They worry they would get into trouble (24%)

What does the law say?

In Singapore, 376E of the Penal Code protects children from sex predators by making it an offence for an adult or individuals above the age of 21 to meet a minor, either male or female, under 16 years of age with the intention of committing a sexual offence.

If the person had met or communicated with the minor on two or more previous occasions (whether within or outside Singapore), the penalty for this offence is a jail term of three years, or fine or both. This law, which also covers communications via the internet, allows the police to intervene at an earlier stage.

Although this law acts as deterrence for potential offenders, the key responsibility still lies with the parent to educate and take steps to reduce the risk of your child falling victim to an online predator.

Tips for parents

1. Get to know the technology so you have a basic understanding of how it works.
2. Familiarise yourself with the different social media platforms used by your children. Monitor their activities by joining their circle of Facebook friends. Or you can keep tabs on them through their friends or older siblings.
3. Explain to your children that they should:
   • keep their personal information private
   • change privacy settings in social media platforms to ‘private’
   • seek permission from trusted adults (parents/teachers) before sharing their personal information online
   • only accept Friend Requests from friends they already know in real life (e.g. school mates/neighbours)

Place your children’s computer in a common area so their internet activities can be monitored.