American teens are more wired into technology now than ever before. According to the latest surveys presented by Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007, approximately 93 percent of all Americans between 12 and 17 years old are internet users compared to 87 percent in 2004 and 73 percent in 2000. In the near future, virtually 100 percent of all teens will be connected to the internet, and in turn, the need to guard against their exposure to online predators will be more important than ever. Currently, the following statistics suggest a predatory epidemic that is quickly spiraling out of control.
One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give out personal sexual information.
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Crimes Against Children Research Center. 25% of children have been exposed to unwanted pornographic material online.
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Crimes Against Children Research Center. Only 1/3 of households with Internet access are actively protecting their childen with filtering or blocking software.
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Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
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E-Marketer. Only approximately 25% of children who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent or adult.
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Crimes against Children Research Center. One in 33 youth received an aggressive sexual solicitation in the past year. This means a predator asked a young person to meet somewhere, called a young person on the phone, and/or sent the young person correspondence, money, or gifts through the U.S. Postal Service.
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Youth Internet Safety Survey. 77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older. Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13.
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Crimes Against Children Research Center. 64% of teens say that they do things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about.
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Pew Internet and American Life, “Protecting Teens Online,” 2005. 1 in 5 Children are sexually solicited online (only 25% of those told a parent)
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Online Victimization, David Finkelhor, 2000. 89% Sexual solicitations occurred in either chat rooms or Instant Messaging.
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Online Victimization, David Finkelhor, 2000. Teens are willing to meet with strangers: 16 percent of teens considered meeting someone they've only talked to online and 8 percent have actually met someone they only knew online.
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