The police are to monitor Chat Rooms according to the BBC.
True story that shows that the pedeophile activity is still not punished hard enough.
Worked in an IT Security dept a couple of years ago. Basically we caught a staff member downloading child porn. Set a trap and captured him on film. Informed the police and the guy was arrested. They searched his home PC's and found much more.
Guess what. They could not afford to take him through the court process as they did not have the budget!!! The police officers could not be held to blame as they were extremely diligent - but only three cops to man there unit and they worked with technology that could have come out of the ark.
I have no reason to believe that anything has changed for the better
Paul
I am sure the site has nothing to hide.
Users are told they could face 10 years in jail and may have their details circulated to 180 countries. .................And the poor child suffers for the rest of their life and they call that a punishment????????
Lock all 's in a room with parents as a punishment then see how they fair........Not too well i wouldnt think
I think that it can only be a good thing,with our young children growing up in this world its reassuring that these things are being done.
As for this site i really dont see a problem with it,with the strict rules on the chatroom it shouldnt be a problem.
After all were all consenting adults!!!
The report states Chat Rooms. Now is this going to be every chat room or just sex related chat rooms (like this one) or just chat rooms where children frequent?
Let's assume that the police are already monitoring the SH Chat room, which is extremely likely, are you comfortable in the knowledge that the authorities are monitoring you?
Remember that authorities will be using a logger, so that they will be able to follow any and all threads very easily.
Now, for argument's sake, you make a mention in the chat room about you having children. This could immediately flag in the logger and the authorities will probably then check the whole of your conversation. Are you happy with that?
Yes, children need protecting but are the authorities the right people to do it?
OK now try and put those worms back in the can!
Maybe OTT a bit in some areas? Imagine ALL the people on ALL the chatrooms?? Lots to watch? Maybe it is a toe in the ocean attempt to sort out links and to work on it? I know little about proceedures but I would guess that monitoring is done with the suspected people first and some who seem dodgy? The main issue is what you put on the screen is worldwide and not just me to you like on a phone/ i think they are looking at the bigger picture and the serious offenders first. People will always find a way to loophole the system BUT it is only right they try to catch the bad ones?
Grooming is a thought crime , like going to Portugal where in the Home secretaries opinon you might cause troulble . When combined with a mind set that wants to introduce ID cards and make us answerable to the state rather than the other way round , then it's worrying. The control freaks are very clever , and will use our natural desire to keep our children safe to gain control . As earlier posts have said , fewer elected assemblies and secretariates and expenses etc etc , and more in frontline Police budgets is the way forward . I won't post again in case I bore people , but as you can see , this is a big deal for me .
As Steve says adult sites like this are not the problem, it is sites where children are legitimately allowed that the peadophiles frequent.
and it is such sites that the police seem to intend to have a presence.
Any parent will welcome this .
As responsible adults we are here cos we want to be and we behave within the rules of the site. The mods etc do a wonderful job in internally policing the site.
There is nothing that any of us get up to that would be considered as contravening law.
If any of us were into anything that could be considered unlawful then perhaps we should not be here, but that is not the case, at least not in the public forums.
So full marks to the old bill and their international colleagues, may they succeed in dealing with those who threaten our youngsters.
Gilbert
Well said Bily, I was wondering if or when someone would mention parental responsability!! When our kids were younger we always kept the computer in or around the main living are so that WE could monitor their useage!!
As we all know the police service is undermanned. Taking even more coppers off the streets and putting them behind computers will only make it even more impossible to get help when you call 999 about a break in or stollen car!!
And for what? For a handfull of offences that parents themselves should be responsible for preventing.
Before anyone else answers this post I would ask them to do two things
1. Read Billy’s post
2. Sit down for half an hour and think who holds what data on me.
For example:
If you have a Tesco’s Club Card, Tesco knows which Socio-economic grouping you are in, what type of housing area you live in, known as the ACORN Profile, (from your post code) and can make a good stab at what you had for dinner and what your kids had for tea.
Visa know what your spending power is, what type of housing area you live in and something about your financial habits from how you pay off your credit card balance each month. They also know the sorts of things you like to buy and something about your life style (for example how much petrol you buy a week).
Now what would happen if the Authorities decided they wanted that data to cross-reference against other data they already hold on you?
If they see that you are a regular on SH, you buy items from sex shops, you only buy baked beans but have 4 kids, live in a terraced house, have an ACORN Profile of type 42 (blue collar neighbourhoods containing many young families). Guess how long it would take for the Social Services to come round and take your kids into care?
That’s the power of Data.
Now before you say that will never happen, sit down and think again.
10 years ago the very mention of ID cards would have lost you an election.
10 years ago you had some privacy, now you don’t regardless of what you are lead to believe. Don’t believe me? Then PM me your Name and Post Code and pour yourself a very large drink.
10 years ago you didn’t have to tell the government what money you had just to draw a pension or child benefit.
10 years ago you didn’t need to explain why you’d just deposited £5,000 into your bank account.
Get my drift.
Rocky Horror said “there is a lot of data to watchâ€. No there isn’t. Sifting data checking for matches is what computers do best. A lot of the cataloguing and indexing can be done automatically. Any “matches†which require human intervention, can then be forwarded to the right person, in the correct department. Otherwise other matches can be logged and filed for down rating your credit rating, pension entitlement or whatever.
We, in this country, believe that what the government does is good for us. We have already given up a lot of our rights and expect the “Nanny State†to look after the safety of our children and to a great extent ourselves as well. What happened to Parental Responsibility? What happened to common sense (instead of having to have a sign informing us that the cooker is hot)? Sooner or later we will give up the right to freedom of expression and thought. And that, my friend’s is part of what George Orwell was getting at in his novel 1984.
So let’s stop saying “the government is responsible for this or thatâ€, and start saying “We are responsibleâ€. We will look after our kids; we will use our common sense and not touch a hot kettle; we will not be daft enough to stand too close to the edge of a cliff. Otherwise, in 2084 the Thought Police will want to speak to you - no joke.
In today’s world Data is the ultimate power and the person who can use that data has the most power.
so John . do we vote for a party that will develop such info, or will they not all develop such info?
Is such info intrinsically bad
if we have done nothing wrong what do we have to fear?
lets not create too many monsters before they actulally exist
gilbert
I must admit - I am in agreement with the monitoring of chat rooms. There are so many paedophiles who use them to get at children. If a little of our (as adults) privacy has to go - then so be it if it protects the children!
Let's get the priorities right! The protection of chilldren is paramount at ALL times and in ALL places.
Perhaps its because I have daughters that I think this way but that is definitely how I feel. As someone said - there is always msn or IM/PM. Or with you can create a room and have it on invite only!
Alex x x
alex,
it is not just daughters who are under threat, the real perverts target both boys and girls. Both equally as vulnerable, but I concur with the sentiment of your post
Gilbert
I can see the point of view that people have a right to some privacy but unfortunately there are undesirable people out there that make this impossible. I think chat rooms must be monitored to track such people and if chat rooms are found to be misused they should be shut down immediately no questions asked..
Billy I know/ understand what you say about our choildren being much more vulnerable to those that perhaps we know, but I suspect parents monitor that more, even if sub conciosuly.. it is the anonymous threat of the internet that frightens. I am sure that would i want too I could find a suitable victim in reasonable time... I use the words delibertely.
Our kids are as vulnerable as we allow them to be. in allowing them to be so we should strive to ensure they are as safe as possible!!! .
Gilbert
I worry about bu t I trust them!!!, but they are not addicted ( unlike dad)
I know what you are saying Billy.
But the internet is still in it's infancy (relatively speaking). In a chat room a child can easily be misled and seduced without realising it. I am not saying that the internet is the sole or main problem - but it IS a problem. The police are talking about public chat rooms not PMs of private rooms - so we still have our privacy when we require it. I still say the KIDS come first.
Alex x x
billy sites such as this do not allow access but others do, an it is those that are targeted, with that I have no problem
gilbert
Oh Billy - so you think that it is feasible to keep watch on your children 7 days a week, 24 hours a day?
My daughters hardly use the PC at all - no interest except for exam revision - and I think for that I am fortunate. As both my husband and myself work full time it would be impossible for use to police the use of the PC ourselves anyway - or are you suggesting that at least one parent should always be at home all the time or that the use of the PC should be restricted to the times we are in the house. I have every kind of internet protection going, but that does NOT mean that my children (if they were so inclined) could not use a friends PC - or indeed an internet cafe. I think to put the onus on parents is totally wrong.
It is the Paedophiles who are wrong - if this initiative saves just one child then it is all worthwhile. Remember the police are targetting perverts after kids - not the rest of us - lets stop all being paranoid about this - if you do nothing wrong - why worry about being monitored?