A new article, Online Predators and their victims in the journal of the American Psychological Association, examined fears of internet predators and concluded that they are myths. Based on three US surveys conducted by the authors, from the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, they found that internet-related sex crimes comprised a small proportion of such crimes against adolescents.

Fear of Internet Predators on Schneier on Security has a good summary of the findings o the studies. An interesting related article comes from David Pogue of the New York Times. How dangerous is the internet for children tells of his experiences of the internet and the safety of children, both as a journalist and a parent.

All point to the need for education for the safety of our children in this online world, so it was timely of our government’s recent announcement of a digital education initiative -
Children to be taught about e-security