This summer might be referred to as the summer of misdirected online awareness.
First was the case of
Mark Gary Bedford, the 21 year old charged with multiple offenses associated with exploiting over 100 youth in Canada and Britain via MSN.
The second comes today; the case of a
Georgia man charged with similar crimes.
Hot on the heels of these horrific scenarios, the Ontario government has announced a
$5 million dollar strategy to address the online exploitation of children.
Additionally, the U.S. government has been working on new legislation, namely
Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA, 2006).
All these resources are being directed toward the response that is least likely to make a long-term impact. The long term solution to online sexual exploitation will not be found in beefing up legislation but in coming to terms with the fundamental changes the Web is causing in our culture, education systems and everyday lives. Predator-focused responses such as tiplines, investigations and criminal charges are only addressing one narrow aspect of the issue.
Glaringly absent from these responses to predators exploiting children, is a screamingly insistent proclamation that we get smarter and focus on educating all Internet users. We need to increase the resilience of young Internet users far more than we need to increase policing measures. We need to get past the alarmist headlines and deal with the Internet as a new singularity inflating amid the next generation’s universe while we wring our hands and act horrified.
The Internet is a hall of mirrors; it reflects back to us our real world and our inner worlds, and everything that entails. In spite of some of its alarming facets, the majority of Internet use is positive. But we’re dealing with a largely undeveloped landscape and youth have no online role models to help them navigate. Tragically, there is no relevant curriculum in our province’s schools to prepare youth for the realities of life that is lived physically and constructed virtually from birth onwards, no real twenty-first century blueprint.
We’re not going to stop predators from virtually molesting our children until those children are equipped to deal with their advances. Granted, there will be new cases of online sexual exploitation – predator organizations online will see to that – and our children will not always make the right choices, sometimes putting themselves in harm’s way. But until we prioritize balanced, comprehensive education for everyone (not just kids) about the majestic peaks and dim canyons of this undiscovered landscape, we’ll not only lose our way, but we won’t even have a map
