Child internet safety pioneer speaks

“IN 1995 the police in Greater Manchester seized the grand total of 12 indecent images of children. All of them were on paper or on video. In 1999 we seized 41,000, all bar three of which had come from the internet. Today we don’t bother counting. There’s no point.”

Those are the words of Terry Jones, a child internet safety pioneer who addresses law enforcers, psychologists, sociologists and legal practitioners at a conference to discuss the growing scale of what is a global issue for law enforcers in University College Cork today.

Mr Jones, a former inspector with Greater Manchester Police, is cited in a digital manifesto by the British Children’s Charities’ coalition for internet safety.

Dr Ethel Quayle of UCC’s Department of Applied Psychology will also address the conference.

“Whilst the internet usage of people over 50 seems to be plateauing, we’re moving to a point in Europe, Asia and the US where it’s virtually 100% saturation with young people,” says Dr Quayle, a researcher with COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe).

“They’re growing up with something many adults are still really only just fumbling around the edges with.

“While anyone working in the area of abusive images of children on the internet will tell you that pornographic images of children have been with us for centuries, the internet is adding a new dimension to this crime. Child pornography has always been with us, but the internet is a new factor to consider.”

A study of nine to 19-year-olds’ use of the internet by the London School of Economics in 2005 found that most online communication by young people is with local friends and there is little interest in contacting strangers.

“Many are wary about talking to strangers online... chatting to unknown others around the world has little appeal,” the survey stated.

And a worrying 8% of children met someone face to face who they first encountered online. However, the children surveyed seem to be clued-up about potential dangers. The majority tell someone they are going to the meeting and/or take a friend with them.

Nine out of 10 young people know they should not give out personal information in chatrooms and 94% realise that people they met online may not always be who they say they are, says the coalition for internet safety, citing government figures.

lThe conference is hosted by the Forensic Psychology Research programme of the Department of Applied Psychology at UCC and is organised by Dr Sean Hammond and Ciara Staunton.