Parents must be aware of web dangers

The first report of the Internet Advisory Board established by the Government indicates that there is a high level of awareness among Irish parents of the dangers to children on the World Wide Web.

The advisory board is trying to work with the industry to avoid these dangers as much as possible.

The board is also attempting the highlight them in order to create a climate that will promote parental vigilance. Two-thirds of parents check on their children while they are surfing the net, but this still leave a third exposed to the dangers.

Launching the report yesterday, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Brian Lenihan, found it worrying that 46% of children are allowed to talk to strangers in chat rooms, where paedophiles have been targeting children.

He paid a particular tribute to the work of COPINE in the psychology department of University College Cork, which has done great work in tracking abused children whose images have appeared on the internet.

This country has implemented much stricter legislation in relation to images of abused children than other countries and there was a huge breakthrough last year as a result of co-operation with law enforcement authorities in the United States.

But parents should be aware of the enormous dangers still lurking on the internet.