The Internet: A Discussion of Some New and Emerging Threats to Young People

Abstract

The Internet poses a number of threats to the safety of young people. Using numerous examples, this article discusses a wide range of such threats, including: cyberstalking; the ‘grooming’ of potential victims of sexual abuse; a new ‘wish list’ scene (where teenagers encourage contact with potential abusers); the creation and distribution of child pornography; and the emergence of services that create child pornography to order. It is suggested that the last has provided individuals with the ability to inflict sexual abuse on young people from a distance, an act the authors have termed virtual sex tourism. The final section of the article suggests that paedophiles and pornographers have been quick to adopt new technology as a means of concealing their activities. The article concludes by warning of the danger of overestimating or underestimating the threats described.

Kibernetinis persekiojimas (cyberstalking): viktimizacijos ypatumai ir teisinio reagavimo galimybės

“…monitoring), nepilnamečių asmenų lenkimas tenkinti kaltininkų seksualinius poreikius bei bet kokia kita agresijos forma." (Bocij, McFarlane, 2003). Kita vertus, pavyzdžiui, anot E. Ogilvie, kibernetinis persekiojimas nėra savarankiška nusikalstama veika, o konkrečios nusikalstamos veikos atlikimo būdas, kuriuo pažeidėjas siekia savo tikslų (Ogilvie, 2000).…”

Host-children of tourism destinations: systematic quantitative literature review

“…After assessing the full papers of the 80 studies, 10 were eliminated because the papers did not actually explore children in the tourism context, even though the terms, 'children' and 'tourism' were mentioned in the abstracts (e.g., Eades, 2007;Llorca-Rodríguez, Casas-Jurado, & García-Fernández, 2016). For instance, Bocij and McFarlane (2003) referred to virtual child sex tourism, which was defined as child pornography inflicting sexual maltreatment on children from a distance. This study was excluded as the reference to 'tourism' was purely metaphorical.…”

Identification and Treatment of Cyber Bullying

“…The ambiguity in such instances is enough even to circumvent the law [10,12,18,19]. Researchers have noted that a perpetrator may electronically threaten a victim using carefully worded language that appears entirely innocuous on the surface, even though the victim correctly recognizes it as a serious threat.…”

“…In these forums, messages can be viewed by others or viewed repeatedly by the victim, and other aggressors can join in with new contributions at future points in time, blurring the boundary of what might be considered a single incident. Repetition is also difficult to establish in cases where the perpetrator personally sends one message, but then programs his or her computer to continue to resend the message to the victim at regular intervals [19]. Here we might invoke Olweus view that one act can still constitute bullying if it is particularly aggressive in nature [2].…”