Most people would agree the internet is a fun and convenient resource to make new friends and learn new things. As technology advances so does the accessibility of the internet. People can now surf the internet via cell phones, laptop computers, and palm pilots. The internet is everywhere from Libraries, internet cafes, and school campuses across America.

While the internet has made it easier to shop, communicate, and research it has also made the world much more complex from a technical viewpoint. Software companies spend millions of dollars trying to protect users against hackers, predators, and scammers. Sadly, these companies seem to be one step behind the cyber criminals who are very intelligent and skilled at exploitation. These criminals do not lurk in alleys or bars; instead they roam the information super highway and prey upon the vulnerable. Internet predators come from various types of social, economic and ethnic backgrounds. Internet predators are very hard to detect because the majority of them look non-threatening and some even hold very prestigious occupations. A great example of this is Senator Mark Foley, who used the internet to prey upon teenage boys working in the White House.

Many adults know very little about the online world. Most kids end up teaching their parents how to use the internet. The internet is being taught to kids in middle school which is overall a good idea, but it can create some problems such as kids having more
technical expertise than their parents and teachers. The average teenager knows more about configuring, downloading, and installing programs than their guardians. Parents often feel they can not learn computer skills so their children are often left to manage the
computer. Parents and kids are both in a bad situation because parents do not know how to use the computer and kids lack the experience and maturity to make sound decisions about online safety. Parents often under estimate the dangers that lurk online and sadly our children are paying the price for it. At any given moment there are 50,000 child predators online looking for their next victim. These criminals use websites such as Myspace, AOL and Yahoo to facilitate communications with unsuspecting kids The best way to keep children safe is by education, supervision, and installation of software for protection against online predators.

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