Police tell parents to ’spy’ on Facebook kids

By Ellen Connolly

POLICE are advising parents to join social networking websites - such as MySpace and Facebook - to “spy” on their children.

The move follows growing concern by authorities at teenagers who post intimate information and photos of themselves on the sites for the world to see.

Police say the explosion in popularity of sites like MySpace (owned by News Corp, parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au)and Facebook has created a perfect hunting ground for stalkers and pedophiles.

In NSW in the past week, a teenage girl has run away with a stranger she met on the Internet and two others have threatened to leave home.

Parents have inundated the Department of Community Service’s (DoCS) Parent Line, distressed at the “secret lives” they believe their children are conducting online.

“We are in the middle of an absolute Internet crisis,” Parent Line manager Barbara Adair said.

“We’re getting a flood of calls from worried parents about their child’s Internet usage.”

As a result, the Australia Federal Police’s MetAlert unit and DoCS counsellors are advising parents to register on MySpace and Facebook to keep tabs on their children.

They say the websites give an instant insight into their children’s private lives.

Ms Adair said the number of parents calling the advice line, because of Internet fears, had increased by 45 per cent in the past year.

MySpace and Facebook have at least 50 million student users worldwide, making them perfect hunting grounds for stalkers and pedophiles.

With their mixture of wall post, networks, photos, events and the groups, the sites have become the latest Internet craze for young people.

But Ms Adair said children and teenagers did not realise that the world had a window to their lives.

“It’s the victimisation of children by pedophiles, who have these whole new arena to pick up kids,” she said.

“The problem is that young people put quite salacious material there and people can hack into it.”

“Kids don’t really realise the danger they are posing to themselves and to others.”

Police cybercrime school liaison officer Fran Boorer said children and parents needed to be educated about the online dangers.

She said it was important that parents understood how the social networking websites worked.

‘It’s not spying - I think we’re telling parents just to be aware of what their kids are doing and what’s on the sites,” Senior Constable Boorer said.

Sen Const Boorer is one of 40 police officers visiting high schools around the State to educate students about cybercrime and Internet usage.

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