Cyberbullying worse than sexual predators online.
From Wired.
Bullies Worse than Predators On Social Networks
By Kim Zetter
January 16, 2009 | 6:19:13 PMCategories: Crime
Contrary to the often cited statistic that one out of five minors is sexually solicited online, a controversial report released this week indicates that cyberbullies are a more prevalent problem than predators on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and that in the case of predators, "the image presented by the media of an older male deceiving and preying on a young child does not paint an accurate picture of the nature of the majority of sexual solicitations."
About half of minors who report receiving sexual solicitations online say the advances come from other minors, the report says.
Where sexual interactions do occur between adults and minors online, they rarely progress to physical encounters offline and, when they do, they usually involve post-pubescent minors between the ages of 14 and 17, who are aware before the encounter that the person they are planning to meet is an adult.
The researchers found that the minors who are most at risk of encountering inappropriate content and encounters online often engage in risky behaviors or come from environments that make them more susceptible to risks, such as environments where there is little adult supervision or where there is drug abuse or physical and mental abuse.
"Those who are most at risk often engage in risky behaviors and have difficulties in other parts of their lives. The psychosocial makeup of and family dynamics surrounding particular minors are better predictors of risk than the use of specific media or technologies," the report says.
The report also says that although cyberbullying is a greater problem than predators, there is no evidence that bullying has increased because of social networking sites and that bullying still occurs more often offline than online, although social networking sites have created another avenue for expressing it.
The report, titled "Enhancing Child Safety & Online Technologies," was commissioned by the National Association of Attorneys General, which is trying to determine the best way to combat cyberthreats against minors. It was produced by a task force headed by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and is based on reviews of existing research in the area, of which the task force says there's a paucity, as well as an examination of existing tools that offer online safety features.
The task force included more than two-dozen representatives from policy groups (Center for Democracy and Technology and the Institute for Policy Innovation) child safety groups (WiredSafey.org, ConnectSafely.org) as well as technology companies (MySpace, Google and Yahoo).
Although the national attorneys general association commissioned the report, there's been some breaking of the ranks among its members. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster a similar reaction, saying that the "harsh reality defies the statistical academic research underlying the report."
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal had
The above was all about the effects of social networks on minors, so the effects on adults are ignored.
FWIW, here are the official title of the report and its statement of purpose.
Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies
Final Report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force to the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking of State Attorneys General of the United States
The Internet Safety Technical Task Force was created in February 2008 in accordance with the Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Safety announced in January 2008 by the Attorneys General Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking and MySpace. The scope of the Task Force's inquiry was to consider those technologies that industry and end users - including parents - can use to help keep minors safer on the Internet.