[Ann]

on my local news and east midlands today it mentioned about a bloke at 29 years of age entising young teenage girls as young 12 years old for sex on webcam and the teenage girls thought that they were chatting with teenage boys as young as 14 but it was a bloke instead but a 12 year old soon told police about it and hes now in custody now in my eyes its disgusting what do you lot think to it all.

[Legend]

It's to be expected. Their parents shouldn't allow them to have a webcam at 12, I know it sounds pretty patronising but if they're not going to be responsible with it then they shouldn't have one.

There was this case on The Bill a while back, it was a 12 year old boy doing the same for an older man, so it's not just girls that it happens too. It's disgusting to think that happens.

The men and women are vile for doing it but parents should be more aware also.

[Conzors]

Originally posted by Legend
It's to be expected. Their parents shouldn't allow them to have a webcam at 12, I know it sounds pretty patronising but if they're not going to be responsible with it then they shouldn't have one.

There was this case on The Bill a while back, it was a 12 year old boy doing the same for an older man, so it's not just girls that it happens too. It's disgusting to think that happens.

The men and women are vile for doing it but parents should be more aware also.

im sorry but the oparents arent to blame.

the parents may have bought a webcam for liketheyre older son/daughter..

the parents cant watch theyre child while theyre on the internet.. so i think the child should be more aware

[Wasted]

I think the parents should supervise their children on the internet, there is no real reason why they shouldn't be able to. Just checking up on what they're doing every now and then could probably make a difference and would stop their young ones getting involved in stuff like this.

[Legend]

Originally posted by Conzors

Im sorry but the oparents arent to blame.

the parents may have bought a webcam for liketheyre older son/daughter..

the parents cant watch theyre child while theyre on the internet.. so i think the child should be more aware

A 12 year old may not know any better, they're not even teenagers yet and you get older men and women who are constantly doing what they do and persuading them to go on webcam .... the kids should obviously be aware but they are only 12 at the end of the day.

Whearas the parents are not kids, they're not 12 and they should therefore either make sure their children are using it for the right reasons and that they know the risks and are aware of the sick people out there on the net.

If parents have any doubt then they should not allow their kids to have one. Infact, the parents should only let them use it when they are with them and take it away the rest of the time.

[Ann]

yes because i have a 14 year old niece and she is watched all the time as my siter has her pc in the lounge where she does keep an eye on her kids on the internet and she doesnt allow them to use a webcam for this kind of safety

[Captain.Remy]

It had to happen, that was obligated. For me, that's discusting at all but unfortunatly it exists.

[Sticks]

There is also a flip side to this

Some years ago, when I was using ICQ (I have now ditched it) I got into a random chat with someone who said they were in South America. Talking to people all around the world seems quite cool. Then the person let on that they were 14.

I had to inform the person of my age, and warn them about the dangers of the net. Some law enforcement officers pretend to be teenagers to catch out those who do what is called grooming. This 14 year old was far too trusting and it did make me feel uncomfortable talking to them.

(One reason to ditch ICQ as MSN does not have random chat)

Nowadays I always have a picture of myself as my avatar on MSN, Facebook, forums etc, so people know who I am and can not accuse me of leading people on. Also the only minors I will ever speak to on MSN are children of church members in our congregation, should they come online, and there are very few of them now if any.

The main problem is that parents are not as computer savvy as they ought to, and sometimes their little darlings are streets ahead of them, however, as in the case of that 14 year old in South America, they are not netwise, and it behooves us to get that message out to them.

Beware of who you are talking to online.

[Sunny_01]

well said Sticks.

I think that as parents we have a responsibilty to ensure our children surf safely. My PC is in the lounge where we can talk to our daughter and I regualrly check out who she is talking to and what sites she visits. She understands why and does not make a fuss about it!

[XxShortyxX]

Ewwww what a dirty perv.

[Kristen]

It is revolting but thankfully people are coming to schools nowadays and giving talks to children about the dangers of MSN/MySpace and the disgusting people that sometimes use that technology to take advantage.

[natjake2504]

this story is one that is happening all over the world and its sick. This is something i will be watching my son with as kids today are so easly lead

[Sunny_01]

I think the sad thing is that all children are naturally trusting and should actually be able to be without risk of exploitation by some dirty perv online. We should in an ideal world be able to allow our children free access to the net as a way to grow and develop their IT skills, knowledge, friendships etc.. yet we are living in a time where we need to watch every move our children make to protect them.

When people come online to any site, network etc with the deliberate intention of causing mischief, upset, bullying, abuse, they should be handled firmly to stop things from escalating to a point where children are afraid to post.

I know on TIBB we do all that we can to ensure that all members are safe to post and will continue to do everything within our powers to make sure that remains. The biggest problem for us is those that are banned for being a nuisance and then come back to cause problems and with the intention of causing upset, well those people need to learn that it is not acceptable.

[Ella]

I blame the parents..For a start what is a 12 year old doing with a webcam? Surely her parents know she is using it, They probably bought her it. Her parents should monitor what their Daughter access's.

My sister is 11 and my Mum and Dad are always checking up on what she is doing on the net. She gets annoyed because she doesnt get her own privacy sometimes, But it will stop something like this happening to her.

[Retroman]

Sometimes it isn't the older person who initiates things, or the parents fault for this happening...

Sometimes underage girls purposefully seek older men/boys because of the pure fact they think it's "cool"
Even some mature youngsters tend to go for older people, because they claim everyone in their class/age group are far too immature to be with.

Also, minors can often be found lying about their age in order to talk to, chat up and potentially meet older men, and also end up having sexual intercourse with them.

The man is totally unaware and trusts them when they say they're over the legal age.

So who is in the wrong there?
The so called paedophile who was lied to and had relations with a girl he believed to be legal? Afterall, it's pretty odd behaviour to ask people to display a birth certificate to check if they're lying? so what else is the man supposed to do if he looks at her and thinks she passes for 16+ ?

Im sure there are cases of minors luring the man into sex, the man finding out she's underage and ceasing contact with her, then her becoming mad and accusing him of rape/taking advantage. So sometimes the underage people are far from victims and their immaturity leads to vindictive actions.

However, no matter who is doing the lying, I do think people under 13 years of age should be banned completely from webcam...
As hormones often lead to young girls having "online boyfriends" whether they tell their parents "oh I promise i'll only go on webcam for my friends" or not.

The only exception I would make is if I 100% trusted my child with webcam, and did check up on them or put the PC in the living room to assure nothing bad is going on. Kids get too much at an early age these days anyway, it's far better to trust them alone with a PC in their bedroom when they're fifteen minimum/ preferably sixteen.

In short, kids don't know any better and any responsible parent should put a stop to such things happening. The parents have the power to not buy a webcam at all, or as I said, place the PC in the living room so they can type privately without being watched constantly, but can clearly be seen if they're on webcam or not. Twelve year olds moaning about freedom/privacy is ridiculous...especially in todays world. Im not saying they're not entitled to freedom/privacy, but not when it comes to webcams.

Hate to say this, but any girl who goes on webcam for boys/men she's not already friends with [and in some cases, boys/men she is friends with.] are often exposed to being "gawped" at or "perved" on [for lack of better words.] at least to some extent.

Even people you consider friends, could be getting upto "things" on the other end of the webcam whilst watching you...
You really can't say you know somebodies capabilities/minds inside out, so it really could be anyone.

Id also like to add, I have had random 13yr olds add my MSN address from my myspace profile and go on webcam for me...
As soon as I take one look at them I don't even bother telling them to go away, they're instantly put on block. I also get quite a few minors [usually 15.] adding me and commenting on my pics and saying things I really don't want to hear from someone of such an age. So I know full well the situation of young girls initiating contact with older boys/men, and it's also ridiculous how sexually orientated some of them are when it comes to conversation.

Some of them really are just asking to be taken advantage of by older men.
It's just plain stupidity.