Another way is to block port 5050 in your router going to your kids PC...This is Yahoo Messengers port...It is a known fact now that 80% of the worlds sex preditors not caught operate through yahoo messenger services.

Why? well lets look at yahoo...

1 - Yahoo is a free messenger service
2 - Yahoo does not need personal information (SS#, credit cards)
3 - Yahoo can run on old computers
4 - Yahoo allows VoIP and webcam activity
5 - yahoo used to have private chatrooms but due to a court order they had to pull them but they still have free public access rooms
6 - Yahoo is a breeding ground for smap and porn link posting bots and webcam bots
7 - the Yahoo protocol can be replicated and sent to a client asking for personal information.
8 - The e-mail system is unregulated
9 - The chatrooms are unmoderated
10 - Yahoo has photo sharing and file transfer that will allow X rated images to be transfered.
11 - Yahoo allows even minors to post nude images in their profiles

11 features that are slightly or not even mentioned in the Yahoo TOS..Should you be worried that yoru child is chatting on yahoo? YES, and I will tell you why...It is very easy to make an account in yahoo and a male or female and target someone, befriend them and coherse them, all by using text and false photos.

This is one service I would strictly ban my kids from using until they become older that 18 in my house...

A preditor will always hang around the free sites and services..this is because for pay sites and services the preditor will have to give more personal information like addresses, phone numbers, credit cards, etc..They do not want to get caught..So they will stay in the free pop-up ridden sites and chat rooms...
Not all of them act as "trolls" on websites...some will participate in activities of site or forum quite well..these are the ones that are very hard to catch because you dont suspect them cause they are too active to be a preditor..or at least thats the thinking of some people, which is not true at all...There was no rules that a preditor has to sit in the corner and watch everything and say nothing, or live in a cheap motel or any of the other images hollywood has produced..fact of the matter is that preditors can be in their teens on up into senior citizen ages, male or female, any race, religion, height, weight, they can work as a CEO or be humeless and unemployed...or even in congress..

To spot one though you will have to have an understanding of the psycology of one...the wording they use to lure in victims, the charisma even through miles of fiber optic they can still charm someone like a snake..Its impressive I agree, but its also sick.

So in closing I would suspect policeman bob being a sexual preditor that convict charles next door...My reasoning?
You trust the policeman..

The convict is on parole and has to be good or go back, and i doubt he wants to go back...

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Edited by Adriel at 09/22/2008 3:15 AM

Hi -

As mentioned in another thread, I run a site called Tweenland.com. I was reviewing some of our press postings and came across Anne Collier's "How to Recognize 'Grooming': Teach Your Kids"

Basedon our experience, it's a very accurate piece. Fortunately, we have not had any appreciable degree of predators in the first 180 days since launch. But, the ones we have caught exhibit the qualities outlined in Ms. Collier's piece.

There is one other thing, however. The online predator typically (and I stress typically) forgets to engage in the principle activity for which the site was established; or, fails to engage in the activity in a manner which is contextually appropriate.

For example, while I have tweens fretting over how to partake in the activity, the online predator never seems to have technical problems (due to advanced understanding of how to get around online) and they never appreciably partake in the activity. In this case, there are no blogs, no rants, no arcade activity, no chat board - just saying all the right things to kids that are willing to *speak* with them.

In one case the profile fit and - bingo - the next day they logged in during school hours from the same computer thet signed up from the night before. (This is where we do the "No school today?" confrontation.)

It is a game of blind man's bluff. Further, you must remember that the Internet is rife with opportunity for misunderstanding. The moral: Be careful of reacting without thinking things through. Further, if you run a site, develop a protocol for dealing with these matters. Don't let it catch you by surprise. You must preserve evidence or have a plan to do so.

Tony