School children are given advice on safe sex and the dangers of drug abuse and yet, staggeringly, in the view of Rachel O'Connell, it is not mandatory to have internet safety training in the classroom. As a member of the Home Office Internet Taskforce this is just one area where she is pressing for measures to ensure children can navigate the web safely whether at school, in out-of-school clubs or at home.
Most exchanges on the internet are entirely appropriate and innocent, but without adequate education and protective measures children can face risks - and Ms O'Connell is well-placed to speak about them.
In the course of her research into the motivation and operating methods of online paedophiles, she has posed as one to gain access to their chatrooms.
She explains: 'What I was trying to do was understand the psychological processes by which these people legitimise and sanitise sexual contact with children. A large part of it is fantasy exchange, but they also discuss grooming. They discuss the best places to groom children, usually in teen chatrooms, and the best approaches.'
She says there is a facility for people who enter some chatrooms to enter personal details in a public profile, a web page that can be accessed by anyone, and where the real names, locations, e-mail addresses, favourite sayings and photos of individuals can be found. 'In paedophile chatrooms they refer to these public profiles as "portfolios",' she adds, pointing out that the abusers also talk about not restricting themselves to the same internet service provider to avoid arousing suspicion.
Ms O'Connell, who is the director of the Preston-based Cyberspace Research Unit, says she also posed as a vulnerable 12-year-old girl, who had just moved to a new school, had no friends and whose parents were constantly rowing. She immediately attracted the attention of 'adults and adolescents with a clear sexual interest in children'.
First, there was what she terms 'the friendship stage', where the paedophile would reveal that they were up to four years older than her 'young girl', they would suggest using a private chatroom, ask about her favourite band, and urge her not to save their conversations. They would then try to find out where the computer was located in the girl's house and whether she had any siblings.
Then, once the paedophile feels they have gained the trust of the child, they move to what she calls the 'exclusivity phase', saying that they really love the girl and that they are 'soulmates'. It is at this point that their deviant behaviour becomes more apparent. They seek face-to-face meetings, offer to become the child's sexual mentor and often make sexual suggestions. Ms O'Connell says this is often accompanied by coercion. 'They will say, "Do it for me, don't you love me?". I have encountered some very aggressive, verbally abusive online paedophiles.'
In its report, Just One Click, the children's charity Barnardo's warns that 'the grooming process desensitises the child both to sexual language and to discussing feelings and emotions. This enables the abuser to ensure that the child remains in communication and under control'. Barnardo's, which is calling for the establishment of a national centre of excellence to help victims of such abuse, has worked with 15 children who have been groomed and then abused in this way.
In his report for charity NCH, internet consultant John Carr says paedophiles particularly target chatrooms popular with children. He warns in Child Abuse, Child Pornography and the Internet that they will make sure they are 'up to date with all the latest trends in clothes, music, sport and street talk so they can convincingly carry off the pretence that they are a young person close to the intended victim's age'.
Ms O'Connell says that anyone running an out-of-school club which allows children to use the internet should look carefully at chat service providers to ensure that those in their care only access public chatrooms where there is an adult moderator, someone trained to intervene to stop inappropriate exchanges, and where conversations can be saved.
Ellen Gray, a supervisor at an out-of-school club based at the Central Middle School in St Leonards, Exeter, says, 'We have staff in the computer room with the children when they are on the internet. The children know that they are not supposed to be on certain sites and that we have specific sites for them.' The club uses 16 computer terminals belonging to the school, which has filter mechanisms in place to protect children.
Mobile phone risks
Donald Findlater, deputy director of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, says that 'offenders exploit the growing autonomy of teenagers from their parents'. An element in that increasing independence is the large proportion of children with mobile phones, many with internet access and the capability to take and transmit pictures.
Ms O'Connell says that mobile phones have 'altered the parameters of the potential for abuse. While parents can insist on keeping a PC in the living room so they can keep an eye on what their children are doing, phones are different because children see them as their personal property.'
The advent of such technology has given paedophiles new scope to develop sinister relationships in greater secrecy and schedule face-to-face meetings with less risk of detection. The NCH report says that paedophiles have even sent children mobile phones or top-up vouchers so they do not have to ask their parents to pay for calls. In other cases abusers have set up freephone 0800 numbers for children to contact them on, which do not show up on telephone bills.
However, Ms O'Connell says that mobile phone operators appear more determined than the internet industry to curb the dangers from paedophiles.
The six largestphone operators in the UK have agreed new regulations to prevent children entering internet chatrooms, porn and gambling sites via their phones. The regulations, which come into force later this year, will mean that a customer must be over 18 before they are sold a phone with unlimited access to the internet.
Realistic safety advice
While paedophiles are desperate to forge a 'secret' relationship, children may feel so intimidated by the grooming process and concerned about parental reaction that they will not tell anyone when they have been abused.
Ms O'Connell says a survey that her organisation conducted in 42 schools revealed an overwhelming majority against telling parents if they had a 'bad' online experience because they feared their internet access would be terminated. She says, 'That is incredibly damaging and dangerous. Parents are the first line of defence and if that is breached then children are really exposed. We need to take away the fear factor.'
Simply telling children not to reveal personal information is insufficient because they may need to supply an e-mail address if they are entering a competition on a children's TV programme. Ms O'Connell says, 'We need more sophisticated ways of communicating messages to children so they understand the when, why and in what context to give out personal details. Otherwise you devalue the advice and make them think adults haven't a clue what the internet is about.'
She says that children are less likely to stray into risky chatrooms if they are given guidance on how to use search engines and develop favourite folders which they will find informative and safe.
In its advice to playworkers and parents, 4Children (formerly Kids' Clubs Network) emphasises the need to be acquainted with how the internet works.
Chief executive Anne Longfield says, 'It's important that every carer and parent becomes IT-literate - it's only by understanding what our children have access to that we can ensure they get the most out of the internet while playing and working as safely as they might in the classroom.'
Developing ways of focusing on the most- at-risk children is crucial. Ms O'Connell says psychological profiling has shown that children most vulnerable to grooming are likely to be those who 'scored high on the thrill and adventure seeking scale'. Mr Findlater says that from his work with offenders and victims he has learned that children who are unlikely to tell anyone about their experience of abuse are most vulnerable, while those with a reputation for lying about other things are also at potential risk because people may not believe any allegations they make.
On the Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety website, the NCH suggests that if a child becomes secretive about their time online, opts to use computers at an internet cafe, library or a friend's home rather than their own or starts to use encryption software, this may indicate they are having inappropriate exchanges online.
But the vast majority of children who go on the internet are not groomed or abused and find it to be an invaluable source of knowledge. Out-of-school clubs need to ensure that they have adequate safeguardsin place so that children in their care can make the most of this resource and surf the internet safely.
INTERNET SAFETY WEBSITES
* The Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety: www.nch.org.uk/itok/chis * For Kids By Kids Online: www.fkbko.net
* Wiseuptothenet, advice for parents: www. wiseuptothenet.co.uk
* Think you know, advice for children: www. thinkuknow.co.uk
* Parents online: www.parentsonline.gov.uk
* Department for Education and Skills: www.safety.ngfl.gov.uk/schools * Internet Watch Foundation: www.iwf.org.uk
* The Metropolitan Police: www.met.police.uk * Be safe online: www.besafeonline.org
* Get net wise: www.getnetwise.org/tools