Safe in cyberspace?

Surfing the Net and chatting online have become part of life for many children. But the problems begin when they are left alone without parental supervision, says SUSAN SRIDHAR.

NEETHA, WAS a shy and reserved girl, who found the seemingly anonymous computer a safe haven to court friends. Chatting online soon became her favourite pastime and she found a charming online solicitor whom she believed completely. When he requested her to run away from home so that they could get married in Delhi, it was like a romance come true for Neetha. Having enough pocket money and no one to question her, she went all the way to Delhi, only to get bitterly disappointed. She realised that the 'gentleman of the Net' was an ogre in real life.

For Divya of Royapettah, life became a nightmare after she began receiving anonymous threats. She too had believed the seemingly anonymous medium and indulged in some steamy chat session with a Net companion. Little did she realise that he had saved every bit of these conversations and was now threatening to reveal everything to her sister, if she did not meet him in real life.

In both the cases the girls were unharmed physically. But sometimes, emotional accidents are worse than physical ones. Such cases are increasing in the city at an alarming rate. The IT boom has resulted in a dramatic rise in Internet usage.There is a spurt in PC sales and there are an estimated 1,000 netcafes in the city.

But, most often, it is the bright side of the boom that is highlighted, and its impact on children and their vulnerability is hardly a cause for concern. Surfing the net and chatting online have become part and parcel of life among many middle and upper middle class children. This medium has subtly promoted the generation gap. While children are computer savvy, most parents remain ignorant of the nuances of this medium. This is where the problem begins. Children are left alone to surf and chat online and hardly any monotoring is done.

With such a high degree of simulated virtual reality available, it is necessary to study and assess issues such as identity, involvement, integrity and intensity of sensory impressions. Fixing identities at the click of a mouse and making choices believing total strangers pose grave dangers to children.

An e-mail message may be read by thousands of people the world over. You may be in the course of chatting, revealing personal information to a total stranger who has assumed a false identity, or, you may be engaging in a dangerous transaction, risking the anonymity this medium affords.

It is essential to note that even as one is enjoying the cruise along the information superhighway, the ride need not be smooth. A mother from Europe went online with a description of the scenario - "I view the Internet as a family activity, not a children's activity. When your child goes online, he is effectively leaving the confines of your home. Just as you would not let your child wander about a city without adult supervision, he should not be left alone online."

What seems rampant in Chennai is a superficial knowledge of the medium and the greatest danger is that children are learning about real life virtually, which is both dangerous and crazy. It is important for parents and educationists to know about these risks so that they can prepare young Internet users to maximise the benefits of cyberspace and minimise the dangers.

Some of the common risks that children could get trapped in are - revealing personal information, sexual and other forms of harassment, and commercial websites used by advertisers and marketers to target children online.

A survey conducted in the city early this year to find out the awareness of dangers on the Net among youngsters in the age group of 12 to 17 brought to light several hazards posed by unrestricted surfing. Netcafe representatives were also interviewed.

The critical issues that arose were:

* Though children are spending more and more time online, there is considerable ignorance of the potential risks.

* Chatting has become ae an important pastime and the scary part is that adolescents are online most of the time with strangers. In fact, according to many studies done abroad, it is adolescents who open up the most number of personal homepages on the Net, and in the process, reveal their personal identities.

* Pornography is accessed in many of the small netcafes by children.

* Only spokespersons of large netcafes are even aware of filtering and blocking software. The others are either ignorant or conceded that they are not concerned with who accessed what, because cafes are " money-spinning ventures."

* The country is yet to see measures to protect children online. Though the IT Act, 2000, has banned pornography as illegal, it seems ineffective because there is no specific law. It is vital for the government, Internet industry, consumer advocates, community groups, parents and educationists to sit together and come up with programmes to create awareness of the potential risks that children face.

* * *

Netcafe survey

It was difficult to get information from netcafe spokespersons. They admitted that most of the surfers were school children in the 10-17 age group, belonging to the upper income strata. They browsed at least for one-and-a-half hours to two hours a day. Some were daily visitors while others came at least three times a week. The games sites were the most popular. E-mail and chat came next.

The major findings were:

* Only spokespersons of large netcafes, mainly run by the four major ISPs are even aware of filtering and blocking software. The others were ignorant or agreed that they were not interested about who accessed what.

* Pornography is often accessed.

* There is no thought of counselling, though a few of the large netcafes, do have a monitoring system.

(To be concluded)

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