Nothing is private to a parent before their child turns 18. The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office is stressing to families, to help keep kids protected online, they should monitor their child’s electronics and social media.
Detectives Trevor Stanfield and Dan Farnham hosted an educational discussion on Safer Internet Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Orchard Church in East Ellijay.
They shared information and resources on internet safety provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Two of the largest internet crimes against children include financial sextortion and generated pornography using artificial intelligence.
NCMEC defines sextortion as a form of exploitation where children are threatened or blackmailed, most often with the possibility of sharing their explicit images of them they may have sent, by a person who demands additional sexual content or money from the child.
Kids are left feeling fearful, ashamed, guilty and in some cases, they may feel like suicide is the only way they can escape the consequences of sextortion.
“Whenever a parent brings their child into our office or makes a report about something like this, usually they are livid,” Farnham said. “We will sit down with them and explain that their child is a victim in this and not in any trouble with us … While we can’t correct what they did, we can at least help parents mitigate what happens from that point forward.”
They stressed that once someone sends something or posts online, it can never be deleted or destroyed. Don’t send out a compromising image. This is the best way to avoid it following you throughout your life and career.
If your child is victimized by sextortion, NCMEC suggests not complying with the demands or sending money, report it to the social media app where it occurred and report the crime to CyberTipline.org.
CyberTipline is also a place where parents can report if adults send their child obscene content, asks for sexual images or asks a child to meet in person.
AI generated pornography is a newer and growing threat online. GCSO is still investigating a case involving dozens of children whose normal photos posted to social media were altered to make them appear nude.
“Parents have to be very careful about what they post online … [Predators] will take these pictures, download them and use online AI generators to have pornographic images generated over kids’ bodies,” Farnham explained.
He noted that while the generated image is not of a victim’s actual body, it still can be extremely damaging. Stanfield went on to say, “[AI generated photos] will continue to be a massive problem because people aren’t going to stop sharing pictures.”
Farnham stated that over the course of more than 10 years investigating crimes against children, he’s searched more than 300 of their electronic devices. Only two devices did not have some form of pornography on them.
“We run into this a lot with parents who say ‘not my kid,’ but trust me, your kid,” Farnham noted.
Even if children do not have access to inappropriate content on their phones, nothing is stopping them from seeing it on a friend’s phone that isn’t monitored. Parents are advised to have open conversations with them, so they know what to look out for and that it may be “wrong.”
“These kids don’t know what they’re looking at, but it impacts them and it will shape how they act, how they operate, how they think, how they respond, and it will become normalized behavior,” he said. “Nobody should want their child to get normalized behavior from the internet, because it’s anything but normal.”
Regular communication is key between a child and their guardian, to help build trust early on. Stanfield said now, they are never too young to start learning about consent, their anatomy and explicit content that can be presented online.
Parents are encouraged to go through and monitor their child’s phone, and not feel guilty for “invading their privacy.” Nothing’s private until they’re of age, and parent’s should keep full control over their child’s device, according to Stanfield.
He added that no one would let a stranger come inside their home without asking questions, so why wouldn’t they feel comfortable making sure their child isn’t being targeted by strangers online?
“Cellphones are basically the same thing as inviting people into your house, because they’re there all night,” Stanfield expressed. “They talk all evening long. Most parents don’t take their devices from kids at night, and that’s a huge issue for me as well.”
He recommended setting boundaries on what children can view online and taking away their devices after 9 p.m. This also opens up the opportunity to go through and monitor any new messages, images or videos a child may have saved.
On the topic of elementary students having cellphones, he added, “It’s a lot of responsibility for somebody who has no idea how to even spell that word. It’s easy to get into a lot of trouble when they’re not trained on how to use it.”
Before giving a cellphone to a child, parents should set up the iCloud account, or android equivalent, and control the password. This allows for better surveillance over what their daughter or son may be downloading.
“Whenever they hit download, it’s going to ask to enter the password, so you enter it and there you go,” Stanfield said. “That way, you know every app that’s going to be on that phone.”
Parents need to be aware that on certain social media apps, like Snapchat, geolocation can be used to track where a child is, and users can hide images in a password protected section.
He mentioned parents need to familiarize themselves with the platforms their kids are using to know what features need to be disabled, and be their first friend or follower on each social media app.
“You have to be able to monitor that app from anywhere, at any given time,” Farnham added.
Parents are also encouraged to use parental control apps to see what their kid is viewing online and how much time they are spending on devices. They also should keep a list of their child’s passwords for each social media app.
Online etiquette needs to be taught to children by their guardians at an early age, to help prevent them from making rash decisions they may regret later, Stanfield said. Parents need to set the right example on how to act on social media.
If you all don’t step up and [have these conversations with your kid], then who’s going to?” Farnham asked. “It’s going to be those electronic devices you give them … and the rest of the world that raises them.”