Tuesday, October 03, 2006
I felt a chill....
I felt a chill when I read the news reports last week that the gunman that took the girl students hostage in Colorado had found them on the social networking site MySpace.com. He knew their names and picked them out to hold while he let other students leave the classroom.
When I was young (in the last century), I remember being told not to talk to strangers, stay away from the stranger on the playground, don’t take candy from someone you don’t know and don’t get in a car with someone you don’t know even if they say they are picking you up for mommy or daddy.
The Internet adds a frightening new dimension to child safety that should give parents nightmares.
Just last week I wrote on how the Internet is changing the way we share information. We all have the ability to be on that big information superhighway. Parents are admonished to monitor their children’s chat room habits. Many innocent young people have run a foul of predators disguising themselves on young people. Now it looks like even innocent simple web profiles can bring the wolf to the door. In this case, it appears, the wolf appeared at the young ladies’ classroom.
Duane Morrison, the gunman, some speculation has it, researched his victims on the Web. He found their profiles on MySpace.com. Reports have it, he asked for the girls by name. It is chilling to think that an innocent instrument for social networking can be used for such a sinister intent.
I can't continue without making reference to the other tragedy that occured last week. The Internet did not play a direct role in this horrible crime. But some think that the Colorado tragedy may have inspired the gunman who killed the Amish girls to take action when he did.
My heart goes out to all the families.
When I was young (in the last century), I remember being told not to talk to strangers, stay away from the stranger on the playground, don’t take candy from someone you don’t know and don’t get in a car with someone you don’t know even if they say they are picking you up for mommy or daddy.
The Internet adds a frightening new dimension to child safety that should give parents nightmares.
Just last week I wrote on how the Internet is changing the way we share information. We all have the ability to be on that big information superhighway. Parents are admonished to monitor their children’s chat room habits. Many innocent young people have run a foul of predators disguising themselves on young people. Now it looks like even innocent simple web profiles can bring the wolf to the door. In this case, it appears, the wolf appeared at the young ladies’ classroom.
Duane Morrison, the gunman, some speculation has it, researched his victims on the Web. He found their profiles on MySpace.com. Reports have it, he asked for the girls by name. It is chilling to think that an innocent instrument for social networking can be used for such a sinister intent.
I can't continue without making reference to the other tragedy that occured last week. The Internet did not play a direct role in this horrible crime. But some think that the Colorado tragedy may have inspired the gunman who killed the Amish girls to take action when he did.
My heart goes out to all the families.
# posted by Richard Polk @ 10:11 AM 
