Safety Tips Never give out identifying information such as Name, Home Address, School Name, or Telephone Number in a public message such as at a chat room or on bulletin boards. Never send a person a picture of you without first checking with your parent or guardian. Never respond to messages or bulletin board items that are: Suggestive Obscene Belligerent Threatening Make You Feel Uncomfortable Be careful when someone offers you something for nothing, such as gifts and money. Be very careful about any offers that involve your coming to a meeting or having someone visit your house. Tell your parent or guardian right away if you come across any information that makes you feel uncomfortable. Never arrange a face to face meeting without telling your parent or guardian. If your parent or guardian agree to the meeting, make sure that you meet in a public place and have a parent or guardian with you. Remember that people online may not be who they seem. Because you can't see or even hear the person it would be easy for someone to misrepresent him- or herself. Thus, someone indicating that "she" is a "12-year-old-girl" could in reality be an older man. Be sure that you are dealing with someone that you and your parents know and trust before giving out any personal information about yourself via E-mail. Get to know your "online friends" just as you get to know all of your other friends.

Internet Law Enforcement Stories A 21-year-old New York college student who wanted to be a kindergarten teacher was arrested following a sting operation targeting child pornography on the Internet. The man used a service provider to transmit three dozen sexually explicit photos of children. The college student was actually sending the photographs to an undercover police officer. A 37-year-old man who claimed he was a child psychologist arranged to meet a 13-year-old boy in Florida for a sexual liaison after the two met in an online chat room. But the "boy" was a woman who helped the FBI set up a sting that led to the man's arrest. The man was arrested by FBI Agents upon arriving in Miami. A man serving time for molesting four children was indicted on charges of peddling child pornography on the Internet using a prison computer. The 57-year-old man was using the prison computer to obtain and distribute child pornography on the Internet. FBI Agents in Newark, New Jersey arrested a man after he allegedly enticed a 13-year-old girl to mail him videos of herself without ever leaving his home. The girl was 12 when the man first made contact, posing as a 15-year-old pen pal, and exchanging e-mail on an online service. The girl sent him four video tapes. The man was arrested after the girl's mother became suspicious of the girl's activities and called the police. As reported in The Washington Post on August 7th, 1997: Internet Sting Nets Sex Suspect A Crofton man was arrested yesterday on charges he arranged a sexual encounter through the Internet with an agent posing as a 13-year-old girl, FBI officials said. The man was arrested in Northwest Washington by members of a regional task force investigating child exploitation and pornography on the Internet. The man, described as a systems engineer for AT&T, was charged with traveling across state lines to engage in a sexual relationship with a minor. Officials said the man was the 122nd person arrested by the task force since the "Innocent Images" investigation began in May 1993.

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