Jul 2, 2008 6:30 pm US/Eastern
Sexual Predators Threaten Online Gamers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
The XBOX360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii are revolutionary video gaming
systems. Their easy access to the Internet has changed the way that people connect
and interact in a cyber gaming environment.
These advances in technology have
also created unforeseen problems that have parents concerned, such as allowing sexual
predators contact with children in the gaming environment.
"When you're playing online with anyone else in the world, you don't
know exactly who your children are playing with" said Jason Vanore, a Best
Buy employee.
Each system comes with specific parental controls which allow parents to set
limits to the amount of content their children have access to, something most
video game retailers are quick to point out.
"If you don't want them to be able to do video chat, you can turn that off.
If you don't want them to do online purchases, you can turn that off," said
the Vanore. "You can really customize your parental lock-downs."
Even though parental controls help to make the online world a safer place, the
advances in technology have made things very difficult for those who investigate
internet crimes, who have been focusing on interactive web games.
"We have kids growing up in computer age that are leaps and bounds ahead
of the adults and as the parental controls come out, they find ways around them"
Detective Cy Bleistine of the New Jersey State Police said.
The use of head sets allows for online gamers to have direct conversations,
making predators that much harder to trace.
The internet crimes division says that
information is the best defense and the more a child knows about what not to do,
the better they can protect themselves.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
