A 22 year old Sydney, Australian man named Daniel William Peckham allegedly created a MySpace blog to entice teenaged girls to have sex with him, claim authorities. The site, called the Rookwood Gothic Society, made the statement that the only way for an applicant to join the Society was to either have sex with Peckham, or to send him naked photographs of herself.
He came under investigation when a 13 year old girl alerted the police that she had answered Peckham’s call. He has since been arrested and awaits a trial. But being behind bars didn’t slow him down; he continued to send e-mail messages to adolescent girls from the prison computer. Peckham is an avowed Satanist, and claims that he would “keep luring young girls into Satan’s loving embrace of carnal delights”.
This is every parent’s fear concerning the Internet, and as you can see, it’s not unwarranted. There are predators out there waiting to take advantage of the unwary and over-trusting. But just as with regular everyday dangers, it’s up to us as parents to protect our children, and instill in them the ability to learn how to protect themselves. As long as they live in your house, your children are your responsibility, and that means monitoring their Internet access, and being diligent about checking what they download. While this may feel intrusive and go against your grain, keeping secrets should never be a regular practice. Keep the family computer in the most public place in the house. When your child’s old enough (and that age depends on how you evaluate it), speak with her about what some people use the ‘Net for, and what she can do about it. Keep yourselves informed; the alternative is only sorrow.
