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CNN Live At Daybreak

Keeping Kids Safe Online

Aired June 20, 2001 - 08:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Keeping kids safe online: More teenagers on the Internet are receiving some very adult propositions.

Eric Philips tells us who is most at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just as their parents grew up on radio and TV, today's youth are growing up on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm on the computer at least every day.

PHILIPS: But who are preteens and teens communicating with when they log on? And what kind of danger are they in? A study just released in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" reports that, in a poll of 1,500 Internet users between 10 and 17 years old, 19 percent, just under one in five, had been sexually solicited at least once.

RUBEN RODRIGUEZ, NATL. CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: You need these kinds of studies, basically, to position the issue, that lets you know that it is a problem. It's not something that somebody is dreaming up. It is something here. It's now. And it needs to be addressed.

PHILIPS: The study says girls in their late teens are most likely to be solicited.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I try to chat more and more, it might get nasty. But I try to shut them off before -- you know, before it goes to that point.

PHILIPS (on camera): While children often feel safe on the Internet because of its sense of anonymity, experts warn that computer-savvy predators are often building up to a face-to-face meeting. And even if that doesn't happen, the mental distress can be damaging.

(voice-over): The best protection is close parental supervision. And if a predator tries to strike, parents should report it to authorities, because even if your child does not become a victim, someone else's may. RODRIGUEZ: You just can't let it lay. It's not something that just happened and it will go away.

PHILIPS: Eric Philips, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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