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CNN Live At Daybreak
"Talk of CNN": Internet Chat Room Safety
Aired August 27, 2002 - 06:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Back to school and how to keep your kids safe are probably at the top of your agenda right now. It is time for the "Talk of CNN." And we discovered some radio jocks who have an interesting way of exposing potential danger to your kids.
We want to check in with "The Dave Ryan Show," 103.3 KDWB in Minneapolis St. Paul -- good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, it's so great to have you guys joining us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. First of all, quick correction, it's 101.3, so everyone listening in San Francisco can tune that in very, very carefully.
COSTELLO: Oh definitely!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are -- we are doing something really interesting. We discovered on the Internet that, you know, chat rooms -- I don't really go into them -- but we discovered that chat rooms are notorious for adults trying to pick up younger people. So...
COSTELLO: So what are you guys doing about it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well there's -- it's really hard to do something about it except on an individual case. We're letting people know. We're going online as a 13-year-old girl.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're kidding!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've done -- we've done this twice in a row. And unsolicited, Carol, we'll sit in a chat room and all of a sudden we'll get instant messages from adults.
COSTELLO: So what kinds of things do you say, hi, I'm a 13-year- old girl?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what, Carol, you really don't have to say anything. You can pretty much just go in there, and like he said, unsolicited, just sit and wait. And only within a matter of seconds, literally, you'll get hit on by 5, 10 people at one time. It's kind of -- it's really scary, and it's eye-opening for adults who probably know that it is dangerous to be in chat rooms for kids; but I don't think that they realize how easy it is and how exposed their children are.
COSTELLO: And from what I understand, these messages that these adult men are sending to this 13-year-old girl are quite explicit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh you wouldn't believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Extremely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carol, well, first of all, a lot of people say that the lingo is they say ASL?, which stands for AIDS, sex and location. So we write back, you know, 13-year-old female from wherever; and some people immediately go away. It's like, oh, sorry, hands off. But other people would be like, really, what are you doing right now? And eventually they'll ask for phone numbers or they'll offer to send photos. They'll ask for photos. It's really -- it's disturbing and shocking.
COSTELLO: OK, so what do you do once this adult male maybe gives his phone number to this alleged 13-year-old girl online?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happened twice. Good questions, happened twice. We have actually called two guys, both just happened to be on the East Coast. And we had Angie pretend to be this girl and talk to them for a while, and then they continue to carry on -- he carries on the smutty conversation. I jump in and basically bust him. Say hey, don't you know you're talking to a 13-year-old girl, which, if nothing else, serves to scare them enough to realize hey, everything on the Internet is not what it seems to be.
COSTELLO: So do you put the phone call on the air?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, yes.
COSTELLO: You're kidding?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, seriously, yes. I mean whether that's really something that we -- you know -- I think you have to shock parents into realizing how easy this is. I mean and kids, even if they're in their bedroom like, you know, supposedly chatting with their friend about shopping, that doesn't leave them invulnerable to, you know, some predator who is on the Internet. And kids are so trusting and kids are so innocent that they just don't realize that they're being, you know, attacked on the Internet.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding. So I have one last question because we're running out of time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure -- Carol.
COSTELLO: When you put these guys' names over the air, what did they say when they realized they're now on a radio station?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, two things, No. 1, we don't put their names on the air. We never really find out their names. No. 2, we don't want to say we're on a radio station because we don't want to get the word out that there's a radio station out there trying to do this. And I guess it's too late now because we're on CNN.
COSTELLO: I guess so. Oh no! (LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So -- but there's still a lot of people that we really -- you know and we've talked to the police. Actually, shockingly, Carol, they're not doing anything illegal unless they arrange for a meeting.
COSTELLO: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COSTELLO: So it's just the embarrassment, which may be good enough. Who knows!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's the shock of them going whoops, I better not do that again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody's on to me.
COSTELLO: Oh yes, good for you guys.
Well thank you very much. "The Dave Ryan Show," 101.3. Got it right that time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Carol. Yes you did.
COSTELLO: OK. We'll talk to you later, bye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bye-bye.
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