World: The Perils of Online Dating

By Eric Sande

The world is moving very fast and fully adapting the use of information and communication technology (ICT). Technology helps to solve most if not all happenings in the day to day life. The landing of the fibre optic cables has so far reduced the cost of having internet in our homes, mobiles phones and workplaces, which counts to a positive move towards research and communications.

This has not gone well with some end users of the internet; children in the urban area have quickly becoming tech-savvy, making them like using the internet to connect with friends via the social networking websites and dating strangers.

A cyber security analyst in Kenya once said that revealing your personal information on the internet especially to the social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles will expose one to sex predators and traffickers or burglars.

The unscrupulous online user adopts fake or impersonating profiles on the internet. They may post photos of a cute girl or boys (borrowed from an adult website) with aims of trapping the desperate love birds who can reveal their personal information to be quickly snapped into their bunkers.

Analysts say adding tons of Facebook friends doesn’t necessarily make you popular; it may actually put you and the Defence Department (DoD)’s information security at risk especially when you have friends you don’t even know.

In a survey that was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya about two months ago, 135 children aged between 11 and 18 years,  26 out of 100 children interviewed said they had a face-to-face meeting with someone they had met for the first time on the internet. And more alarming is that none of them told their parents of these meetings.

The report, Beyond Borders: An Exploratory Study on Child Online Safety in Kenya reveals how Kenyan children, especially girls, are vulnerable to sexual predators through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Cradle, an NGO dealing with children, and Plan International commissioned the study, which is yet to be released officially.

In the report, one girl confesses of how she accepted a friendship request from a man she didn’t know. Upon further scrutiny of his profile she realised he was a married adult. He asked to meet her, but she declined. He then started threatening her.

The report also warns many children are posting personal information like e-mail addresses, mobile numbers, home and school addresses online, making it easier for sex predators and traffickers to trace them. A girl in the report confesses of how a man she met online impregnated her and disappeared into thin air.

"Although most parents are aware their kids are online, they do not know what they are doing there and who they are communicating with. The problem cannot be wished away," said Cradle Programme Manager for Child Rights and Awareness, Brian Weke.

Although the children may need a certain degree of privacy, they also need parental involvement in their lives. They get access to the internet through mobile phones, cyber cafes and home computers.

Paedophiles frequent chat rooms and online solicitation produces a great deal of distress for any child.

Parents are asked to be more vigilant on their children’s online life. They are asked to familiarize themselves with how their children use the internet. They must regularly ask their children to show us the sites they visit online and monitor who their e-mail correspondence is to and from. If they participate in chat rooms, they take the time to "lurk" in such rooms and monitor the activity.

Parents need to develop "Internet parenting expertise" for the same reasons we develop basic parenting skills. Kids need parental advice and protection online and off.

All service members are instructed to beware of operational security when using communications such as telephone lines and e-mail; however, service members need to remember that information posted through social media should be regulated the same way, despite the casual feel of many of these sites.

Having a friend you don’t know means virtually anyone could be monitoring your activities and the information in your posts, and if you reveal much content, it means they’d know almost everything about your schedule on your day today life making you a vulnerable prey.