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New Campaign Raises Child Safety Concerns Over Google's 'Street View'
Monday, July 21, 2008 9:00 AM


Stop Child Predators' latest initiative will educate and empower parents and communities on rising online child safety threats

WASHINGTON, July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Stop Child Predators launched a public education campaign called Stop Internet Predators designed to increase awareness of emerging Internet technologies that can endanger our children's safety and privacy.

The campaign seeks to educate parents and communities on emerging online threats and empower them with the tools and resources to act to protect their children's safety and privacy.

'By increasing awareness, Stop Internet Predators seeks to limit the potential for child predators to abuse online technologies to prey on children,' said Stacie Rumenap, Executive Director of Stop Child Predators.

A special focus of the campaign is devoted to a particularly alarming technology provided by Google maps. As part of the launch, Ms. Rumenap is featured in a video on www.StopInternetPredators.org, which shows how the Google 'Street View' application allows Internet users to view high resolution pictures of homes, schools, and in some cases, children playing outside, simply by typing in a local address.

'This technology shows anyone in the world our communities, and exposes not only the routes from the bus stops to homes, but our children, without ever stepping foot in our neighborhoods,' said Ms. Rumenap.

This new initiative has already attracted supporting organizations, including Community VOICES, Ryan United, and others.

'After going on Street View, I saw a picture of my neighbor's child playing basketball in his driveway,' said Laurie Myers, Community VOICES President. 'As the Internet evolves the way in which predators prey on children evolves with it. We as parents owe it to our children to educate ourselves on the potential dangers by being proactive.'

Stop Internet Predators invites you to join a media teleconference on Wednesday at 2pm ET, where you will hear from coalition members listed in this release and others. For more information on the call, please email media@StopInternetPredators.org.

Stop Internet Predators urges parents and communities to not passively accept new technologies as non-threatening, rather educate themselves on their implications and restriction options. We should act on behalf of our children and safeguard their privacy and safety.

For more information about the campaign please visit www.StopInternetPredators.org.

About Stop Child Predators

Stop Child Predators brings together a team of policy experts, law enforcement officers, community leaders, and parents that persuade lawmakers and the public to enact policies that protect America's children from sexual predators. Stop Child Predators is the only national organization that leads campaigns in every state to advocate legislation that prevents the sexual exploitation of children and protects the rights of child victims.

SOURCE Stop Child Predators

(Source: PR Newswire )


(5)
 
7/23/2008 5:17:36 PM
Really !!! by nathon
okay so i get the idea that you can use googlemaps to find things and sometimes people, what the article doesn't mention is the lag time between the photo was taken (days weeks months...) and realtime. if a predator did use googlemaps for that purpose they would be very hardpressed to find a photo and get to the location before it was use less much like reading newspapers from 1945.
Rating: (0) (0)
7/24/2008 2:29:13 AM
Are y'all insane? by dave
Because it's far easier to systematically search every single photo on google maps, find the ones with children in, check the date of the photo, then check up on the house to make sure that family hasn't moved out, than it is to get in a car and drive around. Obviously. We're all pointing out how silly it is to believe that pedophiles could even waste their time doing this, but what's sticking in my mind is the kind of mental state that comes up with this idea in the first place. It's either someone who seems to think that google maps works via some kind of live satelite feed, or it's someone with an anti-technology agenda. That, or someone completely and totally insane. Either way, shouldn't someone be complaining to some authority or other over this? Isn't this a form of libel, or at the very least, an attempt to incite panic or something?
Rating: (0) (0)
10/7/2008 2:44:41 PM
More info needed... by DodiaFae
I run a website with the purpose of spreading awareness and advocating child safety. So obviously I'm very curious about this story. I've done a lot of research (though not nearly as much as some other contacts I have who actually fight online predators head-on) and nothing I've learned would indicate that this is a method that they'd prefer over actually going out and finding children, or through networking with one-another. Also, I googled my own address just now, the satellite pictures are old, and street view isn't even available. Also, the location marker was 3 bloks up and 2 streets over... The fact of the matter is that google maps really isn't all that good when it comes to finding addresses. BB ~DF
Rating: (0) (0)
7/23/2008 5:17:36 PM
Really !!! by nathon
okay so i get the idea that you can use googlemaps to find things and sometimes people, what the article doesn't mention is the lag time between the photo was taken (days weeks months...) and realtime. if a predator did use googlemaps for that purpose they would be very hardpressed to find a photo and get to the location before it was use less much like reading newspapers from 1945.
Rating: (0) (0)
7/24/2008 2:29:13 AM
Are y'all insane? by dave
Because it's far easier to systematically search every single photo on google maps, find the ones with children in, check the date of the photo, then check up on the house to make sure that family hasn't moved out, than it is to get in a car and drive around. Obviously. We're all pointing out how silly it is to believe that pedophiles could even waste their time doing this, but what's sticking in my mind is the kind of mental state that comes up with this idea in the first place. It's either someone who seems to think that google maps works via some kind of live satelite feed, or it's someone with an anti-technology agenda. That, or someone completely and totally insane. Either way, shouldn't someone be complaining to some authority or other over this? Isn't this a form of libel, or at the very least, an attempt to incite panic or something?
Rating: (0) (0)
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