When we were children,  “be back before supper” was considered adequate parental supervision.  But that was before drive-by shootings and “stranger-danger.”  Today we wouldn’t dream of allowing our children to roam the streets without close supervision.  When they go outside, we require them to “check-in” periodically to soothe our worries.  The truth is, we prefer them to be home--where they are safe.

 But are they really safe?

 A 13-year-old Georgia girl was raped in her own home by a 40-year-old car dealer who was poising as a repairman.   A 30-year-old educator from Long Island sodomized a 14-year-old New Jersey boy in the boy’s home.  A retired educator in Alabama used the computer to talk to young boys about “sexual fantasy stuff” and lure them to meet him at a local mall where he molested them.

 What do these perpetrators  have in common?  They all met their victims over the Internet.  Louis Freeh, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has a list of four thousand suspected child pornographers or pedophiles who use the Internet to meet their victims.

 Predators are on the net.

 Most people would expect www.wordwitheld.com to be a government web site, but it isn’t.  It is an X-rated site.  The government site is www.wordwitheld.gov.  By changing the government extension to the company one, the pornographers set a snare to ambush families on the net.

 Pornographers are on the net.

 But the Pastor’s home is safe from these dangers, right?  The police arrested a Mississippi pastor  in a Florida hotel room where he arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl.  The girl’s father tipped the police off to the encounter after he discovered sexually explicit correspondence from the minister in the girl’s bedroom.  (According to the pastor did not know she was 14, she claimed to be 21.  When he found out, he called off the meeting but went to Florida anyway, not wanting to waste his airfare.)

 Remember, King David was “a man after God’s own heart,” but his lustful eyes lead him into sinful action.  Every family is at risk, even the Pastor’s family.

 Government agencies and companies are taking steps to minimize the risk.  The United States Congress passed the “Communications Decency Act” in 1996 that “criminalizes the ‘knowing’ transmission of ‘obscene or indecent’ messages to any recipient under 18 years of age.”  Though this law does not give ultimate protection, it is a step in the right direction.

 The December 23, 1998 edition of the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com) reported that LookSmart, a search engine on the World Wide Web, will no longer accept advertisements with pornographic content.  The company anticipates that this decision will reduce their monthly revenue by $150,000.00.  When asked about the decision, Evan Thornley, the C.E.O. of the company said, “If people want to search for that kind of content, that’s their business, but it’s not our business.”
 Disney’s Infoseek, joined LookSmart in their decision to stop accepting advertizing dollars from pornographers, though they still allow links to pornographic sites, they do give the user a warning.  In researching this article, I typed the words “pornography recovery” into an Infoseek dialog box.  It returned a warning that the listed sites could contain objectionable material.

 Ultimately, though, it is a family’s responsibility to protect itself from the foul stench emitting from the trash on the Information Super Highway.   Here are some suggestions.

 Use software filters that block access to questionable sites. X-Stop (http://www.xstop.com/) utilizes DAB (Direct Access Blocking), an automated search function that locates sites with objectionable material.  They claim to block 96% of all pornographic sites on the Internet.

 Net Nanny (http://www.netnanny.com) puts all the control in the user’s hands.  They provide a biweekly “nasty list” of objectionable sites.  The user can add or delete URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) from the list, block email messages containing graphic files like those with .gif or .jpeg extensions, and customize a list of objectionable words that cannot be used during a search.

 SafeSurf (http://www.safesurf.com) uses typical filtering methods.  But, on a proactive  note, they also provide their users lists of family friendly sites, and tips for parents to guide their children in their Internet usage.

 These “filtering” software applications are effective tools to restrict access to questionable sites, but they are not without their faults.  Hackers can disable the system and the family member with the password can bypass the system all together.

 A better alternative to software-based applications is to gain Internet access with ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that offer “server-based” filters.  ISP’s can block access to questionable sites from their servers, making it more difficult for hackers to get passed their “fire walls.”  Richard Land, of The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention believes that “server-based” filters are “[the] only answer to cyber-porn.”

 Character Link (http://www.characterlink.net/main.asp) offers several levels of filtered material.  Users can subscribe to email only, or to three different levels of Internet activity.  The customized plan, gives access to predefined sites selected by the subscriber, while the family plan provides access to sites Character Link approves.  Web sites in the family plan must meet the criteria of their tight scrutiny.  The third level, the expanded plan, gives access to all sites that, in their opinion, don’t feature objectionable material.

 Rated-G Online (http://38.182.40.21/) is a service of 711.net, a provider of pro family services on the Internet.  Using the familiar rating system of the Motion Picture Industry, they block access to material that would be rated “R” or above if it appeared in a movie.

 Integrity Online (http://www.integrityonline.com/) provides its users with three levels of security.  They block “objectionable” words on search engines, and access to inappropriate sites.  They also allow their subscribers to submit requests to block access to sites they feel are offensive.

 Both the application-based and server-based filtering systems are helpful tools to avoid the trash on the Information Super Highway, but they may also limit access to helpful material that is neither pornographic nor otherwise unfit.  Cyber Patrol (http://www.cyberpatrol.com), a filtering software application, won’t allow access to some pro-family web sites because of their opposition to the homosexual agenda, which they refer to as “intolerance.”  Another problem will occur when a user wants to read information about breast cancer or find a new chicken recipe but are blocked from the sites because they used the keyword “breast”in their search or because “breast” appears on the web sites.

 There are other ways to protect your family from the trash on the Information Superhighway that do not involve application-based or server-based filters.  Common sense dictates that children should not be left unsupervised on the Internet, any more than parents would allow them to roam the streets of the red light district in their community.

 One obvious solution is to prohibit a child from using the Internet when a parent is not at home by not permitting the computer to memorize the password and limit who knows the password to the adults in the family.  This precaution might inconvenience parents, but it will insure that the children are not spending too much time on the Internet or using it without proper supervision.  Also, position the computer where the screen is visible to anyone walking past the room.  Occasionally, walk into the room to see what the user is viewing and to discuss what sites they are frequenting.

 Chat rooms represent a clear and present danger to children.   Predators ambush childrenin Chat rooms,  win their confidence and arrange places to meet and abuse them.  For that reason, children, or anyone else for that matter, should never give out their address, phone number or other identifying information to strangers they meet on the Internet.  Concerned parents can monitor their children’s email, without invading their privacy.  With a little creativity, a parent can check the content of messages sent to strangers using a two-step strategy.

 First, establish a separate email account to receive forwarded messages from the home computer. Yahoo, provides free email service with up to 2 mg of storage space at http://www.my.yahoo.com.  The mail is stored on their server, and can be read online without downloading it to a personal computer.  Take a moment to set the filters on the yahoo mail account to automatically delete messages from “approved” people like grandma, or the youth pastor.

 Second, insert the yahoo email account information into the Internet browser to automatically forward all email messages to your yahoo mail account.  To do this, go to Netscape’s mail window, select options/mail and news preference and click on the composition tab.  Fill in the “By default, email a copy of outgoing messages to” with your yahoo email address in both the mail and news dialog boxes.  That’s it!  Periodically, a concerned parent can log onto their yahoo mail account and skim through the messages sent from the family computer.

 Microsoft Outlook Express does not allow forwarding for outgoing messages, but does allow  "message monitoring." Select Tools/Options and click on the maintenance tab.  In the trouble-shooting section, enable the log option boxes for mail and news.

 This will establish and maintain log files for all mail and news server messaging on the system. These log files are located in C:\program files\internet_explorer\outlook_express\user\ (substitute user with the name of the person).

 Another step to safe surfing know what web sites family members frequent.  Browsers use caches to store graphics from web sites.  The caches allow the user to return to a page without having to wait for the graphics to download from the Internet.  Unless the installer specified a different directory at installation, Netscape typically stores the graphics in the C:\Program_Files\Netscape\Navigator\cache subdirectory.  Microsoft’s Internet Explorer stores the graphics in the c:\windows\temporary_Internet_files subdirectory.

 Using WinFile or Windows Explorer, open the subdirectory and double click on the files with .jpeg and .gif extensions.  This action will invoke the browser that displays the graphics. Some  of the graphics will be logos from web sites, and others will be graphics or pictures.

 Beyond restricting family members from visiting inappropriate sites, point them to good, wholesome sites.  The Global Family Network, grants the “Family Friendly Certification Seal” to sites that meet their strict criteria and provides links to these pages on their web site (http://www.globalfamilynetwork.com/FamilyFriendlyWebsites/index.html).  We are proud to display their seal on our church’s website.

 Who knows, God may just use the Internet to help meet your family’s spiritual needs.  Roger Williams, the Youth Pastor of Sequoia Heights Baptist Church (www.sequoiaheights.org) in Manteca California, sees the Internet as a mission field.  He goes online to search for ministry resources, use E-Mail and to chat with youth.

 One of his online buddies is a Minister’s daughter with typical problems.  Roger chatted with her several times.  During one session, he discovered she was not a Christian, so he asked her to pray the sinner's prayer.  She agreed.  He typed "Dear Lord, I know I'm a sinner . . ."  Moments later, her response came on his screen:  "Dear Lord, I know I'm a sinner . . ."

 Roger bumped into her at a State youth conference a few months later.  Their face to face conversation confirmed the genuineness of her prayer.

 Unfortunately, there is trash along the Information Super Highway wanting to prey on the unsuspecting, that's the bad news.  But there’s good news--there are ministers waiting to pray with them too.

Finding Help
 Hopefully, you won’t find any evidence of your family straying into the Internet’s red light district, but if you do, there are organizations that will help you intervene.

 If you discover a problem and need help outside your family or church, contact an organization like SCA.  Sexual Compulsives Anonymous is a twelve-step program that helps its members stay “sexually sober.”  Their web site (http://www.sca-recovery.org) provides a list of meeting places of their group and resources to help an addict cope with their sexual compulsions.

 With diligence and planning, you can avoid the trash on the Information Super Highway.  Stay informed and point your family in the right direction. The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention offers some helpful articles at their Pornography web site (http://www.erlc.com/Pornography/porn.htm) that will keep you informed on the issues.