Who'd have thought it? Apparently the internet's not the paedophile paradise some would have us believe. According to a report entitled Online "Predators" and Their Victims -- Myths, Realities and Implications for Prevention and Treatment, media stories about predators who use the internet to gain access to young victims are gross exaggerations.
    One of the report's authours, Janis Wolak -- a sociologist at the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham in the US -- says, "There's been some overreaction to the new technology, especially when it comes to the danger that strangers represent... Actually, internet-related sex crimes are a pretty small proportion of sex crimes that adolescents suffer."

Among the findings:

• Posting personal information online does not, by itself, appear to be a particularly risky behavior.
• Social networking sites such as MySpace do not appear to have increased the risk of victimization by online molesters.
• Girls are more vulnerable, as are boys who are gay or questioning.
• Online child molesters are generally not pedophiles.
• Online child molesters are rarely violent.
• Sex crimes against youths have not increased. (In fact sex assaults on teens fell 52 percent from 1993 to 2005, according to the US Justice Department.)

Among the reccomendations:

• Avoid descriptions of the problem that characterize victims as young children or emphasize violence and deception.
• Focus prevention efforts more on adolescents and less on parents.
• Focus prevention more on interactive aspects of internet use and less on posting personal information.
• Develop targeted prevention approaches for the most at-risk youth populations.