A Sky News report gives a poignant reminder of the dangers to society of open online communities that have no age restriction abilities.
24 year old pervert Matthew Knott from Miles Platting, Manchester, was working as a Science teacher in Bury, Greater Manchester when he targeted and groomed the 13 year old pupil online by creating an online profile where he described himself as a 15-year-old girl called “Jessica” and then used this false identity to engage his victim through explicit MSN messages, through which he requested naked photos before finally arranging to meet up.
A week after first contacting his victim online he picked her up in his car, drove her to his flat, ordered her, “like a teacher”, to take off her clothes and have sex with him.
Knott, who admitted grooming a child for sex on the internet and sexual activity with a child made no reaction as he was jailed for 4 years was also banned from working with children for five years and being with a female, under 16, in private.
Judge Michael Henshaw also banned the pervert from having internet access “except in a public library or through a place of work”. Which makes me wonder… exactly how will they enforce such an offender from accessing the internet through their mobile when nearly every mobile can now access the internet?
Whilst Adrian Farrow, prosecuting explained how the unmoderated San Francisco based Tagged.com website allowed adults to communicate via MSN with children (whose profiles revealed personal details including age, photo and address) and told the court “Parents throughout this country are no doubt worried sick what their offspring might be doing when they are using the computer”.
It all begs the question, isn’t it about time that the courts, ISP’s, governments, Mobile Operators and Social Networking sites themselves did something to try and combat this widespread abuse of power and corruption of our youth?
