Internet Predators

Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe addresses the Searcy Kiwanis Club on the emerging dangers of Internet predators
with a PowerPoint presentation Thursday in Harding University's Founders Room. Beebe remained in Searcy for the day,
bringing the presentation to six local audiences.

Beebe promotes online safety in Searcy

By Greg Rayburn

The Daily Citizen 5 Dec 2003

Think protecting your name, social security number and date of birth is enough to keep the whole world at arm's length?

Guess again.

Since the advent of the Internet, finding information about a person has become easier than ever, and some sexual predators have become quite the professionals in becoming information investigators, Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe said Thursday.

Beebe's comments were made during the weekly meeting of the Searcy Kiwanis Club, where the attorney general focused on how people's private lives can be at risk from information their children and grandchildren place on the Internet.

Beebe mapped out a scenario of how an innocent Internet experience can lead to a perfect stranger knowing too much about a young person or family.

"Now, I want to show you how one young girl's innocent Internet use led to someone tracking her down," Beebe said, saying parents and grandparents need to watch what their children do online as much as they would if their young children received a personal letter in the mail from an unknown adult.

Beebe used as an example a young girl who had a username she called "Teresa07."

"You wouldn't think someone just using Teresa07 could end up resulting in a perfect stranger knowing all about you, but it can happen," Beebe added.

"This is Teresa's screen name on AOL [America Online], where she likes to chat with other teens. Teresa is a typical teenager," Beebe said. "She likes chatting and has posted to newsgroups. What do you think we could learn from just this one piece of information?"

Beebe said it's possible with just this small amount of information to result in a predator knowing "Teresa07's" name, as well as each member of her family, her telephone number, address, where she goes to school, and her interests and other information.

Beebe said by simply typing in Teresa's username, a predator can determine if that child has created a profile.

"A profile can provide a lot of information about someone," Beebe said.

While many teens may not provide specific information in their profiles such as location or her date of birth, youngsters can unwittingly leave clues for crafty predators.

"In her profile, she left the name of her younger brother (Billy, Jr.)," Beebe said. "So, Billy is most likely her father's name."

In some profiles, teens can provide their e-mails addresses and additional clues about themselves when they share their interests.

"An e-mail address is an important tool that predators can use to harass and frighten," Beebe said. "And they can use it to find additional information, such as in newsgroups. Newsgroups are like bulletin boards where teens can buy or sell, discuss common interests, etc. By selecting the 'power search' option, a predator can narrow his search to isolate messages from Teresa," Beebe said.

After conducting an Internet power search, using the teen's e-mail address, the predator was able to find the teen's home phone number, the area of the country she lived in and the leaving and entering habits her family had in their home, Beebe said.

"With a telephone number, anyone can determine a last name or possibly an address," Beebe said. "In this case, Teresa's phone number is placed in an online reverse directory, and note that she (Teresa) has an unlisted phone number."

Having the phone number led to the predator having the teen's address and last name, too, through information available on the Internet, Beebe said.

"On the Internet, if you have an address, you can get a map to that address," Beebe said. "In this case, a map to Teresa's home. He (predator) might want to find her at school instead of at home. It's just as easy to locate the school she likely attends."