How can the NetIDme service help to protect children online?
Police estimate that there are as many as 50,000 Internet predators online at any one time. It can be alarmingly easy for a predator to get a young person’s email address and start chatting with them online. Online communication is now the most popular way in which young people communicate and make new friends. Without physical information – seeing the person you are talking to or hearing their voice, positive identification is extremely difficult. Therefore, we need to empower young people with the knowledge, skills and tools to protect themselves online, in the same way we would in the real world. In the online chat and social networking arena, an age and identity verification service for teenagers and young children is much-needed. When coupled with good education & awareness programmes, the NetIDme service can help to substantially reduce the risk of children being targeted by internet predators.
