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Welcome to my official website - my 'home' on the Internet.
A belated Happy New Year to you and may it be prosperous and full of laughter
and love.
It won't take long for you to work out my special project
- child safety on the Internet! If you click on the 'About The Author' link you will find some of my thoughts
and indeed, my fears about the exposure of children to the medium when
unsupervised.
If you have children who do use the Internet, and you care
about what they do and with whom, then take a few minutes to read my
thoughts. Then go a step further and access the links above my
picture. These links will take you to websites that have been specially
set up for children and parents. If you don't believe what I say, you will believe what you read on those websites. I chose them very
carefully because of their authenticity and the way they bring the message home
to kids and parents about the dangers and the need for safety when using the
Internet.
Before the Federal Elections in 2007, the
then Australian Prime Minister John Howard spoke about the Internet
pointing out that the responsibility for the safety of children on the Internet
must rest with parents. I totally agreed with him on this point as
computers are not toys; they can bring into a home undesired elements that
children do not understand. They need to be protected and taught about
this medium just as they need to be taught about life and people and most
importantly, stranger danger. Strangers on the Internet are even more
dangerous than those out on the street, believe it or not. However the
responsibility also rests with others as well.
It is interesting to note that in August 2007 John Howard changed his stance somewhat as there are now advertisements, courtesy of the
Australian Government, offering advice about children online. Read the
full story by accessing this website:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22219587-601,00.html
I hope that the new Government will keep the ball rolling
and continue with the strategies set in place to educate and warn responsible
adults about safety online for children.
Although I've been trying to get the message across about
stranger danger online since 2003, my limited access to media and users was
often met
with little success and much ridicule and even abuse. I am therefore delighted that finally our
Government saw the light and began actively doing something about this problem
as have other Governments around the globe. One only has to surf the net
and do some research to see that my fears are reality, not fantasy and they
involve everyone that uses the Internet, not just Australians.
Recently I was sent a private message
in an adult chat room by another female who intimated to me that she was 21,
gay, and interested in getting to know me. While I can handle this type of
sick approach by ignoring it, what about the young people online that are naive
and vulnerable and are not told what the other person is approaching them for? The men in chat
that I know say they are often approached by gay men and they are
absolutely horrified by this contact. There is no point in anyone closing their eyes
on the subject - the Internet is rife with people that cannot fit into
mainstream society and they have found a place to hide out knowing that they are fairly safe and can escape easily.
However, the walls are closing in on them bit by bit and all of us that have
suffered in some way from exposure to the Internet in the past will be heartened
by the fact that many others will be saved from those traps by heavy policing of
the service. If you have issues, report them. These people can be
found but only if others pass on the word.
On the lighter side of life below is a picture of beauty of Killary
Harbour in Ireland. I actually went there late 2006 and
I was so excited when I realised I had stumbled into the picture for real!
I had no idea that Killary was along the road I was travelling because even
though I had a number of maps of Ireland, they are all different and many of the
places you will find on one map are not on the others. Such is the
enchantment of Ireland and part of the adventure of finding places you weren't
expecting to find. I have no idea where the actual picture was taken from
but I was there, in the vicinity, and I smiled.
I hope you have time to read some of my articles and short stories. If you are interested in reading more of my work, or you would like to
experience a thriving reader/writer website, please visit www.authorsden.com.
There you will find a smorgasbord of writers from all over the globe and visits
are free. You can read all the poetry and stories and articles that you
could ever want to find in the one location, and I am proud to be a member of
that community with my own website within AuthorsDen.
Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoy the stay :)
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