"Seduced in Cyberspace" - how teenagers are lured into the world of online porn

Th fact that these kids are not consulting their parents on most of the things that they do is what makes them vulnerable victims to this crimes.

Am I the only one who feels that at the age of 16 no one was doing things to me that I wasn't OK with? Maybe if he was 8 or something this would make sense. But 16?

Wow.

I am so anal about my kid online, because I know what is out there. He is only online on my computer in my bedroom, while I sit on my bed two feet away watching tv and periodically peering over his shoulder. He hates it, and I don't care.

Yes, it is wrong, and yes, these people should be punished, but a 16 yo is old enough to know better. Problem is they are still too young to care. I was a mother 8 days before I turned 17, so you can't tell me that a kid at the same age I was breastfeeding and changing diapers doesn't know that was he was doing was wrong, and what they were doing to him was wrong. But it didn't matter enough for him to stop because of all the reasons Maura mentioned.

That said, a few days ago my mom and I were talking about my brother, and he was molested by a family friend when he was 15 or 16. My mom said she kind of thought that Mark went with it because the guy bought him stuff, and I said it doesn't matter. It's no more right than the 26yo who fucked me while I was passed out drunk at 16, which of course she was absolutely enraged at. Abusers often ply their victims with gifts, to keep them quiet and keep them coming back. It's common even with young children, imagine how much greater the need to control with something other than violence becomes when the victim is an adolescent.

As someone in the adult industry, I just hate when the spotlight on these fuckers spills over onto the legitimate adult industry. It's like bad news on ticket scalpers spilling onto Ticketmaster.

As a parent, I am just appalled by his father's actions, by the manipulation by the abusers, by the exposure of the victim to things he shouldn't have seen, etc. And it just supports my own decision to be annoyingly tight on the reigns with my own children; from my internet rules, to the fact that I can count on one hand the number of people who have babysat my kids.

16 year old kids from good homes rarely get taken advantage of.

My kids ask for their own computer every xmas and bday.... answer is always... FUCK NO!

Most women I talk to online are fine, maybe you really are psycho?

from today's oprah show:

Seduced in Cyberspace



Despite death threats, nineteen-year-old Justin is appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show to reveal the secret world of online child webcam pornography. Justin, who also turned down a lucrative book deal to appear on the show, hopes his decision will help children around the world.

Six years ago, Justin was a typical "boy next door." Between homework and band practice, he found time to run a legitimate small business creating websites. A self-described "computer nerd," Justin was excited to get an inexpensive webcam. He planned to use the simple tool?a video camera that connects to the Internet?to meet friends and chat with girls. Justin joined a popular website and posted his profile. Instant messages immediately started popping up on his computer.

Eventually, one of Justin's new online friends made a request that would change his life.



By hooking up his webcam, Justin unintentionally became a fresh face in a dark world where men prey on vulnerable teenagers and children. He had no idea that his new friends were adults?an online community of pedophiles discussing strategy, sharing advice and carefully planning his seduction.

When one man told Justin he'd pay him $50 to take off his shirt, Justin considered it a harmless proposal from a friend. "I take my shirt off to go to the pool," he thought, and logged on to an online payment website to accept payment.

Soon the men's requests got bolder.



Justin says the predators gradually stepped up their requests, each a little more explicit than the last. It wasn't long before Justin was asked to pull down his boxer shorts, "just a little." Later on the pedophiles offered him more money to take them off. Next, they told him to masturbate. "I figured it was harmless," Justin says. "I was doing what most 13-year-old boys do in their room, and I was getting paid for it."

In addition to money, Justin says the men offered him gifts to show their appreciation, teaching him how to set up an online "wish list" where he could register for cool computer gear. He believed the whole process was perfectly safe because his home address was not revealed to buyers.

Justin says his mother and stepfather had no idea he was receiving gifts from strangers?he intercepted most deliveries before they had a chance to see them. When his mom did come across a package, he would tell her he bought it himself with the profits from his web development business.

Justin's mom had no idea her son was slowly being transformed into an Internet porn star.




Justin kept his webcam activities a secret from his parents, but his mother, Karen, says she noticed a change in his personality. She remembers he was moody and spent his time at home alone in his bedroom. Karen thought her son was having trouble making the transition to high school. She didn't suspect Justin was at risk on the Internet because she had purchased child protection software for his computer?a measure Justin proved ineffective. "For most teens in this day and age, computers are what they know," he says. "[The software] is actually kind of a joke."

If anybody should have known what was going on in Justin's life, Karen says it was her?she works with children who have been molested. "I've studied for years and I know the signs," she says. "That's why it's so mind boggling that this happened to Justin right here in my own home."

Justin's secret life moves from on-line to in person.




By age 16, Justin's young face had become extremely popular among Internet pedophiles. Fans began asking to meet him in person. One businessman offered Justin thousands of dollars to fly to Las Vegas for the weekend. Justin agreed, telling his parents he was attending a computer convention with a friend. When he arrived in Las Vegas, he was repeatedly sexually molested by the man who had lured him there.

When Justin returned home, the man continued to exploit him. He paid for a secret apartment for Justin just minutes from his parents' home, allowing him to spend more time on his webcam.

Justin's secret life was about to be exposed.




Justin's webcam activity was uncovered when a classmate found the pornographic footage online, made copies and passed them out to classmates. Embarrassed and scared that his mother would find out about his secret life, Justin asked his mother permission to visit his father in Mexico.

He arrived in Mexico with plenty of cash from his webcam business. When his father asked him where he had gotten so much money, Justin told him the truth.

His dad's reaction is shocking.

I watched the show and i think what happen to him sucks but by the time he was 16 he was doing shows with girls down in Mexico and half the people watching him probably had no idea that he was under age. The biggest problem i had with the show was that they really made it should like this happens on all webcam sites. It was most likely a yahoo group but the would never say that ... they just said these online pornography webcam sites ... I just got the feeling that they lumped all porn into it.

the other thing is the way the reporter found him was surfing online looking for fraud and found kiddie porn .. and started to chat with the kid to gain his trust and meet him ... sounds fishy to me .. then he said " people say things on these sites that I wouldn't say to a dead prostitute" I found that to be a strange thing to say .. why would his first thought be that dead prostitutes are ok to degrade ... the entire show just bothered me

i remember reading the article on that back in December....they make it sound like this is a big problem - sure there gotta be others doing the same thing but its not like its a problem. this kid got greedy for the $ and got in way over his head.