Ask Parry - My Child is Receiving Porn Emails
Dear Parry:
My ten year old son just received an x-rated email. I opened it before him because it said "broken Barbies" and I thought maybe one of his friends was joking around. How do these X-rated sites get minor's addresses? I am so upset. What if he had seen it? How do I stop it? I also get them frequently too. It makes me so angry.
Signed,
Concerned Mom
Dear Concerned Mom,
The pornographers gather e-mail addresses of everyone (not knowing if they are children or adults) using harvesting programs that gather every public e-mail address they can find, from e-mail lists, chain e-mails, site registrations and public postings. They probably have no idea that your son is ten, but don't care either.
There are two things you can do to help. Number one, buy a good cybersecurity suite with parental controls and a SPAM filter. It will block the incoming porn emails and keep your son from stumbling on adult content online. Number two, report what you encounter.
Now a special tipline has been launched by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to report these. Go to Cybertipline.com, and click on "unsolicited obscene material sent to a child" and report the site you were spammed from.
Finally we have a place to report these spammers, and hopefully do something about the horrible practice of spamming our children with obscene materials. And you can read more about parental controls and SPAM filters at WiredSafety.org.
Good luck,
Parry