Terrance Sambhudyal and more than a dozen other parents sit in the stands in the high school of their children, in southeast Edmonton, learning more about the digital world where their children socialize.
A couple of educators from the center of Saffron, an organization of support and education on sexual abuse based in Sherwood Park, Alta., Just east of Edmonton, they are presenting a long -standing cyber seminar, teaching those who attend security about security online.
The presentation of two hours, among other things, plays privacy and the amount of information can really be shared in a photo, how to transfer the limits of the real world to the red flags and the techniques of attracting to prevent sexual child online online online Online exploitation.
“I am a little more informed to see what is happening to your level,” Sambhudyal told CBC News after the presentation.
The father of two teenagers attended because he felt out of contact with the reality of his children, he said.
“While it is a bit uncomfortable to start, it is important to collect some of these things before things intensify. You can stop it from the base level, so to speak, and guide [your kids] Consequently, “he said.
Exploitation and child sexual abuse Online is a growing problem in Canada, with cases in alberta drastically in recent years. Cases of sexual extortion, or Sextortion, are of particular concern, said multiple officials responsible for enforcing the law to CBC.
However, officials believe that only a fraction of incidents is reported.
Perpetrators of such crimes could be anywhere in the world, and organized crimes groups sometimes have such schemes.
“As long as there has been the Internet, there have been problems with security and children online,” said Kiara Warkentin, director of Justice, Research and Dissemination of the Center for Saffron.
“Especially from Covid, we have seen a mass increase in the number of child sexual exploitation files online, as well as the amount of online sexual extortion archives, especially involving young and adolescents.”
The technological advance has always presented the damage potential and well, said Bailey Kacsmar, a member of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. She is also an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Alberta.
If the damage arises, the question is whether the technology can solve the problem and if it can be prevented at all, he said.
“Many of the things we must do to try to prevent these problems are simply not technologically possible, or are reduced to us who need to find ways to mitigate damage through social means, so programs or education,” Kacsmar said.
The technological sector has a role to play when it comes to issues such as child sexual exploitation online, but responsibility not only falls on it, he said.
“Ultimately, many of these problems are not created by technology: they are amplified by technology. Therefore, we cannot ignore the [social] roots inside, “he said.
The Internet Infant Exploitation Unit (ICE) of the province, part of the response teams of the Alberta Law (Alert), has seen its more than triple files in six years, according to its latest annual report.
The ICE unit focuses more on prevention through a community participation team, and public education is “our best tool,” CST said. Stephanie Bosch, member of the ice unit.
“Historically, telling children not to do things is not an approach that we can adopt,” said Bosch. “It would be great for us to tell the children: ‘Hey, do not connect.’ But the reality is the raising of the children in a digital age: children have access to technology, they will use it.”
Much of the life of a young man occurs online now, he said. The ice unit often sees that children, if prohibited from some type of technology or social networks, are accessing these platforms through their friends’ devices, or even school -owned devices.
Speaking with parents, and others in trust positions with young people, they can assemble them with the necessary knowledge to initiate conversations with children, which, hopefully, leads to less victims, he said.
The Saffron Center is just a local agency that offers educational programming.
“We recognize that parents may or may not have difficulty staying up to date with everything that is happening, because things change rapidly,” Warkentin said.
“We want to make sure that we are aware of trends as much as we can help educate them, so they can keep their children safe.”
In addition to security, an adult who discusses online security with a child, or learning from a child how the different applications work, can generate confidence between them, which is critical if something was going to go wrong, Bosch said.
“Children need to know that they can go with someone,” he said.
“Showing interest is the best thing can do because a large part of their lives are spent online … so we have to rely on that to support them.”
