Net pedophiles 'getting smarter'

Though posing as such in chatrooms, Angie Wilson is not 14 years old. She's a special agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation whose job it is to catch sexual predators harassing young people online. At a recent conference of state attorneys general, she helped Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline illustrate how fast children get solicited in a chatroom (in a recorded version of Wilson's chat session it took about 2 minutes). Kline told the group that the "grotesque visuals" kids get sent by pedophiles are bad enough but what he finds "truly frightening" is "the sophisticated nature of these sexual predators and how organized they are," the Associated Press reports. "Kline singled out one Web site that he said explains the age of consent for sex in every state, describes the state-by-state penalties for sexual offenses, and even provides links to attorneys who specialize in defending those caught soliciting sex from children. Articles on the site also discuss how to target children who seem to be loners, frightened, or looking for friends and explain how to establish a pen-pal relationship." He described the site as something like a "pedophile college" for learning how to meet children online. *How* do we help kids who are lonely or looking for friends to understand that online chat is the last place they should go?! Send comments (or post a comment here)!