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Saturday July 31, 2010

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Parents urged to learn 'online speak'

Posted by: 3AW Mornings | 7 July, 2009 - 10:22 AM

ABOVE: Neil Mitchell investigates 'online speak' which parents should learn in order to help protect their children from online predators. See the list below Peter Gregory's article from The Age:

The Age article: have been urged to learn chat room language to protect their children from online predators.

They have also been asked to warn teenagers about the consequences of posting intimate photographs of themselves and personal information on social networking websites.

A study published by the Australian Institute of Criminology yesterday said more than 130 prosecutions had been completed in Australia for "grooming" offences.

The study said the anonymous nature of the internet allowed offenders to masquerade as children in cyberspace to gain the confidence of their victims. After doing so, they could then introduce a sexual element into the online conversation and eventually arrange a physical meeting.

Parents and guardians were often less technologically savvy than children and offenders, and might not be able to prevent some exploitation, even with close monitoring of their children's internet usage.

The report, compiled by researcher Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, said research found that parents often did not know about computer monitoring software, and were unable to decipher many common, often sexually-oriented, internet expressions.

The terms included the numbers 8 (oral sex) 420 (marijuana) and 1174 (nude club), and acronyms such as MOS (Mum over shoulder), NFOC (nude in front of computer) and GYPO (Get your pants off).

One term, CD9, or Code 9, meant "parents are around".

The report quoted a 2007 study of Australian families which showed about 70 per cent of teenage girls and 50 per cent of boys had a profile on a social networking site.

It also referred to a United States survey which indicated one in 10 respondents - aged between 13 and 17 - had posted their mobile phone numbers online.

Most had published their real age, photographs and videos of themselves and friends, the city in which they lived, and, in many cases, the school they attended.

The AIC report suggested a variety of measures to combat online sex offenders.

They included hotlines to receive reports about illegal content, monitoring online payments made to providers of unlawful online content and the development of computer forensic packages.

It said social networking sites like MySpace had worked with law enforcement agencies to protect children against sexual offenders.

But children also needed to be educated about the consequences of posting intimate pictures of themselves, giving out personal information and going on blind dates with `friends' they had only met online, the report suggested.

According to the report, law enforcement agencies and academics should consider sharing practices and research information to better analyse trends and aspects of child grooming.

Common Internet Acronyms - www.cybersafetysolutions.com.au:

2nite - tonight

2moz - tomorrow

ASL – Age, sex, location

ALAP - As Late As Possible

BANANA - penis

B4YKI - Before You Know It

BRB - Be Right Back

BRT - Be Right There

CWYL - Chat with You Later

CYA  - see you

CYL8R – see you later

DUM – did you masturbate

DUSL – did you scream loud

E123 - Easy as One, Two, Three

EOD - End Of Day

F2F - Face-to-Face

FOAF - Friend Of A Friend

G2G – Got to go

GNOC – get naked on cam

GYPO – get your pants off

HAK - Hugs And Kisses

IIT – is it tight

ILU - I Love You

KPC – keeping parents clueless

KITTY - vagina

L8R – Later

LMIRL – Lets meet in real life

LMK - Let Me Know

LOL - Laughing Out Loud

NIFOC – nude in front of camera

NM - Never Mind -or- Nothing Much -or- Nice Move

NMU – Not much, You?

OSIF - Oh Sh** I Forgot

OTP - On The Phone

POS – Parent over shoulder

P911 – Parent alert

PRON - Porn

ROFL - Rolling On the Floor Laughing

RU - Are You?

RUH – Are you Horney?

SOZ - sorry

SWDYT - So What Do You Think

TDTM – Talk dirty to me

TS - Tough Sh**

TTFN - Ta Ta For Now

T2UL8R – Talk to you later

WFM - Works For Me

WTF - What The F***

WUF - Where You From

8 – oral sex

143 – I love you

182 – I hate you

420 – marijuana

1174 – nude club

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