After some parents revealed that their children have been subjected to sexual blackmail and incited into immoral acts, voices specialized in technological science called for vigilance among parents in order to identify such attempts aimed at dragging their children into vice, taking advantage of a large segment of children who are attached to similar games.
The voices felt that such attempts are not only aimed at trapping children, but also stripping the family of its privacy. An expert in the field of information technology Engineer Qusai Al-Shatti assured that online electronic games has become a professional field and courses are held for it, while many people depend on it for a great material income. “What is happening now through the use of games is that many sick souls do not only try bullying, infringing and exploiting the child, but penetrate into the family’s privacy with the user pretending to be a child by using the language and vocabulary of children to attract the prey while the child is convinced that whoever is speaking is a child like him,” he stressed.
Al-Shatti warned that those weak souls are seducing children by giving them additional advantages in the game to lure them into acts contrary to morals and to violate the family’s privacy by knowing their mobile number, place of residence and occupation of the parents, then start asking personal questions. He may even go far to request the bank data to penetrate financial data.
He pointed out that “the matter is very dangerous, although not a common phenomenon, as it takes place in a limited scope.” “This has been repeated in our Arab region for a period of time, as our children and youth were tricked into terrorist organizations, so this matter must be addressed by teaching the child that whenever a stranger requests information that has no relationship with the game, he must report to the parents immediately,” the source stressed. He considered 95 percent or more of the users of the games are ordinary children, but they must be wary of the rest.
The companies that own those games are monitoring, because they are afraid of their reputation but millions use them and it is difficult to control all users, so there’s need to warn the child to be cautious, and not to hesitate in reporting any abnormal behavior, he said. He said it is good for the father to take the initiative by asking his son what is happening or share the game and allow the child to defeat him.
He noted the importance of notifying the official agencies on such matters as well as the company of any suspicious activity, because “we will not be able to prevent entertainment but we can educate them about its correct use.”
For his part, Dean of the College of Business Studies at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training Dr Ahmed Al-Hunyan affirmed that technical tools are available through which the children can be protected, in addition to family control. He explained that some sites appear attractive from the outside, but they actually make the child engage in interactive games with unknown people who have desires and requests.
Al-Hunyan pointed out that the US has issued warnings regarding those sites and expressed fear for their usage by children, noting “there are safety programs for guardians to install and block bad content without objection to monitoring children’s devices as a matter of protection. We must pay attention to the place the child chooses when using his smart device and with courage to address them as parents.”
Source : Arab Times
