PAC: NZ teenagers get sexual approaches online
16 Mar 2009 11:53 AM
WELLINGTON, March 16 NZPA - About 25 per cent of secondary school students in New Zealand say they have been aggressively sexually solicited online, according to a survey by the internet safety organisation Netsafe.
John Fenaughty, principal knowledge officer of NetSafe, said the study was a subsection of a larger "Convergence" report that was still being analysed.
The organisation's executive director Martin Cocker told Radio New Zealand that any child was at risk online if they were left exposed to more sophisticated adults.
He said there were no definitive warning signs to alert parents that children were being targeted and they must keep an eye on their children's internet activities.
Fenaughty said most teenagers were not particularly disturbed by the approaches, but it depended on their age.
It was important though that caregivers and parents knew what young people were doing on the internet and talked with them about their activities, he said.
