the not so perfect online world

"Magasinet [Dagbladet's feature-magazine] has studied the Norwegian reality. And found a lawless eldorado for adults looking for sex with children." Yes, this is another article about the dangers of the online world, and the threat it represents for children. The article is based on Dagbladet-journalist Rønnaug Jarlsbo's experiences. She pretended to be 13 years old and had to deal with explicit invitations from old men pretending to be 48 when they are in fact 60 (huh, what's the point? Pretending to be her dad's age, and not her grand-dad's?). It's an uncomfortable article, and I felt rather uneasy reading it. Is this something I ignore in my research? Then again: I don't think so: I'm interested in my informants, and these are not stories they could have told me.

Jarlsbo met a couple of men after chatting with them privately online. From the very beginning they openly told her about their intentions with meeting her. Most young girls (or boys) would never agree to meet these men. I'm not going to deny that it's a serious problem that some would, and that trying to avoid it from happening is important. But Jarlsbo's article is so one-sided. If I had been a mother with little competence on online interaction, this article would have scared me immensely. I can easily see myself banning my imagined children from using the Internet. Which would've solved nothing.