Washington Times
July 28, 2008

Child predators can access pictures of your son or daughter’s school, bus stop, soccer field or even your home – all without setting foot in your neighborhood, according to child-safety advocates who urge parents to be vigilant about new technologies like Google Inc.’s “Street View” application.

Stop Child Predators, a group of policy experts, law-enforcement officials and parents, last week opened a new campaign targeted at online programs they say could unwittingly aid perverts and deviants. Known as Stop Internet Predators, the project is focusing on Street View, a function of Google Maps that lets users zoom in on more than 60 metropolitan areas in the U.S., eyeing street-level close-ups of cars, buildings and even people.

“It’s frighteningly simple,” said Stacie Rumenap, executive director of Stop Child Predators. While Street View does not offer real-time images, she said its database of archived pictures – which allow users to magnify and rotate the frame 360 degrees – could be used in a potentially dangerous way…

…The group’s purpose is to increase awareness among parents, urging them to lobby their local governments to “ban” the service, which first went live in spring 2007…

To read more of this article please visit http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/28/invasive-technologies-children/

Ottawa Sun

By Steve Tilley

July 28, 2008

From desktop computers to mobile phones, Google Maps is one of the slickest and most useful online navigation tools available. But an American watchdog group is worried that Google’s nifty technology could be used by cyber-perverts to scope out neighbourhoods where kids live.

“We wanted to start looking into this issue before we hear of someone going onto the site and using it to abduct a child or rape a child or murder a child,” said Stop Child Predators executive director Stacie Rumenap during a media conference call last week.

VIRTUAL TOURS

The group feels Google Maps’ Street View feature, which allows Web surfers to take detailed virtual tours of dozens of U.S. cities, could allow predators to study the location and layout of playgrounds, parks and even homes where kids live.

The feature isn’t yet available on maps of Canada, although Google has plans to add Street View to its maps of Canada’s 10 largest cities.

“This is not an attack on Google, this is one piece of technology … that unfortunately can be misused,” Rumenap said. Her group has set up the website StopInternetPredators.org to address their concerns, calling on parents to bar Google from their neighbourhoods

To read more of this article visit,
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2008/07/28/6283021-sun.html

Washington, DC – Today Stop Child Predators launched a public education campaign called Stop Internet Predators designed to increase awareness of emerging Internet technologies that can endanger our children’s safety and privacy.

The campaign seeks to educate parents and communities on emerging online threats and empower them with the tools and resources to act to protect their children’s safety and privacy.

“By increasing awareness, Stop Internet Predators seeks to limit the potential for child predators to abuse online technologies to prey on children,” said Stacie Rumenap, Executive Director of Stop Child Predators.

A special focus of the campaign is devoted to a particularly alarming technology provided by Google maps. As part of the launch, Ms. Rumenap is featured in a video on www.StopInternetPredators.org, which shows how the Google “Street View” application allows Internet users to view high resolution pictures of homes, schools, and in some cases, children playing outside, simply by typing in a local address.

“This technology shows anyone in the world our communities, and exposes not only the routes from the bus stops to homes, but our children, without ever stepping foot in our neighborhoods,” said Ms. Rumenap.

This new initiative has already attracted supporting organizations, including Community VOICES, Ryan United, and others.

“After going on Street View, I saw a picture of my neighbor’s child playing basketball in his driveway,” said Laurie Myers, Community VOICES President. “As the Internet evolves the way in which predators prey on children evolves with it. We as parents owe it to our children to educate ourselves on the potential dangers by being proactive.”

Stop Internet Predators invites you to join a media teleconference on Wednesday at 2pm ET, where you will hear from coalition members listed in this release and others. For more information on the call, please email media@StopInternetPredators.org.

Stop Internet Predators urges parents and communities to not passively accept new technologies as non-threatening, rather educate themselves on their implications and restriction options. We should act on behalf of our children and safeguard their privacy and safety.

For more information about the campaign please visit www.StopInternetPredators.org.

bout Stop Child Predators
Stop Child Predators brings together a team of policy experts, law enforcement officers, community leaders, and parents that persuade lawmakers and the public to enact policies that protect America’s children from sexual predators. Stop Child Predators is the only national organization that leads campaigns in every state to advocate legislation that prevents the sexual exploitation of children and protects the rights of child victims.