Specialist delves into Internet’s dark side – Russell Grimes, technology specialist with the Division of Educational Research and Services at the University of Montana

The Internet is a magnificent tool of the modern age, but it has a dark side that parents and children need to consider and cannot ignore.

Chat rooms are home to untold numbers of sexual predators, some of whom will go to extreme measures and great distances to have sexual contact with children.

”Child predators are relentless, and it can’t be overstated enough how far they will travel to find a child they have picked out to molest – in some cases, they have been known to send money or bus tickets to have a child meet them somewhere,“ said Russell Grimes, a technology specialist with the Division of Educational Research and Services at the University of Montana.

Funded by a federal grant to promote community-based policing services, and in collaboration with local, state and federal law agencies, Grimes is helping to educate teachers, parents and children about the dangers of Internet predators.

By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/10/15/news/local/news03.txt