Digital dangers lurking online

In an ever changing world of technology it's hard to pin-point exactly what is safe or not when it comes to the internet.

Chat rooms and social media sites were created for interactive purposes, but what happens when that interaction becomes inappropriate? Or in some cases, even abusive or deadly?

"We live in a different time when technology is very easy and accessible for kids," Robert Sanborn said. He's the President and CEO of Children at Risk, a non profit organization created to improve the quality of life for children through research and education.

"The internet gives us sort of this anonymous feel sometimes where we don't see the repercussions of the bullying or any other bad thing we're doing on the internet. So maybe it brings out tendencies that wouldn't come out otherwise."

Experts say, some of those tendencies could turn sexual in nature. Research from dosomething.org shows that one out of every three girls and one out of ever five boys is sexually abused before the age of 18.

"Your child goes from, you have to worry about the 30 kids in their class, to one or two kids in the other class and kids in the neighborhood. All of a sudden, thanks to cyber technology your child becomes a citizen of the world." As a criminal defense lawyer, Rand Mintzer has to be up-to-date with the latest cyber crime laws. Much of that surrounds digital crimes against minors. He talks to us about the different ways adults are able to find illegal access of children.

"An adult can solicit a minor on the internet for sexual purposes. You can posses child pornography. You can basically access someone else's computer and incur criminal liability for that."

These days parents may direct their concern to more avenues than just the computer.

The internet is also widely used on, of course, cell phones and even gaming systems where worldwide discussions are common when playing MMO games, short for 'massive multi-player online'.

"Members of your team online, as you play these games you make a connection. Men playing with young boys, anytime that happens, there's some possible inherent danger." Samdnorn said.

It's because of those dangers experts advise parents always monitor their children's technological usage.

"There's so many horrible things online, from hate speech to pornography that kids should not be getting involved with. There are too many other fun things for kids to be doing. So parents need to understand what's happening. More importantly children need to understand that their parents are watching their use of technology. Kids will be much better editing themselves if they know that mom are dad will be right there knowing what's going on."

What may seem to be an invasion of privacy, could actually save your child's life.