Pre-teens are banned by a law called COPPA from Bulletin Boards and probably chat rooms, too. If you are under the age of 13, you need to get parental permission to belong to places like Pet Talk.

Information and the media make everything seem like a crisis. When I was in Elementary school, did I get adbucted from the city library when I was approached by an older man in a trench coat? No. I didn't want to "go see a movie" with him anyway, AND my Mom was watching out of the corner of her eye and would have stopped me from going anywhere, anyway. Could I have been abducted by someone I "met" through regular mail when I was a teenager? Yes. Did it happen? No. I was wary enough not to agree to "meet up" with anyone I only knew through mail anywhere but at my parents' house, with my family home. My parents, had I asked, would have forbidden it anyway

Will there always be kids/people who will lie about their age, experiences, etc. and get into trouble? Yes. Is this the Internet's fault? No.

Do we hear more in the news about child abductions, and cases like Shevaughn's now than we did, say, 20 years ago? Yes. That is as much due to the 24-hour-news syndrome and valuable systems like the "Amber Alert" as it is due to the existence of the Internet.

Must parents and others who deal with and care for teens and pre-teens be ever vigilant, online and off? Yes.