Topical Teaching

I have absolutely no sympathy for child sex offenders and I am happy to strip them of all privileges that can be used to trap children.

Merlyn Horton is wrong to argue that educating children is better than banning sex offenders from social media. All children must be educated on issues related to cybersafety. But education is not nearly enough. We have a duty to do far more than educate our children. We have a duty to do everything in our power to protect impressionable kids:

Educating children is a better way to protect them from online predators than banning sex offenders from social media sites or forcing them to disclose their crimes on social networks, says an online-safety spokeswoman.

Merlyn Horton was commenting after recent moves in the U.S. to use legislation to crack down on Internet sex predators.

For predatory pedophiles, social networks and the Internet are an “open avenue,” expert Merlyn Horton said, adding resources would be better directed to educating youth rather than trying to enforce bans or requiring Internet users to disclose crimes.

Horton noted there have been cases in Canada where individuals have been barred from using the Internet because of their crimes against children. But instead of through legislation, this has been done through conditions on parole or bail release, she said.

Even then, people can find ways to easily circumvent the restrictions.

“I remember a particular case I got called on,” she said. “The guy was accessing and luring children through the public library.”