Modern technology is a wonderful thing. Computers, for example,can do everything but fry you an egg. With so many new add-ons, computers and the Internet have become hunting grounds for child predators. Webcams make it easy for child predators to have access to your child in ways you can't imagine.

Imagine The Jetsons are alive and living in the 21st century. Did you realise that by having a webcam you can actually talk to someone through your computer and see them face to face. Using webcams, children can send their image across cyberspace.

Because it's new technology, kids are curious and excited. Children can now make a webcam of themselves and then put it on the internet at sites like You Tube. Sites like this allow all of us to show our videos to the world. There's no restrictions on who can watch these videos once they are uploaded. And they stay there until we take them down.

We can't be totally negative about Webcams, though.

Webcams are often better than writing letters when people are separated. Service men and women can see their families when they are away from home. Webcams allow us to see the person in real time.
Webcams can also be used to help us improve our education. We can attend 'classes' online and see a real person teaching us.

What are the negatives?

Whenever we take a step forward in technological development someone will always find an illegal or unsavory application for it and Online Predators will use webcams to obtain sexual images of children. Not only can the predator talk to your children in chatrooms they can also see them through their webcams. It's scary.

people who use a webcam can put their webcam address in it. people do this on Social sites to show their friends, little realising that their feed can be discovered by anyone around the world. The feed can be tapped into by online predators who make contact with the sender.

The predator doesn't arouse any suspicion. The predator talks to your child and asks them to wear certain clothes on camera or to say some unpleasant words. As time goes on the person might even offer money to get your child to to do more explicit acts so that he can watch.

Is there anything a parent can do to protect their child?

You can tell your child when and how the webcam must be used. Keep the webcam in an open area of your house. A child does not need to have a webcam in the bedroom.

Teach your children that what they post on the Internet is never private. Millions of people will be able to access it. Your child may not realise that what they think is an innocent act can be misconstrued by others watching them on a webcam. Your child's video can be passed around by the people she sends it to as long as they have a link to the feed.

If our children have not already learned how to make correct decisions we need to help them and guide them in the right direction. The dangers of using a webcam should be understood by everyone but it shouldn't prevent us having fun and enjoyment with a webcam between the family.