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Apr 24, 2009 12:08 am US/Eastern
I-Team: Who's Chatting With Your Child?
Editors Note: This is a CBS4 I-Team Investigation with one goal -- to inform parents of a potential danger to children. It is not intended to shock you, but rather, to inform.
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The Nintendo DS offers fantasy games for little fingers and curious minds. But what many parents don't know is how a stranger could find his way onto your child's screen and into your child's world.
"The concern is this technology gets into the hands of whom?" asked
CBS4 Chief I-Team Investigator Michele Gillen.
"Gets into the hands of a child predator. At the end of the day its just another tool for them," said Jose Pena, forensic computer expert who unravels the cyber world and threats posted to it. "The ultimate danger is they can lure the child into inappropriate acts."
According to Nintendo, any DS user within 65 feet of the device could communicate with it. No password, no internet connection needed.
A Texas mother says she was sitting in her living room when she glanced at her 4-year-old who was playing with his Nintendo DS and she found he was talking with a stranger.
Most frightening, she realized the stranger had to be right outside her house.
"That means that if someone is outside your house, walking by with one of these devices, and your kid is on one, they can simply jump into the chat room of your device," said Pena.
"Its scary. They play those games all the time," said Amber Statler-Matthews, executive producer of the
CBS4 I-Team.
Like most parents, she had no idea her children's toys could allow strangers to reach them.
"Not until we decided to do this story did I know they could chat together. I had no idea," she said.
Statler-Matthews agreed to let us conduct an experiment with her own children and home. We stood on her family's front lawn and beside her garage, and clicked right in and on to her children's DS.
"Let's write 'hi, how are you?' Send. We've now sent this note," said Gillen.
"At first, the children (in the company of their parents) were baffled seeing a screen name they had never seen before somehow pop up in their chat room. Someone they couldn't see who was trying to talk to them.
On the popular DS, there is no way to disable this chat function. However, Nintendo has just released a new version with parental controls. The latest version, the Nintendo DSi, has two cameras installed, allowing a child to take photos, distort photos, and swap photos.
"The real concern is that the child is lured into taking pictures of himself," said Pena.
"I put 'you are trying to steal me'; I thought she was trying to take me away like other kids," said her son.
When asked what they would do if a strange screen name popped up on their screen, two youngsters told the CBS4 I-Team they wouldn't't think twice about ending the conversation.
"I would turn my DS off and play a game because I don't want to talk to a person I don't know," said one child.
"I would turn it off immediately," said another.
Parents are urged to do their homework and know what they've put in their children's hands to best protect them.
According to Nintendo: " The company is committed to providing a fun and safe experience to all it's fans. Only chat with people you know. The time honored 'don't talk to strangers' rule still applies. Any other user should be within sight. If you receive an unsolicited message treat it like an unwelcome phone call and disconnect. As of March 2009, 29.3 million DS's have been sold to date in the United States. Within the first week of the DSI debut, 435,000 were sold."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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