Night of "Fun" Turns Into Night of Terror

Watching Headline News after work two days ago, I heard about a 20-yr. old young man, John Hock, who violated a young woman as she lay passed out in a bed. The story doesn't end there though. The young man, who hosts his own Internet show, had the audacity to record himself in the act and then upload it to the same website he uses to stream his show. The young woman had no idea that anything had happened when she awoke the next morning. That is, until one of her friends who had seen the video on www.stickam.com, told her. I was instantly astonished with what I was hearing. I can't imagine what this young lady must be going through with all the various aspects of her story.
How dumb of a criminal do you have to be to not only record yourself committing a crime, but to post it on the Internet for the entire world to see! The young woman called police and let them know what she thought had happened. The police secured the video and called John to come to the station for questioning. He did as asked, but not before cleaning himself up in order to appear like the good ole All-American boy. His appearance was so drastic when he came in to the station from that in the photos on his website, police had to take a good look at him to make sure the right guys was sitting in front of them.
This type of incident is what fuels my desire to get the reality of the dangers of the Internet, drinking, and choosing the right friends, across to the teens in the youth group I teach. I remember what the mentality of the average teen is....."It's not going to happen to me". At that age we believe that we have concocted the most brilliant methods to walk away unscathed from whatever we are into. This incident should push parents to keep a close eye on what their teen is doing, who their friends are, and so forth. One of the best tactics that I have heard of when it comes to teen Internet safety, is putting the compute in the room where the parents will be the majority of the time, which is typically the living room or den. Teens see this checking up on them as an invasion of their privacy but they will eventually get over it when they see you aren't going to budge on the issue. So long as they are living under your roof and you are supporting them financially, it's your rules or nothing. You can't give them the option of anything else. You must take the time to talk with them about why you are making these changes when it comes to the Internet or whatever it is your dealing with at the time. They will act as though it is going to kill them to listen to another word you say, but again....too bad, your house your rules. This isn't a fool proof plan by any means. It is however, a great method to lessen the chances that your teen becomes the young woman or young man from the story above.
As a parent, you can't take the attitude of, "Not my child. They would never do that.". This is a sure fire way for them to prove you wrong. The key is to do it in a loving manner, all the time showing your teens that you will trust them to a certain extinct but you will also take the preventative measures that you see fit. I promise that your teens will one day thank you and isn't that worth all the struggle?