Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/450275
monitor oMegle is way #247,738 to chat with random strangers, either by standard or video chatting. It connects with the user's Facebook account and links users with similar interests. Kids are exposed to inappropriate content and there is ample opportunity for personal information to be spilled. This app is a favorite of sexual predators who will "like" the same things as their target — for example, the band One Direction will be "liked" by a predator to open the door to young girls who have also "liked" the band. Many chatting apps are dangerous including Chatous, ChatRoulette, and Foursquare. whISpeR users are anonymous but their locations are given within a one mile radius. Kids tell their secrets, comment on others' posts, and share pictures with others who are in their same geographical area. It has become a popular site for bullies and those who want to sext and even meet in person. Their slogan is, "Express yourself, share secrets, meet new people." That's exactly what happened in 2013 in Washington where a man was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl he met on Whisper. Ronald Peterson III, 21, used Whisper to communicate with the underage girl. He claimed he was 21 years old and she said she was 14. all the apps kids don't want their parents screen. While it's no longer available on kids' device, there is a reason. You can find name in the search area. kIk is another extremely popular app for many kids. If your child doesn't have a smart phone but they have a tablet or iPod, they probably have Kik. It's a messaging app that is rated 17+ in the app store because of the rampant sexting. It is very popular among pedophiles who can easily access young boys or girls. Plus it has the ability to send and receive pictures. On Omegle, people actually call nude photos "kiks" which should tell you what kind of pictures are being exchanged on Kik. Because there are so many users (185 million as of Nov., 2014), cyberbulling is also a serious problem, as it is with our next app, Ask.fm. aSk.FM allows users to ask other users questions anonymously, making it popular with cyberbullies. Questions like "Why are you a loser?" "Why are you ugly?" and "Why are you still alive?" are common. Ask.fm has been associated with many bullying-related teen suicides. In England in 2013, a 14-year- old girl named Izzy Dix (inset) hanged herself after being bullied on the site. She was trolled on Ask.fm and set up only to be snubbed by "friends" at a concert. She left a poem called "I Give Up." So now what? See what you can do to protect your child on the next page.