Biometric sensor makes the Web safer for children

I-Mature, which has offices in Los Angeles and Rishon LeZion, has developed the Age-Group Recognition (AGR) security system that can accurately recognize the age of children and adults on the Internet, allowing parents to control their child\'s access to restricted Web sites, and at the same time prevent pedophiles from accessing children\'s and teen\'s chat rooms.

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Nicky Blackburn

May 18, 2007

The statistics are enough to alarm any parent.

According to a recent survey, one in five children online have been approached by a pedophile and received unwanted sexual solicitations. At the same time, the San Diego Police Department reports that two in five abductions of children ages 15 to 17 are Internet-related. The U.S. government estimates that at any given moment there are 50,000 pedophiles prowling Internet chat rooms looking for children to befriend and meet.

And if that’s not worrying enough, more than 20,000 new images of child pornography are posted on the Internet every week, and that pornography, disturbingly available and often sent unsolicited to young children, is becoming increasingly graphic and violent, according to child protection agencies.

In the March trial of a pedophile, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein told the court: “Every parent’s worst nightmare is just one mouse-click away. Parents who let their children use the Internet without supervision might just as well drop them off alone on the most dangerous street in the world.”

Scared? It’s the natural response, as is the impossible instinct to hover constantly behind your child as he surfs. But now, an