Grieving mother seeks tougher cyber safety

A woman whose daughter was murdered after being stalked by an internet predator has called on social networking sites to better protect users.

Sonya Ryan, who now runs a foundation in her daughter's name to promote internet safety, said sites like Facebook and MySpace should present users with a warning page when they log on, outlining the dangers of posting information online.

She told a federal parliamentary committee hearing in Adelaide on Thursday that networking sites should also allow for stricter privacy settings, to protect the vulnerable from the growing number of cyber predators.

Most young users of Facebook and other sites had never read the terms and conditions and were not aware of features such as one that allowed their locations to be tracked, she said.

"They simply want to be socially accepted," Ryan told the joint select committee on cyber safety. "They add people that they don't know, just for the count."

"This leads to quite a dangerous situation."

She urged a zero-tolerance approach be taken with cyber crime, fearing others would suffer the same fate as her daughter.

"How many innocent children will fall victim to these types of perverts," she said. "Murder may not always be the outcome but there is also rape, assault, kidnapping."

Ryan's daughter Carly, 15, was killed by Victorian man, Garry Francis Newman, in 2007 after he used an internet alter-ego to communicate with the teenager after meeting her through a gothic vampire website.

Carly eventually fell in love with the fictitious guitarist who portrayed himself as a member of the emo subculture.

But when Newman travelled to Adelaide in a bid to fulfil his sexual fantasies, the girl rejected his advances.

Ryan said Newman's methods were becoming more widespread.

"The identities of popular professionals, musicians, celebrities are being stolen by predators all the time to lure young children, to strike up conversations with them," she said.

"It's a new type of crime, unfortunately Carly's case wasn't isolated.".

In other evidence the committee heard that more parents are becoming involved in cyber-bullying, taking up disputes involving their children.

Phil Lewis, an Adelaide high school principal and a representative for Catholic principals across South Australia, said cyber-bullying involving students was a major distraction for teachers.

But he said a growing problem was the incidence of parents joining in on a dispute over the internet.

"They get on Facebook and tackle the person involved," Lewis said.

"It becomes very complicated when that happens."

Lewis said while schools could use filters and other means to place restrictions on their own computer networks, advancing technology continued to raise new challenges.

He said the ability of mobile phones to easily access the internet and social networking sites meant cyber-bullying was very difficult to stop.

"The old notion of us being able to say to parents that it doesn't happen here is no longer true," he said.

"Because it does, even if it doesn't happen on our network."

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