http://www.wpbf.com/news/19260628/detail.html
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Armando Martir is a well-armed teenager. That's because the 15-year-old is a pro at the video game "Halo 3." Martir admits that his passion can gobble up hours of the day.
"It's fun, just playing as a team. Yeah, it's pretty fun," said Martir.But where Armando sees fun, criminal investigators see another explosion in the works.Enter a stuffy back room in the Florida Attorney General's office in Fort Lauderdale. There you'll find an undercover officer playing video games."He's joined a group of other players," said Capt. Wilfredo Hernandez, a key member of the attorney general's Cyber Crime Unit.The officer is posing as a teenage boy in the game "Call of Duty 4."
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"He's not playing against a computer, no. He's playing against other people around the world," explained Hernandez.The unit's PlayStation 3 is hooked up to the Internet, the same way Martir is online with Xbox Live."You can talk to your friends," said Martir with a wireless microphone and receiver in his ear. "It's just that you can talk to people around the world."And that's why law enforcement officers are becoming so proficient with these video games. Officers said sexual predators are basically hijacking what is fine technology to try to get to children."We see that the targeted age groups are anywhere from 10 years old to 15 years old," said Hernandez.He shows how the games have chat capability and friend requests. But to Hernandez, the most disturbing feature is the ability to send attachments, like pictures."It could be child pornography. It could be many things," said Hernandez.In fact, he said the possibility is so real, he refused to open up any attachments for WPBF News 25's Cathleen O’Toole. Hernandez said it's a crime to even inadvertently view child pornography."Before the predator had to go to the arcade; now we have the virtual arcade," said Hernandez. "The virtual arcade is now sitting in your home and where the predator had to go to a location, he now is inside your home through your child's gaming device."Martir has never had a run-in with a predator, but he knows they're out there."Have you felt like there's something inappropriate that you've seen or heard?" asked O"Toole."Inappropriate, now? Not yet," answered Martir.His response seems to be telling. Not yet -- as if he expects something will happen.Indeed, a careful look might find something revealing when Martir played what's equivalent to a pick-up game on Xbox Live. The screen names of real people he's playing with were "BabyCrusher69" and "XXXBigSmothXX.""People have really bad names. I've seen really worse names than that," said Martir.Hernandez said parents must learn the technology."We had a case where the parent knew the child was talking to someone on the cell phone, an adult. What did she do? Her natural access was to take away her cell phone," said Hernandez. "But in place of the cell phone she gave her child an iTouch. The parent, unbeknownst to her, she just gave her access to the Internet and was unaware of it."In response to WPBF News 25's story, the maker of PlayStation 3 sent a copy of the instructions on how to use the parental controls, but affirmed it doesn't mandate them.Microsoft, which makes the Xbox and the game "Halo 3," issued this written statement:"We understand that privacy and safety are industry-wide issues when it comes to the online experience, and it is something that Microsoft takes very seriously, especially when children are involved. As part of our commitment to online and child safety, Xbox 360 includes robust and comprehensive parental control features for both off and online use. These controls, called Family Settings, help parents manage what games their children can play, when they can use their Xbox 360 console and who they can interact with over the Xbox Live service.”Microsoft has also created a Web site, www.GetGameSmart.com, to help parents.Activision, the maker of "Call of Duty 4," did not return calls for comment.Hernandez advises parents to use the parental controls and put the gaming device in a busy part of the home so everyone can see what's going on. And Martir knows not to give out personal information to anyone he doesn't know in real life."You have literally created a third door in your house. Understand what's coming in and out of that door," said Hernandez. "And the only way you can do that is by talking to your child."
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