Child-oriented Web site aims to thwart sexual predators

Monday, May 11, 2009

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The Web site has email, instant messaging, even games.

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A St. Pete Beach couple was fed up with news reports of adults cyberstalking children on the Internet, and so they decided to do something about it.

Deborah and Steven Schechner developed iLAND5, a new social networking Web site aimed at children. The goal of the new site is to give children a place to socialize online without the threat of sexual predators.

The couple started working on the project one day after Deborah Schechner said she wanted to do something to combat this problem.

"I knew the magnitude of the issue and the problem that she raised, and I knew it would take quite a bit of effort," said Steven Schencher.

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Eighteen months later, the Schechners launched the iLAND5 Web site, which has instant messaging, email, picture posting and video games.

"It's finally this year, this school term is coming to reality," Schechner said. "We're hoping that iLAND5 is really seen as that alternative to MySpace."

The Web site is based out of a warehouse in Clearwater, where employees sit behind computers and constantly monitor the social networking Web site.

iLAND5 keeps adults out by asking schools to verify the identity of the child who wants to join. Pinellas County schools are among the schools helping identify students who want to join. The Schechners say almost 90 schools across the country are participating, as well as a couple of schools in Ireland.

In addition to monitoring the site to make sure no adults get online, the staff also monitors the site for bullying and offensive language, and they screen all uploaded pictures.

Those who do join are separated into "iLANDs" by age group, which 13-year-old Hunter Leverenz said is a good idea.

"When you're playing with your peers, I think it makes it even more fun because they're the same grade level as you," he said.

So far, the Schechners have spent $500,000 of their own money developing iLAND5, and they have not made a profit from the site. They say they are fine with that.

"Deborah and I just did this as a mission of passion and we put our money where we believe it should be," Schechner said.