What are the Dangers of Newsgroups?

There are some newsgroups that are not moderated and contain inappropriate content.  Such examples include:

• Conversational Groups – messages usually found in the 'alt.sex' newsgroups can contain sexually explicit language.
• Visual Groups – messages usually found in the 'alt.binaries.pictures' can contain sexually related images.
• Extremist Groups – some groups contain information such as racial hatred.

Without appropriate filtering software installed on a computer, children are able to browse through these groups and read messages or downloaded images.