Transcript Seatbelts for Your Child’s Journeys in Cyberspace

Seatbelts
for
Your Child’s Journeys in Cyberspace
Some seatbelts kids can learn
to put on
for themselves
•Never give out your password ! even to your best
friend.
•Back out, and always tell a your teacher about bad
language or anything inappropriate that you see on line.
•Never give out personal info on line.
•Never accept files, email or websites from people you
do not know.
•Never say you’ll meet someone from on line. If
someone suggests that you do, tell your parents or a
teacher.
•No chat rooms at school. At home, always ask your
parents first!
•Jane D. Brown, parent of a 13 year old and professor of
mass communications at U of NC, specializes in how
adolescent health is affected by the mass media.
•“For kids today, using Instant Messenger and chat rooms is
sort of like the way we used the phone when we were young.
(but)
•“When we were on the phone, our parents could eavesdrop.
They knew who we were talking to and what we were talking
about… There were more opportunities for monitoring”
•“…on the Web now kids have access to information, places
and people we would never conceive of wanting them to
have access to.”
The largest group of viewers of Internet porn is children
between ages 12 and 17 (Family Safe Media)
http://www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html ).
What seatbelts can we provide?
•Place computer in a well-traveled area with high
visibility.
•Not in their bedrooms.
•Spend time with your children on-line.
•Supervise your child’s chat-room activity – only
allow monitored chat rooms.
•Block instant/personal messages from strangers –
that is people you do not know.
•Upon entering a chat room and similar communication
vehicles, users are given an "opportunity" to fill out surveys
so that they can have their personal info posted. The surveys
generally ask for information about personal habits, likes and
dislikes, name, town, physical description, favorite hangouts,
age, etc. Teach your children that this is an unsafe practice
which makes them very vulnerable and explain why.
•Use a filter to limit access to areas of the Internet you would
prefer your child not access.
Educate your child about the Internet. Help them to know
that just because they see or are told something on the
Internet, it isn’t necessarily true.
•Have access to your child’s e-mail and check it
randomly. Let the child know that you do this.
•Make it your business to know what kind of
safeguards and/or supervision are employed at the
library, at school and at friends’ homes.
Monitoring Software
•Spectorsoft.com or 1-888-598-2788
•Safety-net.info or 1-800-513-1916
•Software4Parents.com or 1-866-345-8371
•PCmagazine.com (search “parental monitoring”)
Books
•Kids Online, by Donna Rice Hughes
•Internet & Computer Ethics for Kids (and Parents
& Teachers Who Haven’t Got a Clue.) by Winn
Schwartau
•Safety Monitor: How to Protect Your Kids Online,
by Detective Mike Sullivan
•The Parent’s Guide to Protecting Your Children in
Cyberspace
Internet Seatbelt Links
•http://www.FBI.gov/for your family
•http://www.ProtectKids.Com
•http://www.falmouthpolice.org/docs/online_safety.PDF
•Blocking and filtering options
•Safety on the Internet – an index of sites
•Internet Safety Tips for Parents
•Safety Net for the Internet – from the New York Public Library
•Make the Internet Safer for Your Child – from the City of Boston
•http://kids.getnetwise.org/safetyguide/families
•http://www.besafeonline.org Be Safe Online
•http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/default.aspx Be Web Aware
•http://www.getnetwise.org/ Get NetWise
•http://www.parentsmart.com/default.asp ParentSmart
•http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/index.html KIDZ Privacy
•http://www.nsbf.org/safe-smart/index.html Safe & Smart
•http://www.isafe.org/ I-Safe
•http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/internet/index.html Parents' Guide to the Internet
•http://www.ncsbi.gov/icac/icac_parents_safetyvideo.jsp NC Dept. of Justice
Internet Safety Video
Internet Filtering Software
•http://www.safetysurf.com/
•http://www.zen.org/~brendan/kids-safe.html
Bibliography
The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 14, 2003
ProtectKids.com – Donna Rice Hughes
FBI.gov/For Families
PC Advisor.co.uk
Falmouth Massachusettes Police Website