Keeping our kids E-Safe

What you need to know and do

To keep your child safe

What are we protecting our children from?one in four children are solicited sexually while on the internet and nearly 70% of all reported sexual assaults occur on children aged 17 and under.

Sam Leeson, a 13-year-old boy from Gloucestershire, was found hanging in his bedroom because of months of bullying online at Bebo….Sam’s parents didn’t realize that he suffered from bullying until they checked his Bebo page after his death.

Facebook bully jailed:

Death threat girl, 18,

is first person put behind bars

for vicious internet campaign

inquest heard how

a schoolgirl took a fatal overdose

of painkillers after bullies waged

a hate campaign

against her on Bebo.

Social networking sites

Instant messaging (eg MSN)

P2P (filesharing)

Multi-user online games

Chat rooms

49% of kids say that they have given out personal information5% of parents think their child has given out such information

• It is sometimes helpful for young people

• to know that the criminal age of

• responsibility is 10

• Therefore if they are harassing

• or threatening anyone

• they are legally responsible

• for their own actions.

Social Networking

Social websites like Facebook have made it possible for people all over the world to connect and stay in touch easily. However, kids bullying other kids on Facebook or similar, has become a problem. It's not as easy to protect your children as it once was, but there are safeguards you can use to protect your children from bullying on Facebook.

Step 1 - Create a Facebook account for yourself. If you want to protect your child on Facebook, you must be on the site yourself.

Step 2 - Require your child to be your Facebook friend. This allows you to see all activity on her page. You can see who she is friends with and the types of comments are being left for her. This will nip a lot of bullying on Facebook right away. Kids are generally smart enough not to leave comments that parents are going to read.

Step 3 - Insist on knowing your child's password for Facebook and make sure he understands that you will use it to sign into his account on occasion. This is necessary to check for bullying by private message. While most activity on Facebook is viewable by all your friends, private messages are not.

Step 4 - Search for bullying groups on Facebook. Type in "groups" in the search box at the top of the Facebook homepage. That takes you to the Groups homepage. From there you can search the groups for your child's full name. It has become a trend on Facebook for kids to set up "I Hate So-and-So" groups that are used to bully a child.

Step 5 - Immediately report any groups or messages that appear to be bullying your child on Facebook. Click on the group name and then scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click on the "Report Group" icon

Step 6 - Report a single person's bad behaviour by clicking on "Report This Person" on that person's profile screen. Since you must be friends to see the person's profile page, you must be signed into your child's account to do this. But don't worry; the reporting is done anonymously, and no one will ever know your child was the one to report bad behaviour.

Commercial dangers…Look at the image below:Can you tell the difference between the content and the advertising?

• Blur between content & advertising

• Subtle requests for marketing information- “Tell a friend”

• Invasive programmes - adware/popups

Homework – Find out about the civil rights movement in America in the 60’sFirst Internet result:

ContentThere is always the obvious content we worry about: Sex/Pornography, Drugs etc…but what about below?

This website is hosted by STORMFRONT…

Who are they?

• Be careful about denying access to the technology• Understand the tools• Discuss cyberbullying with your children

- always respect others- treat your passwords with care- block/delete contacts & save conversations- don’t reply/retaliate- save evidence- make sure you tell

• Report the cyberbullying- school- service provider- police

My child is or has been cyber-bullied…

But I don’t understand computers…?

Get your child to sit down and slowly show you what they are doing online

Check with your school to see if they are running any training for basic ICT skills

Computer Basics for Beginners

You Tube – an excellent resource

New to computers

Laying the ground rules…Like anything that goes in in the house…you lay down the rules;

Making a ….

PParental InvolvementTalk as a family and set rules for:•Access•Content•Time online•Types of games•Use of social networksThis should include•Mobile phones, Xbox, Wii, PS3 etc

AAccessSupervision?Friend requests when social networking?Filtering?Text messages?Instant messaging e.g. MSNOnline profiles?Online gamingUPLOADING & DOWNLOADING!!

P

CContentMovie, TV, Game ratings?i.e. U, PG, 12a, 12, 15, 16(games), 18What websites?What conditions need to be met?e.g. Homework, tidy room, housework tasks

AP

TTimePlay games _______ hoursWatch Movies/TV ______ hoursInternet/Computer use_____ hours

CAP

Where do I go from here…?

For a copy of PACT and information on family settings for your Xbox 360, Laptop, Wii etc. http://www.getgamesmart.com/

Liverpool City Council have a wealth of information and links to several parental groups:

https://liverpool-ict-team.wikispaces.com/

For a copy of the Know-IT-All see your schools ICT coordinator/child protection officer, alternatively visit the KIA site