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.”

What seatbelts can we provide?

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 ).

•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