| |
For several years various organizations have been sharing some useful tips for keeping children safe from these potential dangers. The following is a list of guidelines or suggestions to help keep you child safe when using the internet.
-
Discuss openly the potential dangers of the internet with your child.
-
Be computer literate and aware of trends in technology.
-
Maintain access to your child on-line accounts. Consider sharing email accounts in order to monitor emails.
-
Keep your computer(s) in a common area where it/they can be easily monitored.
-
Spend time online with your child in order to become more aware of their surfing habits and in order to teach appropriate behavior.
-
Be aware that many web sites use “cookies” track user information and web surfing habits.
-
Consider creating a contract with your child regarding their internet usage.
-
Remind your child that what they read on-line may not be true.
-
Let your child know that even if your child was a willing participant in any form of sexual exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is the victim.
-
Instruct your children:
-
to never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met on- line;
-
to never upload (post) pictures of themselves onto the Internet or on-line service to people they do not personally know;
-
to never give out identifying information such as their name, home address, school name, or telephone number;
-
to never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good chance there could be sexually explicit images;
-
to never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing;
-
to let you know if they are the recipient of any suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing information.
Web logging and photo galleries
-
students use to vent and to communicate with others.
-
Services like blogspot.com, diaryland, photoisland.com have made the process very easy and can be done from nearly any internet connected computer
-
A large number of IH students have taken advantage of these services
-
Many have message boards
-
While this medium can be empowering, liberating, and educational it requires responsibility and caution
-
Students should not:
-
post address, phone, school or other personal info
-
post pictures of themselves, or their friends (especially without permission)
-
posting names or pictures with other personal information can be particularly dangerous
-
give to much detail about daily routines
-
never post salacious, inflammatory, hateful or threatening messages
-
never respond directly to salacious, inflammatory, hateful or threatening messages
-
link to a friend’s web site (including blog site or photo site) without permission from that person.
-
publicly post anything they “would not want on the cover of the LA Times”
- Students should remember:
-
that blogging does not make you magically immune from libel or slander
-
that anyone can see your site unless it has been password protected
-
to report any displeasing or unsettling messages you read or receive online
Sources and resources
Internet safety websites
There are several technical measures that can be taken to assist you in protecting children for sending or receiving dangerous or unwelcome content.
-
Filtering software denies access to searches or web material that contains keywords relating to topics such as sex, drugs and violence.
-
Outgoing filtering restricts the sending of information such as name, address, and phone number online.
-
Monitoring or tracking software allows one to see where students, children, or employees have been on-line. Some of the software creates logs of when and how long on-line sessions last.
-
Blocking software (often updated via the internet) blocks access to sites that are on a “bad ” list. Often the blocking can be customized to various degrees or levels for different users.
Many of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as AOL also offer blocking service for no additional charge.
Many software programs incorporate more than one of the features listed above. If you plan to use any of these be sure to investigate their efficacy and drawbacks. Below are several commonly used software packages. They currently cost approximately $25-$50.
|
|
