Quick Safety Checklist


Every chapter in this book is packed with lists of advice, which can seem overwhelming at first glance. To help you focus on the most important actions to take today to improve your online safety, I have provided this checklist.

Here are the top 13 things you can do today to become safer online:

  1. Buy all the safety software you need for your devices, and use good filtering software. Keep them current and use them unfailingly. This should be as automatic as locking your door when you leave the house. Also see "Technology Toolkit."

  2. Sit down and discuss online safety and come to an agreement with your family and friends. Set rules about how you will protect each other online. Don't blame, don't accuse, and don't run scared; simply set some logical parameters to what activities are okay and what information can be exposed online and with whom. These rules need to reflect your personal and family values. Also see Chapter 17.

  3. Be conscious and selective about who you interact with online. Dealing with people you know, your family, and friends has relatively low risk. Going into public chat rooms, opening your blog up to the general public, and posting information in other public venues increases the risk significantly. Also see Chapter 4.

  4. Be sensitive about what you're putting online that's accessible to the public, including anything that can personally identify you or someone else: unaltered photos of yourself or information in your profile such as your birth date, town, e-mail address, school name, and so on. These can be used to locate you or steal your identity. Also see Chapters 4 and 5.

  5. Be cautious about e-mail. Don't open e-mail from people you don't know or open attachments unless you verify that somebody you know sent them to you. Never respond to e-mail asking you to provide personal information, especially your account number or password, even if it seems to be from somebody you do business with. Your bank (or any other reputable business) should not ask you for this information in an e-mail message. Also see Chapter 10.

  6. Put your family computer and any game consoles that connect to the Internet in a public room where you can monitor your children's online activity. Also see Chapter 13.

  7. Never, ever meet somebody you've met online in person without taking somebody else along. Remember, people are not always who they seem to be online. More than 90 percent of kids who meet an online predator in person end up being abused (Wolak et al., 2004). Also see Chapter 3.

  8. Review the features your children have on mobile phones that they carry with them all day. Can they download images from the Internet, instant message with people, or access location services that allow others to pinpoint their location? All of these features could be a cause for concern, depending on your child's maturity and situation. Also see Chapter 15.

  9. Inform yourself about how and where to report abuses and create an environment that encourages your kids to report abuse to you. By acting as a responsible Internet citizen, you can help stop the illegal activity, harassment, and predatory behavior of the criminal population online. Also see Chapter 18.

  10. Don't let yourself or your kids trade personal information to get so-called freebies. Just as in the physical world, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also see Chapter 14.

  11. Familiarize yourself with the Internet safety rules being applied in your children's schools and at their friends' houses, because they might be logging on from these other locations. Also see Chapters 12, 17, and 18.

  12. Don't use e-mail addresses, IM names, chat nicknames, and so on that give away too much personal information. Make them gender-neutral, with no age or location information, and do not make them sound provocative. Also see Chapter 5.

  13. Sit down with your child and review buddies, blogs, browser history, image files, music downloads, and so on. Let them know you'll do this periodically. Explain that this is not to violate their privacy, but to protect them and the family from risks. Also see Chapter 17.



Look Both Ways. Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
Look Both Ways: Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
ISBN: 0735623473
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 157
Authors: Linda Criddle

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