Keeping Children Safe Online

In a perfect world, the Internet would automatically shield children from contact with questionable content and dangerous people. Unfortunately, nobody exercises complete control over the online world in any centralized manner. What is considered illegal in one country may not even be considered an issue in another. Although a myriad of laws and regulations exist for the purpose of enforcing the rules in different jurisdictions, the Internet is not bound by geography. If a certain type of content is disallowed on Internet servers located in the United States, the owner can easily make the switch to a server in another country with more relaxed laws. To the Internet user, the physical location of a particular web site really doesn't make a difference-it's just another site, accessed by clicking yet another link.

Ultimately, what this means is that you cannot rely on anyone else-from lawyers and politicians to web site owners-to keep your children safe online. Hopefully things will be different in the future, but that's not the case right now. Today, keeping your children out of harm's way on the Internet is a responsibility left almost solely in your hands. Don't ignore the dangers or pretend they don't exist-if you have a computer with Internet access in your home, it's up to you to ensure that your children (and potentially their friends) aren't being exposed to inappropriate materials or dangerous people online.

Understanding Online Risks and Dangers

Any reasonable parent would agree that they don't want their child reading pornographic, hateful, or violent magazines. Similarly, they would almost certainly never allow their child to have personal conversations with a complete stranger, or arrange to meet someone they don't know at the local mall. In the physical world, most parents go to great lengths to teach their children the differences between right and wrong, and educate them about the dangers and risks that they'll encounter in everyday life. Unfortunately, almost all of these important messages pertain to the physical world only-interactions with real objects, people, and places.

For better or worse, the Internet is basically an electronic mirror of the physical world, and children need to be educated about online risks and dangers. What good is teaching your children not to talk to strangers if they only believe the risk applies to people on the street and not "happykid93", an otherwise anonymous chat buddy that they met on the Internet? Clearly, the potential dangers associated with chatting up a nameless and faceless person on the Internet are at least as great as doing the same with some random person walking down the street.

Although realities in the physical and online worlds can be strikingly similar, most parents are at a relative disadvantage when it comes to warning their kids about the dangers on the Internet. In a nutshell, many children are better versed (from experience) in the ways of the Internet than their parents. Be this as it may, it's important for parents to understand the risks that children face in the online world, and then come up with appropriate solutions to ensure that their children remain safe and protected.

Some of the key risks and dangers that children face on the Internet include:

• Online predators. Adults posing as children or teens represent a very real threat to child safety online. These predators (as they've come to be known) tend to hang out in Internet chat rooms geared toward a younger audience, posing as minors themselves. Many seek to befriend children in the hope of gaining their trust, and sometimes arranging a real-life meeting. Although the number of adults engaged in predator-like activities is extremely small, the threat they pose is very real. Unfortunately, many younger Internet users simply take their online chats and correspondences at face value, never considering that someone might not be who they claim to be.

• Access to pornography and other objectionable content. It's almost impossible to use the Internet for any extended period of time without coming into contact with objectionable materials like pornography, hate literature, or worse. By its very nature, the Internet is home to all manner of content, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. Finding these materials is no more difficult than performing a simple search on sites like Yahoo! or Google. Compounding the issue is the fact that children can easily stumble upon these materials without purposefully seeking them out.

• Disclosing personal information. Although there are laws in place to stop web sites from gathering personal information from Internet users under 13 years of age without parental permission, there's little that actually stops children from submitting their information online. Some sites will use the information they collect to market to children, whereas others use it for demographic purposes. Regardless, it's never a good idea for children to submit their name, address, or contact details online. This information can be used for a myriad of purposes, some of which might put your child in harm's way.

• Misunderstanding sources. The Internet is a wonderful research tool, literally overflowing with information. Alas, along with the myriad of excellent learning resources available online, there are also an astonishing number of sites containing incorrect and misleading information, not to mention outright lies. Younger Internet users may have trouble distinguishing whether what they've read is true or false, and whether a source is even reliable-you can't believe everything that you read, and that's especially true on the Internet.

Practical Tips for Parents

Getting children to understand and appreciate the risks associated with using a resource like the Internet isn't always easy. The following sections outline some practical tips for parents looking for ways to help improve the online safety of their children.

TALK THE TALK

Educating children about anything starts with a discussion, and there's arguably no better way to help keep your children safe on the Internet than by sitting down and having a chat about the potential dangers and risks associated with using the Internet.

A great way to start is by asking your child about how they use the Internet right now. Do they surf the web frequently? Do they use instant messaging programs, e-mail, and perhaps a web camera to communicate with friends? Do they download songs in MP3 format from file sharing services or play online games? An important part of helping to protect your children against online risks involves understanding how they use the Internet as a resource.

After discussing how they currently use the Internet, talk to them about some of the risks and dangers that they may be exposed to. Ask them about their own experiences, and even those of their friends. Remind them that even though the Internet may not seem "real" in a physical sense, there actually are people using the Internet in a myriad of different ways, and that not everyone is actually who they claim to be. Most importantly, try to instill in your child that the same rules that apply to keeping safe in the physical world also apply on the Internet.

Finally, take some time to discuss the ways in which your children are allowed to use the Internet. For example, if you don't want them hanging out in Internet chat rooms, let them know. Similarly, you might want to broach issues like your feelings on pornography, hate literature, and the like. Come to a reasonable agreement on what you will (or will not) allow when it comes to them using the Internet. Of course, this agreement may vary greatly depending upon your own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, not to mention the age and needs of your children.

Tip 

For some great advice related to understanding online dangers and explaining them to your children, visit the GetNetWise website at http://www.getnetwise.org.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Back in the old days, parents purchased PCs for their children with thoughts of a glorified typewriter in mind-in other words, it would be an educational tool to aid in completing their schoolwork. However, computers have very much become the ultimate entertainment center, especially with the growth of high-speed Internet connections. From chatting with friends online to playing games and even watching movies, there's no shortage of things for a PC- and Internet-connected kid to do.

When the PC is thought of as a study tool, most parents will gladly agree to locate it in a child's bedroom or in another quiet area in the home. Although this makes sense in cases where the PC actually is being used for educational purposes, it also makes monitoring a child's Internet activities very difficult. If your (or your child's) PC is located in a private area, keeping an eye on what your children are doing online can be next to impossible.

With that in mind, you may want to consider where you place your home computer(s) a little more carefully. If you want to keep the temptation of venturing into the darker corners of the Internet minimized, few things help more than setting up the Internet-connected computer in a high-traffic area. If you have more than one PC in your home, you may want to consider connecting only those in public areas to the Internet, leaving the rest disconnected to act as glorified typewriters.

USE PARENTAL CONTROLS

Discussing online dangers and keeping an eye on their surfing habits can go a long way toward making the Internet a safer place for your children. However, even kids with the best intentions will wander into the unknown out of curiosity, and monitoring Internet usage could be a full-time job on its own. Thankfully, you don't have to go it alone-help is available in the form of content filtering software, sometimes referred to as parental control programs.

As the name suggests, parental controls are designed to put you in control over what your children can and cannot do online. For example, these programs typically enable you to block all access to all pornographic web sites at the click of a button. This ultimately stops users from attempting to visit known adult web sites, or search for related terms. When an attempt to access blocked or filtered sites is made, most parental control programs display an error message and log the attempt to a file that can be referenced at a later time.

Beyond simply blocking content, parental controls typically enable you to configure times when Internet usage is allowed, and control which programs can be used. For example, you might decide that your children should only be allowed to access the Internet between 6 and 8 p.m., and even then cannot use access Internet file sharing or instant messaging programs. In the meantime, you could allow all other users to access the Internet without restrictions.

Ultimately, parental controls put you in control over how your children access the Internet, and to what extent. If you do choose to go this route, consider letting other users know that the software or feature is enabled, and exactly what it does and does not allow. Nobody likes to feel as though his or her activities are being monitored or watched. However, if the situation has been discussed and everyone knows that the filtering software is present, all users are certain to think more carefully about where they attempt to venture online. Parental controls are explored in more detail in the following section.