Internet Safety
The internet is a wonderful place, full of endless amounts of information and resources. However, some people have used the internet to promote things we do not want our children to be exposed to. Some sites are full of pornographic materials, drug information, pretty much anything you can think of. Also, perverts and criminals have utilized the internet to find their victims. Should you avoid your child using the internet? No, there are things you can do to protect your children. As with everything your children do, you should get familiar with the internet and learn the possible dangers. There is software now that prohibits certain materials from being accessed from your computer. Cyber Patrol is perhaps the best tool there is.
What Parents Can Do
- Learn about the Internet: If you are just starting out, see what your local library, community center, school or newspaper offers by way of introduction.
- Get Involved: Spend time online with your child, whether at home, at the library, or at a computer center in your community. Your involvement in your child's life, including his or her online life, is the best insurance you can have of your child's safety.
- Stay Informed: Keep yourself informed about the parental control tools that can help you keep your child safe online. This brochure includes an introduction to what currently available tools can and cannot do.
- Become an Advocate for Kids:If you see material or practices you do or do not like, contact your Internet Service Provider (the company that provides you with a connection to the Internet) or the company that created the material. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to make sure that this growing medium develops in positive ways for kids.
E-Mail: Sending & receiving electronic messages
Positive Benefits for Your Child
- Keep in touch with teachers, family, friends
- Get help with homework
- Establish mentoring relationships
- Practice writing
- Receive online newsletters
- Make world-wide pen pals
Dangers/Risks
- Strangers, at times pretending to be someone else, can communicate with your child
- Unsolicited email ("spam"), usually about sites with sexually explicit material, products for sale, or moneymaking schemes
Parenting Tips
- Share your child's email account and password
- Talk with your child about the people he or she is meeting online
- Set a rule that your child never arranges an in-person meeting without you present
- Complain to the sender of unsolicited email and to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) about unwanted email
What Parental Control Tools Can Do
- Route your child's email first to your account
- Reject email from specific email addresses
- Limit email with offensive language and personal information from being sent and received
Browsing The World Wide Web
Exploring information on world-wide computer networks, usually by using a browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer
Positive Benefits for Your Child
- Access rich educational and cultural resources (text, sounds, pictures, and video) otherwise unavailable to most people
- Obtain up-to-the-minute information
- Improve ability to understand and evaluate information
- Stay informed by accessing your community and school Web sites
- Play fun and educational games
- Learn educational skills useful in future jobs
Dangers/Risks
- Easy-to-find sites with sexually explicit images and text
- Easy-to-find sites promoting hatred, bigotry, violence, drugs, cults, and other things not appropriate for children
- Inaccurate, misleading, and untrue information
- No restrictions on marketing products such as alcohol and tobacco to children
- Marketing that deceptively collects personal information from kids in order to sell products to them or their parents
- Requests for personal information for contests, surveys, etc., that are used in unauthorized ways
- Easy access to games with excessive violence and gender stereotypes
Parenting Tips
- Keep computer in family area to better monitor your child's activity
- Regularly spend time online with your child to learn about his or her interests and activities
- Teach your child to end any experience online when he or she feels uncomfortable or scared by pressing the back key, logging off, and telling a trusted adult as soon as possible
- Establish an atmosphere of trust and understanding with your child by not blaming him or her for uncomfortable online experiences
- Discuss the difference between advertising and educational or entertaining content and show your child examples of each
- Establish strict rules for ordering products (and then monitor credit card bills)
- "Talk back" to Internet Service Providers and content creators to let them know what you want and expect from them in keeping kids safe online
What Parental Control Can Do
- Block access to materials (text and pictures) identified as inappropriate for kids*
- Permit access only to materials specifically approved as safe for kids*
- Allow you to specify what types of materials are appropriate for your child
- Help you monitor your child's activity on the Internet by storing names of sites and/or snapshots of material seen by your child on the computer for you to view later
- Allow you to set different restrictions for each family member
- Limit results of an Internet search to content appropriate for kids
- Enforce time limits set by parents
**Each student will be required to return a parental internet consent release