Internet Risks Reduction

How Parents Can Reduce the Risks 

While children need a certain amount of privacy, they also need parental involvement and supervision in their daily lives. The same general parenting skills that apply to the “real world” also apply while online. If you have cause for concern about your children’s online activities, talk to them. Also seek out the advice and counsel of teachers, librarians, and other Internet and online service users in your area. Having open communication with your children, using computer resources, and getting online yourself will help you obtain the full benefits of these systems and alert you to any potential problem that may occur with their use. If your child tells you about an upsetting message, person, or web site encountered while online, don’t blame your child but help him or her avoid problems in the future. Remember — how you respond will determine whether they confide in you the next time they encounter a problem and how they learn to deal with problems on their own. 

Beyond these basics, there are some specific things that you should know about the Internet. For instance did you know that there are chat areas, newsgroups, and web sites that have material that is hateful, is violent, or contains other types of material that parents might consider to be inappropriate for their children? It’s possible for children to stumble across this type of material when doing a search using one of the web sites that is specifically designed to help people find information on the Internet. Most of these sites, called “search engines,” do not, by default, filter out material that might be inappropriate for children, but some offer a childsafe option and some are designed specifically for use by children. 

Also the Internet contains newsgroups, web sites, and other areas designed specifically for adults who wish to post, read, or view sexually explicit material including pictures, stories, and videos. Some of this material is posted on web sites where there is an attempt to verify the user’s age and/or a requirement for users to enter a credit-card number on the presumption that children do not have access to credit-card numbers. Other areas on the Internet make no such effort to control access. Nevertheless, consider monitoring your credit-card bills for such charges. In addition to “adult” pornography, there are also areas on the Internet that contain illegal child pornography. If you or your children come across this type of material, immediately report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline® at www.cybertipline.com. 

Some online services and ISPs allow parents to limit their children’s access to certain services and features such as adult-oriented “chatrooms,” bulletin boards, and web sites. There may be an area just for children where it is less likely for them to stumble onto inappropriate material or get into an unsupervised “chatroom.” At the very least, keep track of any files your children download to the computer, consider sharing an E-mail account with your children to oversee their mail, and consider joining them when they are in private chat areas. 

In addition there are ways to filter or control what your children can see and do online. One type of filter, called a “spam” filter limits unsolicited E-mail including mail promoting sexually explicit material. Some ISPs and E-mail services include filters as part of their service but, if not, there is software you can purchase that will attempt to limit the type of mail that gets through. 

There are also ways to filter what a child can see on the world wide web. Check with your service provider to see if they offer age-appropriate parental controls. If not consider using a software program that blocks chat areas, newsgroups, and web sites that are known to be inappropriate for children. Most of these programs can be configured by the parent to filter out sites that contain nudity, sexual content, hateful or violent material or that advocate the use of alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. Some can also be configured to prevent children from revealing information about themselves such as their name, address, or telephone number. You can find a directory of these filtering programs at www.getnetwise.org/ tools. 

Another option is to use a rating system that relies on web-site operators to indicate the nature of their material. Internet browsers can be configured to only allow children to visit sites that are rated at the level that the parents specify. The advantage to this method is that only appropriately rated sites can be viewed. The disadvantage is that many appropriate web sites have not submitted themselves for a rating and will therefore be blocked. 

While technological-child-protection tools are worth exploring, they’re not a panacea. To begin with, no program is perfect. There is always the possibility that something inappropriate could “slip through” or something that is appropriate will be blocked. Finally, filtering programs do not necessarily protect children from all dangerous activities. For example some do not control instant messaging or chat services which are particularly dangerous because they put a child in instant communications with other people. Also some filters do not work with peer-to-peer networks that allow people to exchange files such as music, pictures, text, and videos. These peerto- peer networks are sometimes used to distribute pornography, including child pornography. Filters are not a substitute for parental involvement. Regardless of whether you choose to use a filtering program or an Internet rating system, the best way to assure that your children are having positive online experiences is to stay in touch with what they are doing. One way to do this is to spend time with your children while they’re online. Have them show you what they 

If a meeting is arranged, make the first one in a public place. And be sure to accompany your child. do, and ask them to teach you how to use the Internet or online service. You might be surprised by how much you can learn from your children.