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Protect Your Family On-Line
The links and information provided below are intended to equip you, as a parent, to protect your child or teen from the very real threats that they will face in the modern on-line world.
Set Some Ground Rules
It can be a bit overwhelming for parents to try to get a grip on all of the various on-line activities their children are involved in. A great place to start is making sure that you set some clear rules that your family will follow when using the internet. InternetSafety.com has provided a "Family Internet Safety Gameplan" for parents to use. This is a great resource for all families to print out, discuss, and post near the family computer.
http://www.internetsafety.com/internet-monitoring-game-plan.php
Monitoring Software
You won't always be able to stand over your child's shoulder while they're using the internet. There are several programs available that parents can use to monitor and filter internet activity. SafeEyes is a fantastic full featured program that allows parents to view internet activity reports that will help them ensure that their children are practicing safe surfing habits while on-line. SafeEyes is sold as a yearly subscription much like an anti-virus program. For those not wanting to purchase monitoring software, Microsoft offers an option free of charge to Windows users. Windows Live Family Safety is a less powerful tool but still provides parents with some monitoring and security capabilities.
Social Networking Safety
Social Networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc) have become a part of everyone's life in one way or another. Even if you yourself do not use these sites, you almost certainly have a close friend or relative who does. If you have a teen in the house then you probably have some idea of how they work. These sites are designed to be easy for users to locate each other. The problem is that many users don't think about the risks involved with posting personal information on these sites and that this information is publically available unless certain steps are taken. Below are some links on how to educate your children about what they should and should not post on these sites and how you as a parent can turn on privacy settings to make sure the wrong people don't gain access to your child's profile.
Beware of On-Line Predators
On-Line predators are a very real and on-going
threat that parents cannot afford to ignore. The internet creates an
anonymous and easy way for predators to approach children and teens.
Below are some informative links to help increase awareness of this
threat.
U.S.
Department of Justice F.B.I. Publication
Stats from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Only 1 in 3 households with internet access are actively protecting their children with filtering or blocking software.