The truth, the Internet is now a major part of our lives. The fact that you are here proves that point. Much of my professional carrier is spent online and creating an appealing online environment. This has changed the way society interacts and how we, and to a larger extent our children, learn, communicate, and interact on an everyday basis. As with each tool, this one has been warped and twisted to do great harm. Because of the real danger the Internet imposes, I wish to strongly recommend every parent take the time to learn how to protect their families online. This is not limited to protecting children, but learning to protect ourselves as well.
With this in mind, I set out to create a one stop location for all the tools and information you might need to arm yourselves for this battle. Early in my quest, I found it to be a daunting task, and was fortunate to find a project called Enough is Enough - Making the Internet Safer for Children and Families. Please, take the time to read every page they have available. The project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. They list statistics, offer education tips, and give parents suggestions on how to keep your
family safe online.
A few items I found most helpful…
Statistics: Direct Link
- 1 in 4 kids participate in Real Time Chat. (FamilyPC Survey, 2000).
- One in five children who use computer chatrooms has been approached over the Internet by pedophiles. (Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Akerman, Telegraph.co.uk January 2002).
Social Networking (aka. MySpace): Direct Link
- Enough Is Enough believes that minor children under the age of 17 are safest when they are not on social networking sites
- The Lure of the Web
- Rules ‘N Tools Guidelines for Internet Safety
And many more…
I strongly suggest you take the time to educate yourselves on this most important topic.
Our Family Rules:
- No Chat Rooms!!!
- No Internet after 10pm (That goes for dad too!)
- No social networking (MySpace, Microsoft’s Spaces, AIM Pages, etc)
- No Dating Sites for kids under 21
- All access is filtered and logged
- All usernames and passwords are known by parents
- Children are not allowed to clear history or cache, or email. If they do, they loose ALL Internet privileges
- The computer is in a public place, not a room
- Children know that parents will regularly log into their email and other accounts and monitor
Recommended Filters:
- K9 Web Protection (Win2K/WinXP/Vista/OS X **beta**)
- CyberPatrol (WinXP)
- Net Nanny Win98/2K/XP)
- The Internet Filter (Win98/2K/XP/OS X)
- ContentBarrier (OS X)
- WinProxy
- Dansguardian (OS X/Linux)
iTunes and Music Sharing:
More to come soon…
Mobile Safety:
More to come soon…