online predators - How To Protect Kids from dangers of online predators
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Protecting Children from Online Predators - internet safety tips - internet safety for kids
Why Parental Control Software?
Have you heard of online predators? Do you know what they are, who they are and how online predators get to your children?
Here is a hint: Online predators are everywhere.
Thanks to advances in modern technology, no child is safe.
Nowadays children spend a great deal of their childhood playing on the computer and surfing the web. This can be a great source of frustration for many parents.
Initially, parents welcomed the Internet into their homes, believing it would provide their children with access to a bottomless pit of beneficial and educational information. However, many parents soon realized that, instead of using the Internet for homework or research; for the purpose that it was originally meant for, that their kids were spending hours surfing inappropriate and undesirable websites, instant messaging with friends, playing online games, or talking to strangers in chat rooms.
For many years it has been a challenge for parents to maintain a healthy balance between the amount of time their children spend being entertained by media outlets, and the more traditional, often outdoor activities that have kept children happy for generations. The Internet has made this challenge even more difficult. The engaging nature of Internet communications and interactive games means many children and teens have trouble keeping track of time when they're online.
When trying to establish the right balance, it is necessary to take some kind of control over your child's computer and Internet use.
12 Internet Safety Tips
Safety tips for protecting kids online
- If possible, keep the computer in a visible place in the house.
Ask questions. Walk by and check what is on the screen. If your child quickly closes the screen, this is a red flag and should be investigated.
- Spend time on the Internet with your children.
Go online with your children as often as possible and help them identify inappropriate communications. Give them a chance to show you what they have learned or the things they like. Send E-Greetings and Christmas cards to family and friends or participate in interactive games together. Ask your children to tell about their cyberspace friends, just as you would want to know their real-life friends.
- Schedule Internet use for your children.
Limit young grade-schoolers to 30-60 minutes a few times a week; older kids may need more frequent access for school projects. This will make them more responsible in using the Internet.
- Set Traffic Limits.
Limit your children to 1-3 megabytes they can download/upload per day to prevent them from downloading pornographic films or non-licensed software.
- Limit your children to only certain websites, newsgroups and chat rooms.
Sit down with your child and agree on types of websites your child may and may not visit. Limit the use of Instant Messaging and chat rooms.
- Never give out personal information.
Instruct your kids never to give out personal information (name, address, age, telephone number, password, credit card number, and so on) in chat rooms, email, or bulletin boards. Be aware that Web sites for children- even the most reputable ones-sometimes ask for e-mail and home addresses, telephone numbers, and parents' professions before allowing children to enter.
- Never have online profiles.
Instruct your kids never to have online profiles, so they will not be listed in directories and are less likely to be approached in children's chat rooms, where pedophiles often search for prey.
- Use nicknames instead of real names.
A nickname-an online alias (like KingStar or PinkPanther)-is also vital to protecting privacy because it conceals a person's real identity. Consider sharing the same nickname and e-mail address with your children under 14 so that you can closely monitor the instant and e-mail messages that come to them. Do not allow your children to select sexually suggestive nicknames.
- Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met online.
Instruct children to never arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without parental permission. Never allow them to get together with someone they "met" online without first checking this "friend" out to the best of your ability. If a meeting is arranged, make the first one in a public place, and be sure to accompany your child. Thus, someone indicating that "she" is a "12-year-old girl" could in reality be a 40-year-old man. - Randomly check visited web sites log.
Viewing the log of visited web sites can give you enough information about your kid's habits, interests and online friends. Normally you should do this only occasionally but if your child becomes secretive, then you should check more often. If you find that the history of sites visited is deleted in your Web Browser, this is a signal that something is going on and should be investigated.
- Teach children netiquette.
Good manners can protect kids, too. Words written are just as strong as words spoken. Tell children never to respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, or harassing. Ask them to be sensitive to others' feelings when posting online messages and to avoid being rude, mean, sarcastic, or excessively argumentative. A comment that's meant to be funny could seem insulting and make others mad. Visit message boards and chat rooms with your kids to point out comments that could be misinterpreted.
- Teach children be careful with e-mails from people they do not know.
Instruct your child never to open emails, especially with attachments, from people they do not know. Most likely these emails contain a computer virus or they are mass mailing (spam) e-mails with inappropriate content.
Free Internet Safety eBook For Parents
Online Predators - Q&A
A Parents Guide to Fighting Online Predators
A Parents Guide to Fighting Online Predators
This video provides parents with the infomation they need to keep children safe from Online Predaotrs. FBI special agent, Randall Clark explains the predators "grooming process" and how you can help your teenager avoid the dangers of internet social networks. www.ChildPredatorVideos.com
Runtime: 276
3676 views
19 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
Parental Control Software
iProtectYou and CyberSieve, the Internet filtering and monitoring software programs offered by SoftForYou enable you to take comprehensive control of your child's Internet use, and in doing so prevent your child from being exposed to the inappropriate, harmful and at times even dangerous aspects of the Internet.They have a constantly updated database of undesirable sites that the programs can automatically filter out. In addition you may filter out any individual site that you consider unsuitable, or groups of sites based on undesirable words. You may also restrict access to programs such as instant messenger and E-mails.
These programs enable you not only to restrict how the Internet is used, but when it can be accessed, and all of these factors can be set individually for each member of the family depending on parental control needs.
iProtectYou and CyberSieve contain monitoring systems that give parents yet more control of their child's Internet use; as you can get detailed Internet activity logs, and keep track of what sites and programs have been accessed and when.
CyberSieve is particularly ingenious, as it allows you to carry out this monitoring function from the computer of your choice. This means that you can keep tabs on your kids online activity when you are in another room, at work, or on vacation. This special feature gives you extra power to protect your child from the dangers of the Internet.
Internet Filters and Parental Control Software
SoftForYou offers an exciting new program Chronager, which gives you control not only of your child's use of the Internet, but of the computer as a whole. You can restrict and set the times when all of the individual elements associated with computer use can be accessed.You will have control over when your child can use the CD/DVD ROM and removable disks, when he or she can use particular programs (for gaming, instant messaging and watching movies,) when he or she can access the Internet, and when he or she will be allowed access to the computer as a whole.
These programs give parents a new, elevated level of control over their home computer. After the initial optimism of parents, which turned into concern when it became clear quite how and how often their children were using their home computers, parents can now look to a brighter future; as they are finally are able to let their child use their home computer, fully in the knowledge that it has become a beneficial force in his or her life.
Reporting Internet Abuse
If you become aware of the transmission, use, or viewing of child pornography while online, immediately report this to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678The Internet is a great place for kids. By applying real-world parenting skills and remedies to the wired world, you can make the Internet a safe place for your child to learn and play.
The more time you spend with your children, the more rewarding the whole experience of the Internet can be, and the more their safety is ensured. Remember, Internet use is a privilege that can be taken away if misused.
Interent Safety for Kids and Teens
Thank you for stopping by!
Without internet filters, our kids are subject to all the garbage we adults see everyday. This issue is important to me...protect your kids!
Read More Ways to Protect Your Privacy and Internet Security Online
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- DRodas DRodas Jan 17, 2009 @ 5:09 am
- Great lens!
Pheroboy
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- AshleyAnnRyan AshleyAnnRyan Sep 14, 2008 @ 9:28 pm
- Want more traffic to your lens?
I would like to FEATURE your lens in my Parenting Group! Parenting on Squidoo. I'll even create a special category just for you!
Ashley
Everything You Need to Know About Attachment Parenting.
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- Kyle_MacRannell Kyle_MacRannell Aug 17, 2008 @ 8:56 am
- Great lens about a very important topic! This lens is a real public service that will benefit a lot of parents, thanks for sharing this!
Mack,
Do Pheromones Work? Also here on Squidoo!
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- graak graak Mar 6, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
- Great Lens! Some of your readers may also be interested in my lens Review of IamBigBrother Software - Protecting our Children.
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- Ashley86 Ashley86 Dec 14, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
- While this is a good lens, no doubt about that. I think you should emphasize the importance on parental supervision.
Kids tend to be smarter than we think.
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A lesson for your children
On the 10th of April an video article on MSN web site (http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?f=msnhome) described an experiment that needs to be brought the attention of all parents whose children use the Internet.
The article was about the web site myspace.com and the possible consequences associated with its use by children.
The site launched in 2003, initially for musicians but it quickly spread to become the biggest social network site there is, having more than 60 million users. The site enables you to prepare your own personal web page profiling yourself and use it to share information with other people on the web site.
At its best it is used by children and teenagers to keep in touch with friends and to express their creativity. However, due to the ease of access to information that it affords, predators search through the site looking for children and teenagers with who they can share stories and pictures with, and later on perhaps even meet..
The site requires users to be at least 14, but it is very easy to pretend to be old enough to gain access, whatever age you are.
The site is a sexual predators dream; and a parents worse nightmare.
In the experiment a detective; a male in his 40's, set up a page on myspace.com and pretended to be a teenager, using this guise to meet teenage girls. he called himself Matt, said that he was new to town and 19 years old.
The aim of the experiment was to see how many girls he could contact and what kind of information they would willingly give out online. He contacted teenagers whose parents were aware of the experiment, in order to answer the question; would your child let a predator into her online world? The parents never dreamed that their daughters would.
The experiment was carried out in in middle town Connecticut. The town is of particular interest terms of the experiment because it was the scene of a series of incidents earlier this year in which 7 girls were sexually assaulted by men met that they had met on myspace.com.
Since then the town had carried out safety Internet workshops for parents, and the dangers had been brought to the attention of children and teenagers.
The article was about the web site myspace.com and the possible consequences associated with its use by children.
The site launched in 2003, initially for musicians but it quickly spread to become the biggest social network site there is, having more than 60 million users. The site enables you to prepare your own personal web page profiling yourself and use it to share information with other people on the web site.
At its best it is used by children and teenagers to keep in touch with friends and to express their creativity. However, due to the ease of access to information that it affords, predators search through the site looking for children and teenagers with who they can share stories and pictures with, and later on perhaps even meet..
The site requires users to be at least 14, but it is very easy to pretend to be old enough to gain access, whatever age you are.
The site is a sexual predators dream; and a parents worse nightmare.
In the experiment a detective; a male in his 40's, set up a page on myspace.com and pretended to be a teenager, using this guise to meet teenage girls. he called himself Matt, said that he was new to town and 19 years old.
The aim of the experiment was to see how many girls he could contact and what kind of information they would willingly give out online. He contacted teenagers whose parents were aware of the experiment, in order to answer the question; would your child let a predator into her online world? The parents never dreamed that their daughters would.
The experiment was carried out in in middle town Connecticut. The town is of particular interest terms of the experiment because it was the scene of a series of incidents earlier this year in which 7 girls were sexually assaulted by men met that they had met on myspace.com.
Since then the town had carried out safety Internet workshops for parents, and the dangers had been brought to the attention of children and teenagers.
Matt became instantly popular. In less than 2 weeks he obtained more than 100 friends.
He was able to view a certain amount of information about each person, and then if he was accepted by them as a personal friend, he was was given access to their full profile and all the private information that they had posted on their profile. This included their names, their schools, their ages, and where they hang out. Half of his new 'friends' let him in with no questions asked whatsoever.
After a few days, during a live chat session, one girl posted the response *hugs,* shocking her mother who was observing the experiment in real time.
After it was established how easy it was to obtain information from these girls, 3 of them were chosen to meet the real Matt, in the hope that it would be a wake up to call to them.
The 3 girls entered the room, and were naturally very surprised to see that Matt wasn't the 19 year old that he made out to be.
The girls were asked if they think they protect themselves when talking with and sharing information with strangers on myspace.com. In their own minds they thought that they had given Matt very little information about themselves, but in reality Matt had found out the following.
He had found out the name and birthday of the first girl, as well as an enormous amount of personally sensitive information on a 330 question survey that she had filled in and made available.
The second girl had made the mistake of, a week before, sending out a bulletin saying where she was going to go and when....it would have been very easy for Matt to have found her. Matt had got her full name too. The third girl had even mentioned that she would like to meet him.
Many children give out much more, such as pictures, sometimes which even can be provocative in nature.
Such experiments such as these are alerting parents to the fact that it is their responsibility to be more vigilant, and to take some kind of control over their child's use of the computer.
The company myspace.com dedicates a third of its staff; 90 people, to monitoring the pages for pornography and underage users. But that is very little considering there are 63 million profiles; a figure that increases every day.
He was able to view a certain amount of information about each person, and then if he was accepted by them as a personal friend, he was was given access to their full profile and all the private information that they had posted on their profile. This included their names, their schools, their ages, and where they hang out. Half of his new 'friends' let him in with no questions asked whatsoever.
After a few days, during a live chat session, one girl posted the response *hugs,* shocking her mother who was observing the experiment in real time.
After it was established how easy it was to obtain information from these girls, 3 of them were chosen to meet the real Matt, in the hope that it would be a wake up to call to them.
The 3 girls entered the room, and were naturally very surprised to see that Matt wasn't the 19 year old that he made out to be.
The girls were asked if they think they protect themselves when talking with and sharing information with strangers on myspace.com. In their own minds they thought that they had given Matt very little information about themselves, but in reality Matt had found out the following.
He had found out the name and birthday of the first girl, as well as an enormous amount of personally sensitive information on a 330 question survey that she had filled in and made available.
The second girl had made the mistake of, a week before, sending out a bulletin saying where she was going to go and when....it would have been very easy for Matt to have found her. Matt had got her full name too. The third girl had even mentioned that she would like to meet him.
Many children give out much more, such as pictures, sometimes which even can be provocative in nature.
Such experiments such as these are alerting parents to the fact that it is their responsibility to be more vigilant, and to take some kind of control over their child's use of the computer.
The company myspace.com dedicates a third of its staff; 90 people, to monitoring the pages for pornography and underage users. But that is very little considering there are 63 million profiles; a figure that increases every day.
After the meeting with Matt the girls went back to their profiles on myspace.come, and erased their personal info. Then they checked all their online 'friends' to make sure that there were no more Matts lurking in the background. They are grateful for the lesson in danger. But not all children are lucky enough to learn from their mistakes in this way. For some it might only come when its too late.
Read More Ways to Protect Your Privacy and Internet Security Online
Read More Ways to Protect Your Privacy and Internet Security Online
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