Protecting your children on-line
I was at a 40th birthday party
for a friend this past weekend and one of the topics that came
up was monitoring their kid’s activities on line, as well as
limiting the time that the kids are using the computer.
I have a whole article in the Ebook
“Computers 101: The Questions You Were Afraid to Ask” called
Internet Security. This article in this Ezine is going to
concentrate on monitoring software and what that’s all about.
It seems like everyday there is another
story somewhere about kids and adults being exposed to “Internet
Predators”. Some parents have strict guidelines for their
children on line, some do not. The parents that do not
understand what the Internet is all about or who are computer
shy are the ones that do not know what to do and how to see what
their kid’s are doing with the PC.
It also comes down to a matter of trust.
Do you trust your kids to make the right decisions? Have you
talked to them about not meeting strangers on the street and to
go the other way if someone approaches them? Whether on the
street, or on line, the message is the same - If you do not know
someone on line, and they initiate a conversation, end the
conversation and block them from your list.
One of the bigger problems today is
e-mail. Have you looked at some of the messages your children
receive? Do they have an account with your Internet Service
Provider (ISP), or did they get a free one on line like MSN,
Hotmail, or Yahoo? The “free” e-mail services receive a lot
more ads and spam than the other services. Without questioning
them about their e-mail accounts, you may have no idea what they
are sending and receiving.
We have to start protecting our kids, and
we will benefit as well because the controls that you put in
place can easily prevent unwanted e-mails and chat discussions
from entering our e-mail accounts as well.
Here are some statistics provided by
the FBI:
·
Approximately one in five (children) received a sexual
solicitation or approach over the Internet.
·
One
in thirty-three received an aggressive sexual solicitation - a
solicitor who asked to meet them somewhere; called them on the
telephone; sent them regular mail, money, or gifts.
·
One
in four had an unwanted exposure to pictures of naked people or
people having sex.
·
One
in seventeen was threatened or harassed.
·
One
in five children who use computer chat rooms has been approached
over the Internet by pedophiles.
·
89%
of sexual solicitations were made in either chat rooms or
instant messages.
·
13
million youth use instant messaging.
First, let’s deal with the issue of Spam
AOL reported recently that every AOL e-mail
account receives an average of 47 Spam e-mails a day. The
nature of these e-mails are the following:
 | Healthcare – 27% |
| Finance – 24% |
| Pornography, and Profanity – 16% |
| Direct Products – 15% |
| IT Related Spam – 11% |
| Business Opportunities – 5% |
| Gambling – 1% |
| Scams – 1% |
Spam is a growing problem and there are
articles in the Ezine that deal with Spam and how to cut down
the number of e-mails you receive. The only ones who like spam
are Internet Marketing people who send back their own
advertisement. They even use software programs that extract
e-mail addresses from web sites so that they can solicit their
product.
Windows 98, ME, 2000, NT, and XP all come
with an e-mail package called Outlook Express. This package is
a low-end e-mail product, but most of the spam filters work with
it. If you use Microsoft Office, I recommend using Outlook as
your e-mail package.
PC Magazine recently did an evaluation of
the top Spam filters on the market today. The two that were
definitely above the pack were:
-
Spam Inspector
Spam Eater
This program is the easiest to use and has
many features that are pre-set. The package runs in the
background. When I initially tested this program I received 54
messages in one night. After the filters, only 37 went
through. It works really well and was 100% accurate.
Updates are done seamlessly when you go
into Outlook or Outlook Express and they have buttons that can
send the e-mail to agencies that deal with Spam.
Since 1997, Spam Eater Pro has been a
leader in the spam fighting tools category. With the NEW Spam
Eater Pro 4.0, it even more powerful and easier to use with it's
XP style interface. With Spam Eater Pro you can fight spam
easily and effectively.
Spam complaints can be directed to:
Chat Room and Instant Messenger (IM)
I do not know of any kids on line that do
not have an AOL Instant Messenger account. The majority of time
it is probably harmless and a great way for the kids to
communicate. There has been many times that my younger daughter
forgot to bring a homework assignments home and vice versa.
Typing in the assignments, especially if they are spelling words
or questions is a lot better than talking to someone on the
phone and having to hand write the information.
There are a couple of different articles in
my e-book that goes into keeping your kids safe in chat rooms
and AOL Instant Messenger. In a nutshell, the kid’s
| Should not use their real name |
| Never give out personal information,
including local schools and surrounding businesses. |
| Only have their friends in the buddy
list. |
| Never send and receive files (Chat
room and IM), mainly because of virus and inappropriate
pictures and language. |
| Never agree to meet someone online. |
| If a message is inappropriate, delete
it and delete the person from your list. |
| Having the PC is a general area, not a
bedroom, unless you either completely trust your kids to do
the right thing, or not having monitoring software in place. |
Monitoring Software for Instant Messenger
This software has come a long way since
they first came out in the mid-90’s. There are some “free”
software out there but I would be a little skeptical about free
software. You never know what it was tested on and if it will
work. Some people also put Spyware in the “free” packages so
that the vendor can see where you visit on line and sell that
information.
After doing some research there are a
couple that clearly come to the top of the list. You have to
decide what you want to accomplish. Here are a couple of
questions you should ask yourself:
| Do you want to schedule time so that
your kid’s can only go on line at certain times, or
duration? |
| Do you want them to know you are
monitoring them? |
| Do you want to be able to see what
they are doing on their PC from your PC? |
| Are you interested in monitoring their
free e-mail account? |
| Do you want to know their passwords
and screen names? |
| Do you want to see who they have in
their “buddy” list? |
| Do you want a report to be sent to you
via e-mail? |
| Do you want to restrict the use of
certain words in chat conversation? |
| Are your children spending too much
time chatting? |
There are many more, but the list above
should give you a good start.
Here are the Chat and IM software packages:
Chat Blocker
Chat Blocker is one of the software made
exclusively for monitoring chat and IM software like AOL, MSN,
ICQ, and Yahoo. You can restrict the time per day, or length of
time your kid’s have on line. It picks up the login name and
password, as well as total access to the buddy list. The
information is sent to you via e-mail.
Net Observe
If you have a network at home, meaning you
have two PCs connected together to share an Internet connection,
this package may be for you. You have the ability to “see” what
someone is doing on the other PC from your PC. You can record
anything, not necessarily just chat room stuff. Everything your
kid does can be watched, recorded and monitored.
Net
Nanny Chat Monitor
Net Nanny®'s Chat Monitor® is monitoring, filtering, and
blocking software for chat and instant messaging programs. Chat
Monitor is designed for the responsible adult who is concerned
about child safety in chat rooms and instant messaging. The
software records conversations, notifies you with real-time
email alerts of possible dangerous situations and lets you
restrict access to chats and instant messengers. You can't
always be there to protect your children. Now, you have a tool
that lets you know what your children have been saying online
and to whom they have been saying it.
IamBigBrother
Want to know what all those Instant
Messages say?! This software will record ALL incoming
AND outgoing Instant Messages, AOL, and more. Gets web
based email (Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo, Juno, etc.) and BOTH sides of
chat, keystrokes and screenshots.
Internet Explorer and Netscape monitoring software
Net Nanny
Net Nanny® 5, the world's leading parental
control software, provides customers with the broadest set of
Internet safety tools available today. The award-winning
software gives customers control over what comes into and goes
out of their homes through their Internet connection, while
respecting their personal values and beliefs. Net Nanny 5 is
easier to install and configure than any similar product
available today. Dozens of new features and improvements.
Conclusion
There are many other packages out there,
but the one’s mentioned above have the best reviews and
testimonials I have seen. You have to decide what you want to
do. Some parents just opt to have the PC in the family room.
You will see as your kid’s get older that the PC will be used a
lot for research and papers for school. You do not want to
restrict their ability to get what they need to do.
Net Nanny for example will not go to some
sites because of their controls. One of my kids was studying
world history and wanted to do a paper on the holocaust since my
parents were in one of the camps. Because it dealt with prison,
death, guns and dying, Net Nanny would not let her see any sites
that had the word holocaust in it. This is just one example.
I for one am only interested in the chat
messages. Using
Norton Internet Security 2004 Professional allows me to not
worry about the pop up ads, “bad” sites, and protection for
everyone in my household.
Resources for Parents
Below are some statistics that you might
find interesting:
The U.S. Department of Education released
their 2001 findings this past fall about the Computer and
Internet Use for Students. Below are a few of these findings:
| 44% of children use computers. |
| 42% use the Internet for their
assignments. |
| Children 4 to 6 years of age:
| 70% use a computer |
| 27% use a computer everyday |
| 39% use a computer several times a
week |
|
| 7% of children up to 6 years of age
have a computer in their bedroom. |
| Tech Taught Teens (as reported by
the Partnership for 21st Century Skills)
| 75% of teens are learning basic
skills |
| 60% are being taught o use
technology efficiently |
| 48% are learning communication
skills |
| 38% are getting critical thinking
and decision-making skills |
|
The following sites are geared to help you
get a better understanding of Children Internet Safety. They
are very helpful and have some great newsletters filled with
tips and sites for you.
Game Ratings -
www.esrb.org
CyberAngels -
www.cyberangels.org
FBI -
A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
Federal Trade Commission -
kidzprivacy
Internet Education Foundation -
www.getnetwise.org
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children -
www.netsmartz.org
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse -
www.privacyrights.org
SafeKids.com -
www.safekids.com
http://www.childnet-int.org/
http://www.webwisekids.org/
http://www.safetyed.org/
http://www.missingkids.com/
http://www.parentsonline.gov.uk/parents/index.html
http://www.fkbko.co.uk/EN.php?lang=EN&&subject=0&&id=0&&level=0 |
