What are some of the dangers to my kids associated with the Internet and what can I do?
There are a lot of things that you can do to protect your kids on the Internet. The first and most important one is open conversation; open a communication with your kids. Ask them what they're doing on the Internet and where they're going. If they have questions, make sure they feel open to talk to you about this. The Internet is a very, very exciting place, but it can also be a very scary place. Kids will have questions, they'll want to have MySpace pages, and they'll want to have their own blogs. They'll want to open their life up to their friends on the Internet, not realising that they're opening it up to everybody on the Internet. Be aware of these web sites. The biggest problem with a web site like My Space is that most parents will say, “Well, you can't have a MySpace page,” and that will immediately cause the kid to get a MySpace page without the parents knowing. A better reaction would be, “Yes, you can have a MySpace page, but I need to be one of your ‘friends' on that page. I need to be able to stay in communication with you, know what you're posting, what you're talking about, and who your ‘friends' are on that web site.” Social engineering sites are great, but you're the parent, here. You need to have a little bit of control over who is interacting with your kids on these web pages. If you say no to them, they're just going to do it behind your back. In addition to that, there are many programmes that are starting to come out that have the ability of screening and filtering web site, e-mail, Internet, and chat information, and chat rooms for protection. There are many different products. The one with which I've had the most success on the Macintosh platform is called Intego. That's called a content barrier. It comes with several portions. One portion allows you to filter the information that your kids can see on the Internet. You use a “black list” and a “white list.” You can use the predetermined white list that this content barrier provides, or you can adjust it, depending on what you feel your kids should or shouldn't see. Again, being in communication with them is the key to this. If they travel to a web site that you don't want them going to, you need to block it. If they travel to a web site that they want to go to and you feel it's okay, but they can't get to it because it is blocked, you need to personally approve it. These kinds of programmes give the parent the control over what their kids can and can't do. They also filter the information that's on the Internet and can send log files, or information files, to an e-mail address specified in the programme; to the parent, enabling the parent to see what the kid has got on to, in case they got somewhere they shouldn't have been. It can also do that same sort of filtering and e-mail log file for the web chat rooms or instant messaging, and for the e-mails that your kids get. It looks for keywords or for red-flag words or red-flag phrases, such as “Are you alone?” “Don't tell your parents.” “Is your mum there?” etcetera; information that you know your kids shouldn't give out, but they don't know. If they do give that information out, or that information is asked, that site is going to be red flagged, and that chat is going to be copied and e-mailed to you. That same programme, or other programmes like it, can also offer ways to restrict the time limit that a kid can be on the Internet. You can specify, for example, that they're allowed to surf the Internet from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. only, and for only three hours combined within that period of time. This is a great way to really protect your kids because if they only have a limited amount of time on the Internet, they're going to be more careful about what they do. They're going to do less surfing around and more of what they need and what they want at that time.
