Child-proofing the net

By FRANCIS TILL

The numbers are chilling. One study says 20 per cent of young people aged between 10 and 17 have been sexually solicited online. Another says the figure is 30 per cent for teenage girls.

Almost all happened in chatrooms or through instant messages, and many involved requests to meet.

Other studies say a quarter of kids online take part in realtime chat, and up to 25 million use instant messaging in the United States alone - all of whom are a mouse click away from your child, here.

But there's good news, too: most children are becoming very clued-up to online dangers.

Internet research firm NOP says 75 per cent of British 7 to 16-year-olds are net users, a proportion true of most developed countries where the web is increasingly part of everyday schoolwork.

Last year 60 per cent of that massive pool of kids said they would not give out contact details over the internet, largely because of parents' instructions, and by this year the number who would had dropped to 11 per cent.

Such studies indicate that, although the dangers are not diminishing, they can be managed (see Ten Tips) and that the kids themselves may be the strongest line of defence, especially in chat, email and instant-messaging environments.

So is it really bad for children to use the internet to make new friends who might drop by for tea? Probably not - as long as the contact is made in a supervised way, involving open, regular discussion with parents, and that the parents know what they are talking about and don't over-react.

The researchers who found that 30 per cent of teenage girls had been sexually harassed in chatrooms discovered that only 7 per cent had told their parents - because they were afraid of being banned from going online.

Tip: If trust is not an issue, there are hundreds of software tools that allow parents to monitor all the activities of anyone using the family computer.

This can be done remotely, or in the form of a log of activities (with screenshots) that arrives in your inbox on command. Among the most efficient, fully featured and least expensive of these are iOpus STARR for US$40 and NetObserve for US$55.

Blocking porn ... is like mowing weeds.

Recent news about a large child-porn ring operating out of Auckland has shown many parents that the internet, even the close-to-home internet, can be a risky place for children.

How to keep porn and other dangerous content away from your kids?

With the warning that nothing works all the time, most sources agree that the safest way to proceed is to limit children's access to specified websites. Most tools that allow you to do this also offer the option of "filtering" content based on internet addresses and other danger signals - a less restrictive option better for families with older children.

Many websites provide general guidance for concerned parents. World Village, for example, contains extensive product reviews and support group contacts, and Protect Kids contains comprehensive guidance about protecting children online. Locally, Netsafe has excellent information and research anda great "Internet Safety Kit".

Content-control programs - "censorware" - such as Net Nanny and CyberSitter will prevent the most offensive pages from loading in your browser and also filter email, newsgroups, and chatrooms.

You can also use them to restrict access to specified websites. As filtering tools, they work about half the time, according to most reviews. NetNanny and CyberSitter both cost US$40 ($86).

While this sort of software can be used to filter email, the best way to stop porn spam from appearing in a mailbox is keeping email addresses off mailing lists.

So tell your children to keep their email addresses private.

If an address does start attracting spam, change it. Most ISPs let you have several, at no charge.

Computer, protect thyself ...

One often-overlooked problem is the possibility of contracting viruses or other destructive programs through children's naive interactions with websites and email.

First, install a very good commercial anti-virus filter such as Norton Antivirus to keep parasitic programs from damaging your computer. While you may know not to open unusual attachments, your children may not.

Then, set your system to the highest security ratings possible. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools\Internet Options\Security and set both the Internet and Restricted Sites switches to "high".

This will help to prevent a website from installing unwanted software on your computer surreptitiously.

Protect your own ... wallet, files and sanity

Once online, kids tend to love the internet and computer games - sometimes too much.

If you have an internet connection that charges you for activity past a certain point, you can wind up with enormous bills if your kids take up music downloading or online gaming as hobbies.

If you set up special log-in accounts for each member of your family, you have established a basic shield to protect your own files from accidental harm, but you may want to go a step further and install software that limits what your kids can do, when, and for how long.

A good example is Access Control Home for US$40.

TOP TEN TIPS

* Keep the computer your children use in a shared space and keep an eye on what they are doing.

* Never let children give personal information (such as name, age, address, phone number, school, town, password, schedule) or fill out questionnaires or forms online.

* Get to know your child's cyber pals; have your children agree to not meet any new acquaintances without clearing it with you.

* Make sure children know that people may pretend to be someone else online, especially in chatrooms or in instant messaging. Keep track of the chatrooms your child frequents (you can log in anonymously and monitor the conversations at any time, and so can anyone else).

* Do not let children divulge information about where they are or will be. Keep the names of schools and playing places private.

* Make sure that children stay away from any website that might ask for payment, and that they do not have access to credit card and bank details that may be held on your part of the computer.

* Tell your children to ask before engaging in video chat or exchanging pictures online. Make sure they cannot get into adult sections that some video-chat services feature.

* Make sure children know to never respond to any email or conversation that makes them feel uncomfortable. Teach them to log off then - and to tell an adult as soon as possible.

* Set ground rules that cover all your areas of concern and get children to agree to them. The rules can be changed as your children mature.

* Talk openly with your children about their internet interests. It is part of their life - make it part of yours.

NOP


Net Observe

World Village

Protect Kids

Netsafe

Net Nanny

CyberSitter

Access Control