Computer Safety Tips: Internet Safety

The Internet can offer a range of useful information "instantly"; however, it can also give instant access of your personal information to those who might want to use it for their own means.

Here are some tips to help you share only the information that you want to make public.

• Never give out personal information to someone you don't know or on a public forum on the Internet, such as a chat room or a bulletin board. Personal information includes not only names, addresses and phone numbers, but also schools, sports teams, club affiliations and daily routines.
• Remember that many things that you read online may not be true. Many people online are not who-or what-they say they are. For example, someone indicating "she" is a "14 year old girl" may actually be an adult, and possibly, a pedophile seeking to lure children into meeting him or her.
• Always have your children ask permission to make a personal meeting with someone they've met on the Internet. If you do decide to allow a meeting, make it in a public place and go with your child to the meeting.
• Set reasonable rules and guidelines for how your children use the computer. Discuss and post your rules near the computer, and regularly check to make sure your child is following them. If your child is using online services or the Internet constantly, especially late at night, this could be clue that there's a problem.
• Keep your computer in a main room of the house.  Do not put a computer in a child's bedroom where it's behind closed doors. Kids need to know that they are being monitored, and it's a good idea to have a peek at what they're doing every once in awhile.
• Make using the computer a family activity. Get to know their "online friends," just as you would want to get to know all of their other friends. If their online friends won't communicate with you, take that as a warning sign, and don't let them communicate with your child any longer.
• Ignore messages that are obscene or threatening, that make you feel uncomfortable, or that are from someone you don't know. Encourage your children to tell you if they receive any unusual messages, and not to respond to them. Forward a copy of any obscene, harassing or threatening message to your Internet service provider (or ISP) or the police, and ask for their help.
• Do not rely on web filters to prevent your kids from finding undesirable content on the Internet. They may help, but not nearly enough. Teach your children that just as there are bad people in the world, there are bad things on the Internet, and teach them how to recognize good and bad sites.
• Learn how your computer, e-mail and chat rooms work. Many young people know far more about computers than we do, and that makes it easy for them to hide potentially dangerous activity from you.
• Check the computer's Internet History file. Review the sites that your children have visited, and decide if they are suitable. In Internet Explorer, for example, you can see a list of recently visited sites by selecting: View->Explorer bar->History.