Are you curious about how your Internet use stacks up against others your age? Do you have worries or concerns about how safe you are on the Internet? Websafe has the answers!

General Guidelines for Keeping Kids Safe Online

The Internet is likely the most powerful tool that any of us will see in our lifetime. And of course with power comes responsibility. The Internet is a never-ending resource of information that has made learning and connecting with people easier than anything we have ever seen. With a tool of such a broad scope, that literally covers the world from top to bottom, it is impossible to be free of the natural risks that come along with a device of these proportions.

Just like in real life, the Internet has its share of unsavory characters and dark tunnels, and there are certain cautions that need to be taken. Sheltering your kids completely from a tool with such a vast array of resources would no doubt be a disservice to your children. Instead, it is the parents' responsibility to make sure that children are properly equipped with the knowledge to stay on the straight and narrow path while surfing the net.

Kids certainly need their privacy, but they also need a certain amount of guidance and supervision in their daily lives. These days children are able to access the Internet from a variety of places such as Internet cafes, a friend's house, video games, and hand-held devices. That is why it is important to go beyond just monitoring your child's Internet behaviour in your own home. It is important to ensure that your child has the foundation to be able to apply his or her knowledge about Internet safety while outside of the family household.

Just like everyday life, the Internet is generally a safe, friendly, enriching experience. Unfortunately there are a few bad apples that can pose some serious risks if you're not careful. Some obstacles to avoid on the net can include: financial scams, bullying, viruses, pornography, hate material, encounters with strangers and predators. To avoid these risks, parents need to take precautions and make sure that their children are following suit.

There is some natural variance in how parents perceive the Internet in our society, but for the most part the consensus is that the Internet is ubiquitous in children's lives these days, and though there are inherent dangers that come along with a tool of this magnitude, the best approach is to be equipped with the knowledge to avoid these perils, in order to utilize the web to its full potential.

Still, many parents recognize the Internet as the most dangerous form of media and want to be informed on how to best protect their child, while still allowing enough freedom for their kids to grow and develop independence and knowledge. To combat the risks that can be present on the Internet, safesurfer.org has come up with some general safety tips and rules that all parents should be following.

Have open communication with your children

Make sure that you are having an open and running dialog with your children. While respecting their privacy to a certain extent, get involved with which sites your kids are visiting online. Talk to them about the threats that exist online. It is important that your child knows to report back to you if they encounter a distasteful message or site while on the web. Make sure your child knows and adheres to rules that the family has established. Your child won't want to tell you everything, but make sure that they will feel comfortable coming to you when they run into something out of the ordinary while spending time online.

Make sure your child is not posting personal information to strangers

Suggest your child use a pseudonym when chatting or joining different groups online. Be sure that your child knows not to divulge sensitive information such as age, address, personal photos, banking information, or what school they go to, when they are involved in online activity. Releasing this kind of information can have many negative ramifications. It opens the door for spam, adware, spyware and predators. If your child ever has to release any information of this nature, make sure that they know to consult you first.

Monitor your credit cards

Many adult sites require credit card information to log in. Check your statements regularly to make sure that nothing is amiss. There are many sneaky scams on the web that will try to lure victims in and ask for personal financial information. Make sure your child does not have access to your credit cards.

Monitor chat rooms

Chat rooms can be a great place to share information and get to know people, but they can also be a lurking zone for predators, bullies and people posing as someone that they are not. Most sexual solicitation and bullying on the Internet occurs in chat rooms. Before your child enters a chat room, make sure that it is approved by yourself. This way you will have a better feel of what your child is doing online, and will be able to check the site out first to make sure that it is upstanding. This is a rule that can be established in the family agreement.

Establish a family contract outlining rules and regulations of Internet use

Make a set list of rules and guidelines that you can hang on the wall near your computer. This can include time spent on the Internet, time spent on games, sites to avoid, etc. Make sure that you and your child adhere to these rules and impose regular check-ups to make sure that the family stays on track. It is important that parents and children follow this agreement on the family computer, in order to establish a mutual trust.

An example can be found here: http://wiredkids.org/resources/documents//safesurf_agreement.html

Make sure your child reports distasteful activity to you

It is important for you child to know not to respond to any unpleasant material or conversation taking place online. This can include bullying, offensive material, illegal material such as child pornography, hate material, or anything that he or she might find out of the ordinary or suspicious. These types of happenings should be reported immediately back to you and further action can be taken from there.

If your child ever encounters child pornography, immediately contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's (NCMEC) CyberTipline® at www.cybertipline.com.

Use a Parental Control Filter

Internet service providers will usually allow parents to control their children's access to some sites such as pornography and adult material. There are also other filters such as spam filters that will block unwanted email featuring sexual or adult material. Some service providers will include this, or this type of software can also be purchased.

There are also very effective software programs such as ParetoLogic's PGsurfer that can be used as parental controls. These types of filtering programs can block inappropriate chat rooms, newsgroups and websites that you do not want your children to encounter. As the parent, you are able to filter sites that contain, sexual material, nudity, hate material, violent material, sites that advocate drugs and alcohol. You can also set limits on how much time your children spent online. In some cases the parent will have the control to block children from revealing personal or financial information about themselves as well, such as name, address, school, telephone number, etc.

To learn more about PGsurfer: www.paretologic.com/products/pgsurfer/

Suggest some useful "safe sites" to your kids

Web Safety for Kids (Different Rules for Different Ages)

As a parent you will of course have to set different rules as your child grows up. As your child grows older he or she will require more personal freedom online, and it is important that they are prepared for this from responsibility and confidence that has been instilled in them from a young age. Here is a general age-appropriate guideline that can be followed for Internet responsibility.

Ages: 1-7 years

In this age category kids are usually not familiar with or using instant messaging, social networking, or participating in chat rooms. However, they are still probably online at times, therefore safety measures still must be taken. As a parent, talk to fellow parents and teachers to see what kind of safe sites there are for kids. As well, make use of directories for kids. Use kid search engines such as ‘yahoo kids' or ‘ask for kids.' Here are some examples of relevant sites:

It is also advisable to invest in a parental control blocker. This takes the worry out of not knowing whether or not your kids are visiting unpleasant websites, and reduces the risk of them stumbling onto bad sites.

When your kids are at this age it is appropriate for you to know all of their usernames and passwords. Make sure that your children know this, and discuss what sites they like to go to. Do not allow your kids to post any profiles or personal information at this age, and limit their online activity to around an hour per day.

Ages: 8-10 years

As kids reach this stage in life, cell phones and instant messaging are starting to enter the picture, so the proper precautions must be taken. Kids also may start lying about their age in order to gain access to certain sites and social networks, such as myspace.com, facebook.com, etc.

This is also the age where bullying can become prevalent in forums and chat rooms. However, kids may be reluctant to tell their parents because they are not supposed to be on these sites anyways.

Peer-To-Peer (P2P) file-sharing can become a problem at this age when kids start playing games and sharing music online. This can lead to a computer being inundated with spyware and adware.

What should parents do?

First of all, if you are not using a parental control filtering device you should get one, and strengthen the filter to your liking. You should also be pre-approving your kids' IM contact list to make sure there aren't any unfamiliar names on it. Make sure you are using anti-spyware, antivirus and pop-up blockers to combat any unwanted, annoyances that may try to attach to your hard drive. You should still be trying to keep your kids on child-safe search engines at this point. Teach them not to respond to strangers online and to notify you immediately if they encounter any. Stick to limiting online activity to about an hour or so a day for this age group.

Ages: 10-12 years

At this stage, interactive technologies such as instant messaging, email and cell phones are very much a part of most kids' life. Kids are growing socially and are looking to expand their personal network through programs such as Myspace and Facebook.

Parents should further tighten the parental controls filter for this age. Keep an open-dialogue with your kids and make sure that you are still educating them on Internet safety. As well, parents should be looking for signs of cyber-bullying at this age.

Be sure to carefully observe any profiles, screen names and websites that your kids are posting online. Make sure they are aware that they are not allowed to share photos, blogs or webcams without your permission.

It is still a good idea to try to learn your kids' passwords at this age. However, they will begin to resist at this age, so it will most likely end up being quite the communications challenge. However, you should definitely still be pre-approving your kids' contact lists at this point.

Search your computer regularly for any taboo images, pirated music or media files. You can also use Google Alerts to automatically notify you of any online activity attached to your child's screen name turns up in a Google search. This can be very effective.

Limit your kids' time to 1.5-2 hours a day online.

Ages: 13-15 years

Kids are at the highest risk of online and offline encounters with strangers at this age. They are becoming very social and curious and are trying new things online. This is also the age where cyber-bullying and sexual harassment are at their peak. Kids are often talking in forums and social networks and are subject to abuse from other people online. From fear of peer-pressure and social ostracization, many kids are unlikely to tell adults if they are being bullied or sexually harassed online.

Parents should still be pre-approving social networking and dating sites at this time. Try to keep your kids off of P2P or pirated software sites. Instead, offer them services such as itunes or other legitimate media sites.

It is important to teach your kids to guard their passwords and not divulge any personal information that can come back to haunt them. Make sure that your computer is in a central location in order to monitor your kids' online activity. Limit your kids' time online to 2 hours daily at this age.

16 years and up:

This is the age when kids begin to leave the cyber-nest. They will do what they want at this age so it is important that you have already prepared and educated them for anything that they may encounter online. It is time to trust them to do the right thing.

However, you can still give friendly reminders about being responsible online. Enforce conversation about the risks of sharing personal information online and teach them to Google themselves regularly to monitor anything that might be said about them. Make sure they are using antivirus and security firewalls. As well, advise them to check regularly for adware and spyware on their PCs. Also, strongly suggest that your kids refrain from using a webcam. Remind them that once something has been posted online, it is for good, and they will have no control over what will happen to it.

It is important for your kids to know that even though they are now independent, they should still feel comfortable coming to you if anything goes wrong while they are surfing the net.

Some useful links for age-appropriate Internet rules:

Family Internet Use Agreement

Many families choose to adopt an online Internet agreement system for their household, and it is a good idea. These agreements usually set rules for Internet use in the home and outline clear guidelines on what kids can and cannot do while surfing the net. This usually includes things such as what sites they are allowed to visit, how much time in a day they are allowed to spend online, what they should do if they encounter anything that they deem inappropriate, and how to avoid revealing any personal information that could come back to haunt them.

The problem with these agreements is that they are usually just directed towards the kids and outline no rules for adults on the family computer. Adults need to be accountable for their actions while using the family computer as well. If an adult is not adhering to the same guidelines and is visiting adult or pornographic sites, they are subjecting their children to the possibility of repercussions from these actions such as encounters with strangers, spyware, adware, pornographic spam, etc.

In the family online agreement, parents should incorporate rules for themselves as well, to further protect their children. These rules should be followed just as your child has to follow them. Any visiting of questionable or adult websites should be done on a personal computer that your children does not have access to.

Examples of family Internet-use agreements:

Common Chat Room Lingo

LMAO, BRB, TTYL, ‹3, P911, POS, A/S/L — Don't know what any of these mean? Read on...

Most parents know that teenagers speak in a different language, but it is even more prevalent online. Trying to read your kid's chat room dialogue can be like trying to read greek. To help you better understand what some of the terms and acronyms are, safesurfer.org has provided a few very useful links with lists that help you decipher the esoteric code that teenagers tend to speak in while online:

Signs of Cyber-Bullying

Cyber-bullying is something that can be very damaging to a child psychologically. A lot of the time the cyber-bully remains anonymous to the victim. He or she will always know who their target is but the target might not know who they are. Cyber-bullying can involve personal and physical threats, emotional teasing, attacking of physical appearance, threats to family, and even blackmail. This type of online bullying is at its peak when children are around the age of 11-13. This is a time when children are experiencing a strong amount of peer-pressure at school and are trying to adapt and fit-in socially to feel like they belong. That is why a lot of victims are reluctant to come forth and tell an adult about the situation for fear that the other kids at school will find out, which could lead to further abuse. For this reason it is very important that parents remain on the lookout for signs that your children may be experiencing cyber-bullying.

Here are some early signs (courtesy of www.cyberbullying.org) that a child may be a victim of cyber-bullying:

What can you do as a parent?

Spread the word

Talk to teachers and other parents about bullying. Consider starting or joining a committee on bully prevention. The more the word gets out the better the chances of people starting to recognize it as a serious problem.

Warn kids about personal privacy

Make sure your kids are not revealing personal information while online. Photos, addresses, cell phone numbers can all be fuel for a bully's rampage. It is best for your child to have as little information available to the public as possible.

Call services providers

Internet service providers have restrictions against this kind of inappropriate activity, so if your child is experiencing taunts or threats, they should be reported immediately. However, do not delete any abusive images or messages that have been directed towards your child. This can end up being your evidence against the bully if pursuing further action.

Call a police officer

If bullying becomes constant and abusive it is important to contact authorities. The police will be helpful and can conduct Internet surveillance to catch the bully if you feel that your child is in any kind of danger.

As a good parent it is important to make sure that you are raising your kid with the common sense to be able to come forward and report incidences like bullying. It is the bully that has the real problem, and it is necessary for your kid to know that they need to stick together with friends, teachers and parents, and come forward when they are experiencing abuse on the Internet. Even if your kid is not being bullied but knows someone who is, hopefully you have taught them to have the courage to tell someone about it. Tell your kids that bystanders are part of the problem, and reporting inappropriate online behaviour to an adult is a step in the right direction of eradicating the problem.

Bullying links:

Dangers of Social Networking

Social networking is all the rage these days. Sites like Facebook.com and Myspace.com are changing the fundamental architecture of the Internet and are providing a single hub where people can integrate all of their information into one location, such as photo-sharing, blogs, IM, video-sharing, marketplace listings, etc.

This type of networking can be very enjoyable and beneficial, allowing people to reconnect with old friends, share experiences from remote locations, as well as branch out in school or the workplace.

However these networking sites do not come without risk. Although adults are not immune to risk, the dangers are far greater for children, especially for those under 16 years of age. Social networking sites have become a haven for sexual predators because it allows them to lurk through the wormholes of cyber-space anonymously and peruse the profiles of potential victims.

As of right now Myspace.com has over 109 million registered accounts while Facebook.com has an ever-growing 69 million. In July, Myspace announced that it had removed around 29,000 American sex offenders from its network after being pressured by US state governments.

Just recently as well, Facebook has acknowledged the dangers that exist on its network and has agreed to buckle down on sexual predators by changing the way that it handles complaints on issues of sexual harassment and inappropriate content.

Facebook will now introduce a much faster process for dealing with complaints about unwanted approaches by strangers, nudity, pornography and harassment. New members will also be warned about the dangers to look out for before they sign up for an account.

Myspace.com requires account holders to be 14 years of age, while automatically restricting 14 and 15 year olds' accounts to the highest privacy setting, while ages 16 and up can set their own privacy settings. As well, the network does not allow users over 18 years old to add users under 16 unless they know their full-name and email address.

This is not to say though that people can not lie about their age. That is why it is important for an age-verification system to be implemented, but until then, parents and children need to educate themselves.

The best option is to not allow your kids to go onto these sites if they are under 16 years old. It needs to be understood that once something has been posted on the Internet it is there for good. It is easy for sensitive information to fall into the wrong hands on social networking sites, therefore it is crucial not to be posting information such as school, phone number, address, age, and even last name "With these networking sites typically, you're exposing everything," says Signy Arnason, director of Cybertip.ca. "What's not resonating with children is that the Internet is a public space. You'd equate it to your child going with a photo album into Safeway and allowing people who pass by to view it. You're doing the same thing placing all this information on the Internet."

Facebook warns users that, "unless you're prepared to attach something in your profile to a resume or scholarship application, don't post it." If you insist on letting your kids use networking sites, make sure that privacy settings are set to the highest level. Be sure that your kids' profiles are set to "private", which allows only friends on their contact list to view detailed profile information. As well, closely monitor your child's contact list and make sure that they are reporting any suspicious approaches from other users.

Internet Statistics

1. Parental Awareness

A survey commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC3 found that:

Additional statistics can be found at: http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/statistics.htm#monitor

2. Children/Teens Exploited

A report published by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the University of New Hampshire revealed that of a sample of children & teens who use the Internet:

Additional statistics can be found at: http://www.netlingo.com/statistics.cfm

3. Concerned Parents

Summary of key findings from the poll include:

Common Sense Media has developed "The Internet Survival Guide for Parents" — www.commonsensemedia.org: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/news/press-releases.php?id=23

4. Adult Content

5. Disturbing Content

6. Sexual Predators

7. Young Individuals

According to a survey by the National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh:

8. Internet Privacy

The following National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU.