Parents Internet Guide

[Paule]

This info is intended to provide parents with some critical information to help monitor and control their child's behaviour on the Internet. Parents want to ensure that the Internet experience represents a productive employment of their child's time. You, as a busy parent, may not have the computer skills that your child possesses.

A child's experience on the Internet can expand awareness of other cultures, improve grades at school by accessing enormous amounts of information, and provide hours of safe entertainment, however, a number of problems may also arise:

1. Exposure to material inappropriate for children.
2. Exploitation by sexual predators.
3. Frauds perpetrated on the innocent.

THE NEED FOR GROUND RULES
Even if you can't tell the difference between a computer and a microwave oven, you should establish family ground rules for accessing the Internet. Your technical capabilities and lack of time may limit your involvement but you can shape web surfing into a family activity. Here is a common sense approach to family Internet use:

• Locate the computer in a central, communal area of the house. Put it in the family room or the lounge - not in a child's bedroom.
• Establish specific times when access to the Internet is permitted and keep to that schedule.
• If your child uses a computer at school, call and see if his or her school has adopted an 'acceptable use policy' for the Internet. Ask for a copy of this 'AUP' and use it to establish your own guidelines at home.
• Limit the length of access time. This will encourage your child to go directly to the information required, rather than wander aimlessly around the Internet.
• Explain to your children that many sites on the Internet are not appropriate for children and they are expected to stay away from them.

Gain knowledge about the Internet. The easiest way to do this is to have your child show you how to log on and move around. This makes the Internet a shared family experience and allows you to access your child's capabilities. The more technically astute the child, the greater the risks.

HOW TO GAIN KNOWLEDGE
Pick up a book on the Internet or attend some training. There are many non-technical books available that will show you the ropes. The best way to learn is just to log on and start surfing. The Internet is so easy to navigate that anyone can do it.

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
The Internet is essentially hundreds and thousands of computer systems from around the world linked together. The individual, or company, or agency that owns it controls each of these systems. There is no single authority that controls these computers (also called 'sites' or 'nodes'), and the number of sites in the network is constantly changing and growing. It is this lack of authority that makes the Internet so compelling

• each site owner can post the information that he or she wishes, but this unchecked freedom does have a downside, as we shall see.

Your home computer is not one of the 'sites' on the Internet. You must contract with an 'Internet Service Provider', (or ISP), to gain access to the 'net. The ISP is your gateway to the vast numbers of computer systems on the net.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB
There are many web sites on the Internet that display and sell unacceptable images for children to view. Some sites take active measures to assure that pornographic images are not available to children, but many do not. Typically they publish lurid or obscene materials on their opening page to entice customers. The screening mechanism for determining whether or not the site visitor is an adult is the assumption that if a credit card is available, then the visitor must be at least 21. Many children are clever enough to circumvent the screening methods employed.

Here's what you can do:

• Make it clear to your child you are aware that there is pornograph ic material on the 'net, and that looking at such material on the 'net is forbidden.
• Explain that if the URL (Uniform Resource Locator - the site's address) has adult language in it, the site is not to be visited.
• Instruct the child to talk to you if he or she ever finds anything on the Internet that makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Maintain a continuing dialog with your child. This does not mean constantly peering over his or her shoulder, but take some time to find out what Internet services your child uses and why.
• Consider restricting your youngster's searches to known, worthwhile sites. The American Library Association has evaluated 700 sites as great for kids. Their URL is: http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/ Or 'Kidsdomain', their URL is: http://www.kidsdomain.com

If you make web surfing a shared family experience, you should have few problems in this area.

CHAT ROOMS
IRC, or simply 'chat,' is essentially a text-based CB radio on the Internet. Two or more people get together electronically on a server and write messages to each other. Chats usually are conducted in a "themed" room. Thus, individuals with a mutual interest can communicate. Some of these chat rooms have sexually explicit themes.

This is a very problematic area for children. Everyone who signs in to a chat room does so under a nickname, thereby remaining anonymous. Recent news has shown how dangerous this can be - particularly when the paedophile lures the child into a face-to-face meeting.

Ground rules:

• Tell your child never to give out his or her full name. Don't allow use of the profile feature in the chat software.
• Instruct your child to never reveal any personal information - school, address, phone number, personal family situation, etc.
• Try to find moderated chats with appropriate themes. The larger ISP's (America On-Line, for example) have moderated chats.
• Tell your child to leave a chat room if obscenities are exchanged.
• Instruct your child to notify you immediately if someone asks to meet them in person or send photographs.
• Tell your child never to send or receive a file in a chat room without your permission.
• Discuss the chat with your child.
• Spend five or 10 minutes reading the messages appearing in a chat room in which your child has shown interest.

Consider restricting your children from chat rooms altogether. This has a great deal of merit. Since there is no way of confirming the identity of the persons in the chat room, or the truth of the conversation, many parents feel that chat rooms are not only a safety risk, but a waste of time.

USENET GROUPS AND E-MAIL
Usenet groups are essentially bulletin boards where individuals post messages and files. This can be very beneficial for your child if he or she has a special interest or hobby.

Unfortunately, some of these 'newsgroups' have a sexual or violent theme. The names of these groups generally have an "alt" (for alternative) prefix in their title. As a parent, you may want to be sure that your child enlists in groups that share your values. Fortunately, this is easy to do:

• Find out what newsgroup your child wants to join and why. Restrict your child to that group.
• If you have problems, consider signing up with an ISP that restricts adult newsgroups.
• Again, maintain a dialog with your child.

Some newsgroups are engaged in the 'pirating' of software. Pirating is the illegal copying of commercial software. These newsgroups typically have the name 'warez' in their title. Some people today erroneously believe that copying software that they do not pay for is not really theft. It is theft, and you may get caught. The reason that software is so expensive is that the software companies must pass the cost of the lost revenues on to those who do pay.

Steps you can take:

• Restrict your child from 'war e z' groups.
• Explain to your child that pirating is theft, and the numbers of criminal prosecutions for it are increasing.
• If you have 'borrowed' software from a friend, remember what kind of an example you are setting.

E-mail is an area with which you should have few problems, since it is maintained on the ISP server and is accessible to you. As a practical matter, tell your child not to give out the e-mail account address to anyone without your permission, and never to reveal any passwords.

SOME RED FLAGS

Here are a few pointers on what to look for if the Internet is becoming a problem:

• Secretive behaviour on the computer. Making the parent feel unwelcome at on-line sessions.
• Unexplained loss of capacity on the computers hard-drive. (It may be crowded with pornographic image files, which are typically very large).
• A sudden new friend you don't know.
• Excessive time on the Internet.
• Hidden floppy or CD-Rom's, which may be used for storage of inappropriate or illegal files.

MONITORING YOUR CHILD'S USAGE
It is worthwhile to occasionally check your child's computer system. Use the file manager of your operating system to examine the hard drive for offensive files. These graphic file usually have a .GIF, .TIF, or .JPG file extension. These files can be hidden, so make sure that your file manager is set to show hidden files. The nature of the file can be disguised by changing its name. Look for software programs (files with an .EXE file extension) that you do not own. Review your browser's history list. Make sporadic checks of your child's floppy disks. Be aware that a savvy child can defeat any of these monitoring devices.

SOFTWARE PRODUCTS THAT HELP YOU PROTECT
There are a number of inexpensive computer software products that can help you monitor and control your younger children's access to the Internet. 'CyberPatrol', 'SurfWatch', 'CyberSitter', 'Prudence,' and 'NetNanny' and 'Cyber Sentinel' are a few of the better known brands.

Consult with your ISP or computer dealer for more information. You should also have a good virus protection software package. A virus is a software program, hidden in files on the Internet, designed to corrupt files on your computer system. Since your child will likely be downloading files from the Internet, you might pick up a virus, which can damage your computer system.