What kinds of risks are there?
Meeting Someone Online
The most serious problem imaginable is a child who turns
up missing or is molested as a result of an online contact.
Most of these cases are not strangers bursting into homes
and stealing young kids; they are almost all young people
who have left home on their own volition, usually after
"meeting" someone online ("luring" is the term for online
behavior that leads to these meetings). The vast majority of
them are over 15 and female. What we have here isn't a case
of bad guys snatching children; it's mainly teenagers
exercising poor judgment. Nevertheless, luring is illegal,
and if your child meets someone online whom you perceive to
be a threat to her physical safety,
contact law enforcement.
Options (not necessarily recommendations) for preventing
your child from meeting someone online who might do harm:
Parents should take an interest in a
child's "e-pals" just as they do with friends that kids
bring home.
Talk with your child about the dangers of getting together
with someone they "meet" online.
Restrict or monitor your child's use of chat functions.
Monitor your child's e-mail and use of Internet newsgroups.
Install a filter that restricts your child from giving out
his or her name, address, and phone number.
Loss of Privacy
There are many ways young people and adults can lose
their privacy on the Internet, and all have their own
dangers. Disclosing your address, telephone number, or even
your name to a stranger can put you or family members in
danger. It's also important to warn children not to give out
information that could jeopardize others - family members,
friends, teachers, and classmates.
Sometimes companies and organizations collect information
about children for use in marketing, fundraising, and other
activities. Children should also be instructed not to give
out personal information to Web sites of companies and
organizations, even if they have heard of them or have good
feelings about them. That includes registering for contests
or filling out forms in exchange for prizes, or for the
right to download software, or for any other purpose.
Children should never reveal any information about
themselves without first checking with their parents. Even
reputable companies may not obtain information about
children without parents' permission; current
law protects the privacy of children online. Besides,
it's possible for someone to create a Web site that looks
like it's from a reputable company but really is not.
Software tools exist to restrict sensitive personal
information from being transmitted online; you can learn
more about them here.
Parents should read the company's privacy policy
carefully prior to disclosing personal information about a
family member.
Ways to protect your child and family's privacy include:
Instruct your child not to reveal any
personal information without parental permission.
Consider installing a filter that prevents your child from
entering his or her name, address, phone number, or other
material.
Consider installing monitoring software that will disclose
if your child has entered personal information.
Consider preventing your child from using chat groups.
Consider monitoring your child's incoming and outgoing
e-mail.
Consider limiting chat only to people your child knows or
requiring that he chat only in moderated chat areas run by
reputable companies or organizations.
File-sharing Risks
Peer-to-peer or file-sharing programs allow you to share
your files with others on the Internet -- and vice versa.
File-sharing is a new and interesting technology that shows
promise for future applications. However, just like you
shouldn't open email attachments from people you don't
trust, you should be wary about downloading files from them
as well. You never know what you or your kids may find on
the hard drives of random strangers on the Internet. [How
file-sharing works]
The best tip for file-sharing is to stop and think before
downloading files through these networks. Some of the risks
associated with using file-sharing programs include:
Other file-sharing Risks
Computer Security
Sharing files with people you don't trust is a matter of
hygiene -- and you should keep your computer as clean as
possible. Using file-sharing networks creates a risk that
viruses or other malignant code could be spread to your
computer over the network. Computer security experts are
starting to see viruses and malignant code (spyware) spread
through file-sharing services. Viruses may damage your
computer or interfere with your files; spyware may track
your online activities and send that information to third
parties. Spyware has been spotted in many places on
file-sharing networks -- including packaged with the
file-sharing clients themselves.
Kids' Access to Pornography
Many file-sharing programs allow children to access
inappropriate audio and video clips -- most of a sexually
explicit nature. Kids searching for popular music files may
sometimes inadvertently pull up sexually explicit files that
use the same keywords.
For older children, parents should be concerned about their
access to other people's video libraries that may contain
inappropriate videos. If you're concerned about these
things, make sure to check your computer for file-sharing
programs.
See a list of some file-sharing programs. Some
parental-control tools on the market do not restrict access
to file-sharing technologies.
Copyright Law
Many things available on file-sharing networks, including
many movies, songs, and video games, are copyrighted by the
owner. That means the law protects the owner's right to
limit who copies and distributes their content. What does a
copyright mean for you? It means that downloading or sharing
copyrighted music, movies and software without the copyright
owner's permission could put you in serious legal trouble.
In those cases, you or your family could be violating
federal law and may be sued by the copyright owners or by
the government. So, make sure that you or your family does
not infringe copyrights while using file-sharing networks.
Be smart, and keep your file-sharing legal. Don't allow
users to upload your music files unless you're certain that
you have permission to do so. You can simply disable the
upload feature in your file-sharing program so that you
don't inadvertently share files without permission.
The University of Chicago's Web site has good
instructions for disabling the upload feature in most
file-sharing programs.
Privacy
If mis-configured, some file-sharing programs may expose
your entire hard drive to all other users of the
file-sharing software. If you keep sensitive information on
your computer, like your tax return information and online
bank account data, check to make sure that you are not
inadvertently making this available to thousands of
strangers on the Internet.
Making Threats / Law Breaking
Kids aren't just potential victims. They can also be
responsible for doing things that can hurt other people.
This can range from being rude and obnoxious to committing
crimes online.
There are several reported cases of kids getting into
trouble for posting threatening or harassing material on Web
pages, in chat rooms and in newsgroups. Kids should remember
that anything they say about anyone can be viewed by people
all over the world and can have a damaging effect on the
person being talked about. Kids should never post anything
about another person that could in any way harm that person.
That includes publishing names, addresses, or phone numbers
of anyone they know. Kids should refrain from saying bad
things about other people in public forums, even if they
feel they are true, and even if they are angry with that
person. Even what appear to be "positive" comments about
someone's appearance can be degrading and have a negative
affect on that person.
Making Threats
It is wrong and illegal to threaten, intimidate, or
harass other people regardless of whether those threats are
delivered in person, on the phone, via the mail, or over the
Internet. It can be especially harmful to deliver such
threats in a public area such as a Web site, chat room, or
bulletin board. If you or your child receive serious and
frightening threats online, contact law
enforcement.
Parents should talk with their children about the proper
way to behave online and with other people and stress that
threatening other people is not only wrong but can get the
child into trouble at home, at school, or with the law.
Legal Risks
A lot of material posted on the Internet is copyrighted,
which means that it might be illegal to reprint or post the
material without permission. Kids need to understand that
they do not have the right to re-post or distribute
copyrighted graphics, music, videos, and text from Web sites
without permission. This includes giving copies of the
material to friends. There are some conditions where it is
OK to use copyrighted material as part of a student paper or
other project, but students should always check with their
teacher first and cite the source of the information.
Plagiarism - claiming that you wrote or drew something
created by another person - is illegal, and committing
plagiarism at school can be grounds for serious punishment.
Inappropriate Material
Just as in any city, there are areas in cyberspace that
are not necessarily appropriate for children or teens. Just
what those places are depends on the child, the family, and
the community, but these typically include sites which are
sexual in nature, which contain violent or hateful material,
or which advocate the use of weapons or harmful substances
such as alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.
Options (not necessarily recommendations) for preventing
your child from being exposed to inappropriate material
include:
Set rules about where kids can go online
and what to do if they stumble upon inappropriate sites.
Keep any connected computer in a public area of the house
(not a child's bedroom), and make sure that other family
members walk in the room periodically.
Consider not allowing children and teens to use the Internet
if parents aren't home. You may wish to consider using
time-limiting software to make sure that kids can go online
only when you're around.
Consider checking the browser history to see where kids have
been and having a "talk" if they are visiting inappropriate
sites.
Consider installing monitoring software that tracks where
kids have been.
Consider installing filtering software that blocks kids from
visiting sites that you feel are in appropriate.
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