Chat
Chat is a very popular activity for young people,
especially teenagers, but it is also the area where they are
most likely to get into trouble. When you're in a chat area,
it's easy to forget that you are in a public "place" and
that you don't necessarily know the true identity of anyone
in the chat room. It's common to "meet" someone in a chat
area who gains your confidence by being sympathetic and
willing to "listen" to your problems. Children and
especially teens need to be extremely careful in chat rooms.
They should never reveal their identify and they should
never assume that someone is as he or she seems to be.
They should NEVER agree to meet someone in person based
on a friendly online chat without talking to their parents.
If parents agree to the meeting, they or another adult
should be present and it should be in a public place.
Ways to avoid problems in chat rooms:
Do not let your child chat in un-moderated chat rooms.
Only allow him or her in rooms run by a reputable company or
organization that monitors activity.
Because many spammers use names they can easily collect
from a chat room, consider giving your child a "chat" screen
name. This name would be one that is different than their
e-mail address. This could help prevent unwanted Spam mail
from coming to your child.
Instruct your child never to give out personal
information in a chat room.
Instruct your child never to agree to get together with
anyone they meet in a chat room without first checking with
you.
Talk with your children about the way some people behave
in chat rooms. Remind them that people are not always who
they seem to be. Remind them to be very careful about people
who offer easy solutions to difficult problems or make
offers that are "too good to be true."
Consider using software to
block sensitive personal information from being transmitted
through your children's chat.
Instant Messaging
Instant messaging is like chat, except that it's usually
a one-on-one experience instead of a group activity. In some
ways that's safer if the person the child is messaging is a
friend or relative. But it can be dangerous if it's a
stranger. Unlike in some chat rooms, there is never anyone
else there to monitor activity, so when your child is
messaging another person it's as if the two of them are
together in a private room.
Email
There are two dangers when it comes to e-mail. First,
someone may try to communicate with your child via e-mail.
It could be something innocent, it could be a form of "spam"
(unsolicited commercial e-mail), or it might be a message
from someone who is trying to lure your child into an
inappropriate relationship. If you suspect that the latter
is the case, and that your child's physical safety is in
danger, you may wish to contact law enforcement.
Any mail from a stranger, even if it's innocent, can be
disturbing to some children, which is why it's a good idea
for parents to monitor their young children's e-mail. That's
not to say that kids, at some point, shouldn't have their
privacy, but parents need to decide when privacy is
appropriate and when it's best to keep an eye on their
e-mail.
"Spam," or electronic "junk mail" is designed to get people
to buy something, visit a Web site, or take some other
action. People who send out spam often have no way of
knowing who the recipient is, and it's not uncommon for
inappropriate messages to find their way to children. One of
the most disturbing types of messages are those that promote
sexually explicit Web sites and include links to those
sites. It's very difficult to stop these types of messages
and, unfortunately, asking the sender to stop sending them
doesn't always work. Many spammers don't ever see the
response you send in (they would be overwhelmed with mail if
they actually looked at it), and some who actually invite
you to write back to "remove" yourself from their list fail
to honor such requests. In some cases, spammers actually
consider a remove request to be a validation that they sent
their spam to a real e-mail address, which causes them to
send more -- not less -- to your e-mail box.
Some online services and Internet providers have tools to
help you block spam, and many e-mail programs have blocking
tools as well. You can try these tools, but they don't
always work because people who send spam often disguise
themselves and keep changing identities so they can get past
the spam filters.
Your best defense is to tell your children not to open mail
from strangers or, if they do open mail, not to click on any
links, respond, or take any action without checking with
their parents.
Another danger from e-mail is that your child can send out
information that could put him or her or other people in
jeopardy. The basic rules of safety -- not giving out
personal information -- apply to e-mail as well as other
areas of the Internet. Children should never send a photo of
themselves via e-mail to anyone without checking with their
parents to be sure it's safe.
Newsgroups
Newsgroups, forums, and bulletin boards are areas on the
Internet where people can exchange ideas, recipes, facts,
stories, photos, or just about anything else. There are
thousands of newsgroups on all sorts of topics, including
hobbies, sports, professions, schools - you name it. Most
newsgroups are quite good, but there are some that contain
material that is definitely not appropriate for children. Be
especially wary of any newsgroup that starts with "Alt."
"Alt" stands for "Alternative" and, while many Alt
newsgroups are fine, some contain material that is sexual,
violent, hateful, and otherwise inappropriate. Some software
tools do exist which can prevent your children from
accessing inappropriate newsgroups.
Also, it's important that children learn never to respond
to newsgroup messages without checking with their parents.
In general, when you respond to a message, you're not just
responding to that person but broadcasting your response to
anyone who joins the group. Anything you type can be read by
anyone. |
