The ‘Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation’s Youth’, was conducted at the direction of Congress by the Crimes Against Children Research Center of the University of New Hampshire, on behalf of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), based in Virginia, USA.
The study was conducted between August 1999 and February 2000, of youngsters between the age of 10 to 17, who used the Internet at least once a month over the last six months. Here are some startling statistics*.
- One in four respondents had an unwanted exposure to pictures of naked people or people having sex in the last year.
- For those who encountered it through email, the sender was unknown in 93 per cent of the incidences.
- One in 17 was threatened or harassed.
- Approximately ¼ of those who reported the incidents were distressed by them.
- Only 3 per cent of unwanted exposure episodes were reported to the authorities.
- Only 1/3 of the households with Internet access are proactively protecting their children with filtering or blocking software.
- 75 per cent of children are willing to share information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
[*A downloadable version of this report is available at NCMEC [ http://www.ncmec.org/html/onlinevictim_report.html]
Resources for Parents
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Surf Control
Online paper which deals with safety issues concerning children. Available in a downloadable PDF.
Kids Safety
Ways in which you can protect the privacy of your children when they are online.
Protect Privacy of Kids
Issues that you as a parent should be aware of when allowing kids to go online.
Safe Kids
Guidelines that you can follow to ensure your child's safety.
Child Net/ Internet Watch
Organisations that look out for your kids. You can report activities that you find objectionable to these sites.
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Who is responsible for your child’s safety?
When 13-year-old Ravi’s mother reached home after a long day at work, and saw her son hunched over the computer, she did not give it much thought. He must be playing that darn video game again, she thought to herself.
It was only when she herself logged on that she realised what her son had been surfing for, through the browser’s history. Sites with unmentionable names. Her anger turned into a sense of helplessness. Ravi was only 13 after all, and she had never imagined he would actually browse through such sites. What else was he getting exposed to on the Net? She had got an Internet connection at home, hoping it would be an educational tool for him.
Have you had a similar experience? Or wondered how you could protect your children and family from objectionable online content, that is so easily accessible? Throughout the Web, there are sites that are offensive, harmful, encourage deviant behaviour or expose kids to ideas that are not in their best interest.
Some of the dangers you could expose your children to through the Internet could include exposure to inappropriate material, physical molestation, harassment, legal and financial problems, privacy issues, drugs, alcohol, tobacco and gambling.
Guidelines for parents and kids
It is a good idea for parents with kids who are computer and Internet friendly to consider monitoring children’s activities online if you notice they are:
- Hiding CDs and disks from you
- Changing the computer screen when you enter the room
- Looking guilty when you walk into the room
- Spending a lot of time on the computer and are online late into the night
- Behaving differently – being more secretive, mentioning names of adults you don’t know, experiencing sleeping problems
- Surfing a lot of sites that do not have any relevance to them, and are recorded in the history of the browser
Net monitoring software
Many parents prefer to be with their kids when they are online to monitor their activities. However, this is not always possible, especially when the children are old enough to switch on the computer and connect to the Internet on their own. In this case, the most feasible solution is to use some kind of monitoring software available in the market.
With this software you can filter out sites that are considered harmful, restrict Internet access, monitor online activity, protect personal information and also customise for each user. While choosing a filtering software, make sure it provides all the features you need to satisfy your requirements. Net Nanny, Surf Control, Cyber Sitter, Watch Soft and Pearl are some you could consider.
However, just installing such software might not be enough. Protecting your children is a combination of several factors, among them being the use of common sense, good parenting and teaching children the rules of computer safety. You will find some guidelines for both kids and parents on this site.
Also, make a copy of these rules and place them near the computer so that they are a frequent reminder to both you and your children. Discussing these issues openly with your children can also help them understand the guidelines better. There are also several organisations that constantly monitor the Internet and you can even report sites that have harmful content.
In the book, ‘The Parent’s Guide to Protecting your Children in Cyberspace author Parry Aftab states: ‘Information does not harm children, people do.’
While some parents believe their children should have access to all information, as they believe it helps them handle things they face in life, other parents believe all information should be pre-screened. This is therefore not a political issue, as many people would like to believe, but more of a parenting one.
A wise choice can go a long way in ensuring your child’s well-being in today’s fast moving information age.
Additional Links - Kids Safe Sites
Safe Surfing
Search Engine for Kids
Yahooligans
AOL for Kids
Fun and Games
Zeeks
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