Definition of an “Online Preditor”:
An online predator is an adult Internet user who exploits vulnerable children or teens, usually for sexual or other abusive purposes.[1]
Parents should keep open communications with their children and keep up to date on whats happening in their lives and take seriously what your child feels is important to them at this time in their lives. Set up a weekly game night or other family activity night to spend time with your child and help keep the communication open and not let your relationship with your child go stale, this will let your child know that they are important to you and feel that they can communicate with you about the things on their mind.
§ Set up security features on your computer when it comes to minor online users in your home http://www.microsoft.com/protect/familysafety/default.aspx
§ Make rules on how many hours per week your child is allowed to use the internet and increment it into a daily or twice a week schedule, etc.
§ Set rules with your child when it comes to downloading social media, it can contain some form of malware or adult content or attachments.
§ Know where and what sites and accounts your child has set up.
§ If your child is talking to someone that makes them feel uncomfortable make them aware that it is okay to tell you so that you can handle the situation with the administration of the particular social online community or chat room administration.
§ Talk to your child about the importance of not giving out any personal information about themselves or your family if they do not know or trust their online friend.
§ If your child wants to buy something and needs permission to use your credit card, research the company they want to purchase from and the product and in doing so teach them that this is a secure way to protect them from questionable sales predators.
§ If your child has a online friend that wants to meet them, tell them you will consider it after you have sufficiently investigated the other child and talked to their parent or guardian (make sure they are a child and not a predator posing as a child) as well as you will escort your child and meet them and their parent/ guardian in a public place like a mail or public park. If the other child suddenly no longer wants to meet then block them from your child’s friends list and take the information you have and contact the authorities for further guidance on the situation.
§ If your child is posting photos and videos of themselves on the web, talk to them about it and convey to them that once posted its hard to keep control of them and they are on the internet forever.
I also encourage you to go to the Blog for Wired Safety.org on their website. You will find tutorials, videos, and other useful information and tip to help you teach your child to navigate the web safely. It also has support if an online predator has contacted your child as well as guidance on how to handle other situations that may come up; I have included an insert of their blog.
While MySpace.com is doing its best to keep your children from using their website and lying about their age, it’s up to parents to do their job too. Parents need to talk with their children about not sharing personal information online. Personal information includes pictures, names and addresses, schools they attend, cell and phone numbers and many other less obvious things, such as the name of their school team, ethnic background and even a mall near your house. (You can learn more about how to talk to your kids and what you should be asking at WiredKids.org or WiredSafety.org. I am an Internet privacy and security lawyer and founded the all-volunteer Wired Safety Group. We can help you if things go wrong online, or you just have questions. We provide information, education and one-to-one help for victims of cyberabuse.)
We at WiredSafety.org are developing a special program just for parents concerned about their kids using social-networking and online dating sites. It will teach you what you need to know about finding out if your child has a profile on one of these sites, how to review them and remove them, if you want to. It will also help you if your child is being cyberbullied using one of these sites or members from these sites, or is cyberbullying others.
So what do you, as a parent, do? First you need to find out if your child has a page on one of these sites. The best way to find out if your child has a profile on this or another similar site is to ask them. If you’re not sure that your child is being honest with you, you can search MySpace.com (or the other sites) using their e-mail address, or by searching for their school. (You click on “search” and enter their email address or full name in the appropriate search box.)
If you find that your child has a profile on the Web site, you should review it. It’s amazing how much you can learn about your child by reading their profiles. Does it contain personal information, such as their full name, address or phone numbers? Has your child posted photos? Are they photos of themselves or someone else? Are they sharing poems they write or provocative comments about themselves or others?
If you want the profile removed (you must remove your child’s profile if they are under age), first ask your child to remove it themselves. If that doesn’t work, MySpace.com has a section explaining how to remove a page. If you find someone who is underage, you can report it there as well. It’s not as easy a procedure as the other Web sites.
While MySpace.com is working hard to keep kids off their Web site, ultimately, protecting your child is your job. But you have lots of help. At WiredKids.org and WiredSafety.org thousands of volunteers donate their time to helping parents and children surf responsibly and safely. And we will be building a few tutorials help parents and their children understand how to be careful when communicating publicly online.
http://www.wiredsafety.org/internet101/blogs.html
If schools are looking for a presentation or program to address their students’ posting inappropriate profiles or using these Web sites. while underage or other parent concerns, they should visit WiredKids.org or Teenangels.org. Schools may find many of their students using a particular Web site If the students are under 13, please notify MySpace.com’s help staff and their profiles will be removed immediately. Working together with schools and parents, we may be able to keep our kids off of Web site that are inappropriate for young children and teach them to make good choices online and offline.
You may also like to research forms of security software to protect your children, however even when software like this is purchased it is not a solution to the issue of children on the internet. You still need to be aware and vigilant on your child’s internet use and what they are doing on the internet. One example of software I found is by Kewego but there are various out there that you should check out and contact their service department about and get additional information on the product and its usage.
http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoafMtpA.html
I hope that you will find this posting informative, and helpful in keeping your family cyber safe, and secure. I have also added some other links for online safety tips guidelines and tools for parents and children to be aware, vigilant and safe while surfing the internet.
Canada Child Internet Safety:
http://www.protectchildren.ca/app/en/
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/familysafety/default.aspx
U.S Child internet safety:
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/
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