Protecting your Kids onLine

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Protecting your Kids on-Line

• A Summary of a presentation by Samantha Wilson,
  President of Kidproof Canada
• And
• Randi Micucci, MSN Product Manager
• www.kidproofcanada.com

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What is the internet?

• A place, not a thing
• Public
• Unmonitored
• What does research say?

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What are the Risks?

• Inappropriate Material
• Sexual, adult, or racist content
• Unwanted interaction with other kids or adults
  (bullying, harassing, deception, criminals)
• Disclosure of personal information
• Viruses
• Overabundance of simulated life experiences
  children who spend too much time on-line are
  likely not enjoying enough
• physical activity, peer to peer interaction,
  reading, creating, parent to child interaction,
  quiet time

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What do our kids use the internet for?

• Entertainment
• Play games, download music, write a blog, create
  personal webspace (this can be controlled),
  internet radio
• Education
• Homework, research, general interest
• Requires support validity of information?
  Thinking critically is important
• Communication

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Grade 4
N66
6
Grade 5
N51
7
Grade 6
N47
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Entertainment

• Some on-line games Edgemont students are playing
  -
• Neopets, Rune Scape, Battle of the Lord of the
  Rings, Addicting Games, Pac Man, Drivers Ed.,
  Ultimate Flash Sonic, Curve Ball

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Communication

• A language unique to on-line communication
• www.netlingo.com
• F2f
• Face to face
• NP
• Nosey parent
• ILU or ILY
• I love you

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Chat Rooms

• Moderated
• These are somewhat safe in that someone is
  watching language. However, this can be
  misleading in that people can still mis-represent
  themselves or lure kids
• Un-moderated
• Anonymous, not-trackable
• These are the most dangerous
• Eg. www.nexopia.com
• www.teenspot.com
• www.meetmeinto.com

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MSN Instant Messenger

• This is different than chat rooms, but still
  requires caution and monitoring no moderator
• This is a program on your windows computer. Kids
  add contacts and give permission for people to be
  on their contact or buddy list.
• Others can request to be added to your buddy list
• You can adjust safety settings to enable all
  messages to be saved (kids can access this)

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Warning Signs

• Prolonged period of time on-line
• Loss of sleep goes on-line in middle of night
• Quickly closes down a computer window when you
  walk in the room
• Vague when confronted
• Uses internet lingo
• Find pornography on their computer
• Using someone elses email
• Receive unknown packages
• Find long distance numbers
• Become withdrawn from family and friends

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Cutting off their access

• Through her experiences, this is an ineffective
  way to protect our children
• They will find ways to get on-line (friends
  house, hack through your security system or
  password, library, school)
• She recommends not doing this
• What to do???

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How to start?

• Start talking about how the internet is a place -
  use this analogy often
• Would you leave your child alone in a place which
  is
• Public?
• Unfamiliar to you?
• Unsupervised?
• What tools would you provide your kids when they
  are out in public?

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What to Do

• Pay attention to what your kids do and whom they
  meet on-line
• Let your kids be the teachers (learn what they
  are doing)
• Talk with your kids about the potential dangers
• Put computer in a central place
• Consider letting your children only use the
  internet when you are at home
• Limit amount of time on computers (especially TV!)

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AGE 8-18
Taken from http//www.childrennow.org/assets/pdf/
issues_media_iadbrief_2005.pdf
Note Due to overlapping media use, these figures
cannot be summed. Average times are among all
young people, not just those who used
a particular media that day. Kaiser Family
Foundation, Generation M Media in the Lives of
8-18 Year-Olds (Menlo Park Kaiser Family
Foundation, 2005).
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Taken from http//www.childrennow.org/assets/pdf
/issues_media_iadbrief_2005.pdf
Note Average is among all children, across all
days of the week, including those who dont do
certain activities at all. Kaiser Family
Foundation, Zero to Six Electronic Media in the
Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers (Menlo
Park Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003).
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More What to Do

• Watch for signs of bullying
• Become familiar with video game ratings
• Stress keeping personal information private
• Set clear rules for use of the internet
• Never meet an Internet friend in person
• Dont open attachments, click links, or share
  music of files with strangers
• Treat others with respect
• Use caution when accepting new members on your
  contact list (MSN)
• Get help from technology (parental control
  software)

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Even more What to do

• Forbid un-moderated chat rooms
• Regularly check who is on your childs buddy list
  (in MSN)
• Save all conversations (in MSN)
• If you suspect your child is involved in a
  harmful situation, contact the 911 of the
  Internet
• www.cybertip.ca
• Interview with Samantha Wilson

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Some websites for you and your child (taken from
Media Awareness Network)

• Privacy Playground The First Adventure of the
  Three Little CyberPigs (8-10) - online
  marketing, and about protecting their privacy
• CyberSense and Nonsense The Second Adventure of
  The Three CyberPigs (9-12) - explore the world
  of chat rooms and learn to distinguish between
  fact and fiction, and to detect bias and harmful
  stereotyping in online content
• Jo Cool or Jo Fool (12-14) - takes students
  through a series of mock sites that test their
  savvy surfing skills.
• Allies and Aliens A Mission in Critical
  Thinking (13-15) - assess the varying degrees of
  prejudice, misinformation, and hate propaganda

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Cyberbullying

• Some forms of cyberbullying are considered
  criminal acts. Under the Criminal Code of Canada,
  it is a crime to communicate repeatedly with
  someone if your communication causes them to fear
  for their own safety or the safety of others.
• It is also a crime to publish a defamatory
  libel, writing something that is designed to
  insult a person or likely to hurt a persons
  reputation by exposing him or her to hatred,
  contempt or ridicule.
• A cyberbully may also be violating the Canadian
  Human Rights Act, if he or she spreads hate or
  discrimination based on race, national or ethnic
  origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual
  orientation, marital status, family status or
  disability.
• Do not erase or delete messages from cyberbullies
  (keep as evidence printscreen)
• Never send a message when youre feeling angry or
  upset (it is now in print and can be spread
  readily)
• Never give out personal information or your
  password
• Report it to the police you dont need proof!

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Cyberbulling Resources

• Bullying.org
• Kids can contribute stories, poems, pictures,
  chat
• Moderated
• Support for student victims of bullying
• Cyberbullying Website
• Media Awareness Website

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What parents can do with MSN

• Ask to see their contact list
• Check who has them on their list (go to Tools,
  Options, Privacy, View)
• Change settings to retain message history (Go to
  Options, Messages, Turn On)

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For more information

• www.kidproofcanada.com
• www.cybertip.ca
• http//safety.sympatico.msn.ca/
• www.bewebaware.ca
• www.bullying.org
• www.cyberbullying.ca