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Kids Online We as User Group Leaders/members, understand the potential danger there is online. We chuckle at the hotmail addresses, and toss email with pornographic photos or web site links attached to them. If someone enticed us into a private chat room and talked to us in a lewd or vulgar way, we know exactly what to do. We understand there are people who get pleasure from such activities. For the most part, we distance ourselves from them. But if we were only twelve years old and at home alone after school, would we know what to do? There are people on line who are cleaver and skillful in attracting children for their own gratification. They take great joy developing a relationship over a period of weeks or months with an eye towards eventual sexual pleasure. They use message boards in areas where kids congregate, to obtain possible subjects. They take on the persona of a child and post messages encouraging others to email them. Over time they become email pen pals. An adult can get a good bit of information from a pre or early teen, just through casual conversation. One bit of information leads to another bit until after a short time you use those pieces of the puzzle to get a larger picture. The child doesn't realize that what they are saying may put them in danger. If that teen thinks they are emailing with a teen of their own age, with similar problems and activities, they are likely to talk freely. This is something a predator is hoping for. Many young people have set up the ISP or online service accounts. Most teens know more about computing than their parents. These parents then do little supervision of what areas their child is exploring and have no idea how to control what the child is involved in. How do you protect your child while on line? 1. The computer should not be in the bedroom. It should be in a common room where you can watch what the child is doing. Just like the television, online time needs to be supervised. Sit with the child and watch what they are doing. 2. You should review all email before your child gets to read and reply to it. 3. Be aware of who is sending your child instant and email messages. 4. Chats and message boards are great fun to teens. It gives them the freedom to express their selves. Parents need to view the boards that their children frequent. Check to make sure the language and topics are appropriate. 5. You need to instruct children not to post identifying information. Never post full names, addresses and phone numbers, school names or other identifying information, e.g. our school's football team (team name) were state champions (State name) this year. There is safety in anonyminity. 6. Some services provide the opportunity to create a profile. This is a great opportunity for a teen to tell everyone who they are, where they live, what activities they are involved in, and a lot of other information a predator would like to know. It is best to avoid profiles. 7. Many services providers make web space available for members to create personal web pages. Kids enjoy doing web pages because it gives them a chance to be creative. Avoid personal information. 8. Know what childproofing is available on the service you have. Many have special blocking tools or controls. There is also additional software available for parental controls. AOL has a special chat at 2 PM ET and 10 PM ET every Monday related to child safety, parental controls and blocking software. They occasionally have guests to discuss questions from members, and explore what parents and concerned members can do to make our young folks have a pleasant, but safe on line experience. The special chat room is accessible from the Special Chat list at keyword Family Ties. Drop in anytime with your questions or concerns. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The above article if from BetaCopy the newsletter on disk of the Coastal Mac User Group, Myrtle Beach, SC It can be reprinted in other computer user group newsletters if a copy is sent to the author. Rick Curran 4767 Tarpon Bay Road Myrtle Beach, SC 29579

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