The Importance of Internet Privacy for Children
When it comes to your children and Internet privacy, you must be very diligent. If your children are under 13 years old, it is recommended that you stay by their side or at least closely monitor them while they are on the computer.
Sadly, way too many children and teens have been abducted, harmed and even killed as a result of their Internet privacy being violated. Of course, many of these children and teens voluntarily gave out their personal information which leads to these horrific events. However, if a parent or older person is closely supervising their online activity, it could cut down on the number of Internet crimes and breaches of Internet privacy that affect children and teens.
PARENTAL CONTROLS
This feature is so easy to use and can be found in the control panel of your computer. It is the absolute best feature on any computer that a child or teen uses. You, as the parent or guardian, are in control of the child's Internet surfing. You can block web pages that have certain words and phrases in them. You even can even choose the pages your child is allowed to visit and they will only have access to those pages. It also allows you to see where your child has been on the Internet and how long they were there.
CHAT ROOMS
Chat rooms could potentially be some of the worse places a child can go, even though many of them spend a good amount of their online time there. There are hundreds if not thousands of chat rooms that are "for children only"; all of which have a moderator in the room at all times. There is only one flaw in this plan, anyone can act and talk like a child so in all actuality, you really don't know who's in the chat room. Child predators have a way of getting information out of a child with them not even knowing it. For example, several years back a police officer posed as a child in a chat room and the officer managed to get the child's school and a good description of the child. It was enough information for the officer to show up at the school and identify the child. That's scary stuff.
The officer simply asked everyday questions such as "what's your favorite sport?", or "do you play sports at school?" Then, the child would reply with their answers and toss in their school mascot. Are you following the pattern here? The next set of questions may have been about hair color and the child would innocently give up that information. The conversation continued for a few weeks until the officer had enough information to find that child without them ever telling them their name or even where they lived.
There are a lot of sick people out there. The above experiment was done to show people how easy it is to get kids to talk without saying anything that they thought was wrong. That's why it's important for parents to be with their children while they're on the Internet or to view all conversations and places they have visited. That is a great way to protect your child's Internet privacy and ultimately your child!
Sadly, way too many children and teens have been abducted, harmed and even killed as a result of their Internet privacy being violated. Of course, many of these children and teens voluntarily gave out their personal information which leads to these horrific events. However, if a parent or older person is closely supervising their online activity, it could cut down on the number of Internet crimes and breaches of Internet privacy that affect children and teens.
PARENTAL CONTROLS
This feature is so easy to use and can be found in the control panel of your computer. It is the absolute best feature on any computer that a child or teen uses. You, as the parent or guardian, are in control of the child's Internet surfing. You can block web pages that have certain words and phrases in them. You even can even choose the pages your child is allowed to visit and they will only have access to those pages. It also allows you to see where your child has been on the Internet and how long they were there.
CHAT ROOMS
Chat rooms could potentially be some of the worse places a child can go, even though many of them spend a good amount of their online time there. There are hundreds if not thousands of chat rooms that are "for children only"; all of which have a moderator in the room at all times. There is only one flaw in this plan, anyone can act and talk like a child so in all actuality, you really don't know who's in the chat room. Child predators have a way of getting information out of a child with them not even knowing it. For example, several years back a police officer posed as a child in a chat room and the officer managed to get the child's school and a good description of the child. It was enough information for the officer to show up at the school and identify the child. That's scary stuff.
The officer simply asked everyday questions such as "what's your favorite sport?", or "do you play sports at school?" Then, the child would reply with their answers and toss in their school mascot. Are you following the pattern here? The next set of questions may have been about hair color and the child would innocently give up that information. The conversation continued for a few weeks until the officer had enough information to find that child without them ever telling them their name or even where they lived.
There are a lot of sick people out there. The above experiment was done to show people how easy it is to get kids to talk without saying anything that they thought was wrong. That's why it's important for parents to be with their children while they're on the Internet or to view all conversations and places they have visited. That is a great way to protect your child's Internet privacy and ultimately your child!
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