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©1998-2007. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse / Utility Consumers' Action Network |
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| Childrenís Safety on the Internet:
Note: No endorsements are implied for any commercial products named in this guide. Whether it’s called the Internet, the ‘net, the web, cyberspace, or the Many children are comfortable using computers and are fascinated by the information and images that can be explored at the click of a mouse. Recent figures show that more than 90% of children age three and over use computers and almost 60% use the Internet. Use begins early, with about two-thirds of children in nursery school and 80% of kindergartners using computers, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006065.pdf) What’s more, children increasingly do not need to be in the company of a responsible adult in order to use a computer. School and home are no longer the only places where children can go online. They can also connect at a friend’s house, a library, or a café. In addition, technology is rapidly increasing the ways to access the web. For example, newer models of cell phones and other hand-held devices allow Internet connections. And many game consoles can be linked to the Internet and used for chatting or other online activities. While the Internet offers children and youth tremendous opportunities, the virtual world, like the real one, has aspects that can be harmful to them. It’s important for parents to keep in mind that anyone can publish on the Internet. No governing body and no censors exist. Arguably, the Internet poses a much greater risk of damage to children than do television, movies, or music. That’s because the major media are at least identifiable and subject to some pressure and legislation. Even though many companies that provide Internet access seek to provide subscribers with safe experiences, it’s not possible to monitor everyone. And the online world, like the rest of society, includes some people who may be hateful, obnoxious, or even exploitative. As a result, children can be targets of crime and harassment on the web, and thus need parental supervision and common-sense advice. The words “harmful” and “objectionable” can be interpreted in many ways. In this guide, we use these terms to deal with pornography, profanity, hate speech, and related threats. A companion guide, Children’s Privacy on the Internet (www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs21-children.htm), describes advertising messages and images that are highly manipulative of children. Both guides provide resources for parents to maximize the benefits of cyberspace for children and minimize the dangers. 2. Risks and Steps Parents Can Take to Limit Them While it’s almost impossible to shield children from all objectionable material, parents can take steps to limit inappropriate exposure and minimize the chances of children being victimized. For a wealth of information on the pros and cons of Internet use by children of all ages, visit NetSmartz at www.netsmartz411.org. It is associated with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. (www.missingkids.com). Among the kinds of risks children face on the Internet:
To limit such risks, there’s no substitute for parental involvement and supervision. Open communication about your child’s online activities is vital. Technology, while not a panacea, can also provide some help. General steps you can take:
Check with your ISP to see if it offers age-appropriate parental controls. If not, consider buying software that blocks chat areas and web sites believed to be inappropriate for children. Most of these programs can be configured by you to filter out sites containing objectionable material. Some can also be set up to prevent children from revealing information about themselves, such as address or phone numbers. You can find filtering programs listed at www.kids.getnetwise.org/tools/ . The latest versions of Microsoft Windows (Vista) and Apple’s OS X Tiger also have parental-control tools built in. More details on technological aids are in Sections 3 and 4. But understand that no plan or program is perfect. For instance, even if software does effectively block what you believe your children shouldn’t see, it may not block what the child may say, such as giving out an address or agreeing to meet with a stranger. There’s no substitute for parental involvement, so the best approach is to use a combination of technology and informed supervision. Numerous agencies and organizations provide brochures and other resources about Internet safety. Most offer materials in both online and in paper form. To order paper copies, see the postal addresses and phone numbers in Section 7 at the end of this guide.
Filtering software is the technology that most parents use to protect children at home. As a result of federal law, such software also is used in many libraries and public schools. A content filter consists of one or more pieces of software that work together to prevent users from viewing certain material found on the Internet. It generally involves (1) filtering software that examines the material the user is seeking and (2) some system of ratings or value judgments that is used to categorize web sites. What kind of filters are available? A number of products are available which, when installed on the home computer, block access to many web sites containing objectionable material, such as pornography, obscenity, gratuitous violence, and hate speech. Some products also prevent access to the computer during specified hours of the day, provide parents a log of the web sites visited by their children, and prevent access to such web services as chat rooms. The major search engines such as Google www.google.com can direct you to many “parental-control software” programs. As mentioned, the web site GetNetWise lists filtering products. http://kids.getnetwise.org/tools/ You may wish to look for software that does some or all of the following:
Are filtering programs effective? “All filtering programs either overblock or underblock,” according to a 2005 Consumer Reports study. (www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/internet-filtering-software-605/overview/index.htm). Thus, it becomes necessary to weigh how muchprotection you want versus how much interference you can tolerate into bona fide research. In evaluating 11 products, the magazine found the software keeps out most, if not all porn, but isn’t very effective at blocking sites promoting hatred, illegal drugs or violence. And the best filters tend to block too many sites they shouldn’t. Generally, product testers have found that filtering programs often block access to sites with legitimate non-obscene speech. For example, the word "breast" might be found not only on adult-only sites but also in those containing poultry recipes or belonging to cancer-support groups. Some reviewers also are critical of software products that do not disclose the list of keywords used to block web sites. What is the debate about filtering software? There’s an ongoing national debate revolving around filtering and the First Amendment. While seen by some as a powerful tool for protecting children, software filters are viewed by others as “censor ware.” Congress and the courts have skirmished on the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) as well as the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). COPA would require web sites containing “material harmful to minors” to use an age-verification system to make sure visitors are 18 or older. CIPA, on the other hand, would require schools and libraries to install filters on computers used by minors and adults or lose federal funds. Critics of filtering are concerned about censorship of political, social and business viewpoints by the software developers. In addition, some critics believe young people should have rights to privacy, especially those in their mid- to late-teens. How can I learn more about the debate over filtering? Visit these web sites for additional discussion of the issues:
5. Alternatives to Installing Blocking Software Parents have several alternatives to the blocking products described above. A free online book, Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools & Methods, by Adam Thierer of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, reviews what is available on the market to help parents better manage media content. www.pff.org/parentalcontrols Built-in parental controls. The latest versions of the two main computer-operating systems, Microsoft’s Windows (Vista) and Apple’s Mac OS Tiger, come with built-in, free and easy-to-use features that allow you to control which programs a child runs and to specify which web sites he or she can visit. (See also “Ratings Services” below.) The key to both is making sure the computer used by the child has multiple accounts, or logins. One, for the parent, should be set up as an “administrator” account that allows that person to change various settings. Other, more restricted accounts, can be set up for each child who uses the computer. (In Vista, you can find the parental-control settings in the “Control Panel” under the heading “User Accounts and Family Safety.” On the Mac Tiger, they’re found in the “System Preferences” program by clicking on the “Accounts” icon. You select the standard account you want to control, then click the tab labeled “Parental Controls.”) Child-friendly filtering services and web sites. Some child-friendly ISPs offer programs that strive to offer a safe environment for children. These include AOL, Earthlink, MSN, Comcast, and TimeWarner Cable. AOL, for example, enables parents to steer children to “kids only,” “young teens,” or “mature teens” areas. Free online filtering software, developed by the nonprofit Website Rating & Advisory Council (www.WRAAC.org), is downloadable at www.parentalcontrolbar.org. WRAAC has labeled more than 100,000 of the most popular web sites on the Internet. When in “Child-Mode,” the ParentalControlBar blocks web sites based on criteria set by the parent, while in “Parent Mode,” the adult has unrestricted access to the Internet. A free, kid-safe browser is available at www.kidrocket.org. It also tracks usage time. The site www.safekids.com also offers a “child safe filtered web search.” GetNetWise provides a directory of several child-oriented sites at http://kids.getnetwise.org/kidsites/. Other filtering products can be purchased by the consumer. For instance, Be aware that filtering services are subject to the same biases as the blocking software programs discussed above. Take the time to carefully read about the service’s criteria for filtering. Parents can also steer children to web sites that provide appropriate content. The American Library Association offers a list of “700 Great Sites” for children, www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites as part of its “Librarian’s Guide to Cyberspace for Parents and Kids,” www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/guide.html. Government strictures against offensive commercial e-mail. The CAN-SPAM Act, effective in 2004, contains provisions which may help parents concerned by the amount of inappropriate e-mail their children receive. The law is primarily aimed at eliminating deceptive unsolicited commercial e-mail, but also addresses the problem of sexually-oriented, unsolicited e-mail. The act requires that any e-mail messages which contain sexually explicit material must be labeled in the subject line with an abbreviation or marking. The Federal Trade Commission proposed that the text “Sexual-Explicit-Content” be printed at the beginning of the subject line. www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/04/adultlabel.shtm Further, the sexually oriented e-mail must contain an opening page with a clear and conspicuous option to not receive any more e-mail from the sender and a legitimate physical address of the sender. The opener page, called a “virtual brown wrapper” by some, cannot contain any graphic material, but instead may contain a link to the sexually oriented material. Violation of these rules can be reported to the FTC or to your state’s Attorney General. Violations of the Act will result in fines under Title 18, imprisonment of no more than five years, or both. Visit the Spam Laws web site for more information (no endorsements are implied), www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html. Ratings services. One approach is to seek web sites that have been rated based on levels of sex, nudity, violence, and harsh language. The web browser Microsoft Internet Explorer allows you to select a rating service that acts as a filter when surfing the web. The major ISPs have agreed to use voluntary electronic tags. Internet Explorer (IE) comes already packaged with the ICRA3 ratings service, now operated by the Family Online Safety Institute (formerly the Internet Content Rating Association), www.fosi.org/icra/. With IE”s Content Advisor, you can give your children access to a specific list of web sites that you allow and prevent them from accessing others. To learn how to activate the Content Advisor, go to: Like the filtering products discussed above, the ratings vocabulary can embody the values of the developers. These values are not likely to be appropriate for all users, especially in the increasingly vast, global scope of the Internet. Web seals. Another approach is to seek web sites that have a web seal of approval, such as TRUSTe, www.truste.org. Web sites that receive the TRUSTe Children’s Privacy Seal must meet certain requirements. www.truste.org/businesses/childrens_privacy_seal.php
6. Online Safety for Chat, Instant Messages, Social Networking, and Blogging What are the privacy and safety concerns for children regarding “chat,” instant messaging services, and social-networking web sites? Chat rooms. Chat rooms are enormously popular with children. They enable several individuals to interact with one another in real-time by typing messages onto their keyboards. The commercial online services such as AOL, MSN, and Yahoo, offer numerous chat rooms that cater to specific interests. Chat is also provided via Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. For more information, visit www.irchelp.org. Of course, the same potential problems that occur elsewhere on the web — such as profanity, harassment, divulging of personal information — can occur on social networking sites. Children can adopt several tactics for maximizing their privacy and safety in chat rooms.
Several filtering software programs provide features that claim to prevent children from transmitting their name and other personal information. However, there is no foolproof way, other than blocking Internet chat room access entirely, to prevent a child from communicating a name and address in a chat room. That's because of the many ways such words and numbers can be spelled. A period can be inserted into a name, and numbers can be spelled out. Instant messages. A popular form of one-to-one chat is provided by instant messaging (IM) services. Faster than e-mail and cheaper than the telephone, they are used to communicate in real time with friends and family. Many of the same strategies for safe chatting apply to instant messaging:
An easy-to-understand guide for parents about chat room behavior, interactive games, Instant Messaging tips, and the like is at Wired Safety’s tutorial, www.wiredsafety.org/parent.html . Social networking and blogging. Socia networking services have exploded in popularity. In part, these web sites are a response to the concerns over too much anonymity in chat rooms. Although the web sites vary slightly -- MySpace targets music fans, for instance, and Facebook is designed for students -- all restrict communication to people within a network. Social networking services allow users to create profiles, post pictures, and write blogs, among other things. Users can then invite friends into their network. The network can be nominally restricted by school, invitation, or degree of friendship. Young adults and children can easily be lulled into a false sense of security and let down their guard about the type of information they post. As the NetSmartz site wisely warns, “Remember that everyday is Halloween on the Internet” — people are not always who they appear to be. While these networks may be preferable to the anonymity of chat rooms and Instant Messages, parents still need to be cautious. The unprecedented amount of personal information available on social networking and blogging sites makes them a perfect spot for people who would prey on youngsters. This can happen physically by luring them into a meeting in person, or by exposing them to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, or committing identity theft Cyberbullying involves sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images, which may include threats. Parents should understand that the Internet provides a forum for variations of the same identity-formation and social-status games played out in every junior high and high school across the nation. For a discussion of cyberbullying, see the site for the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use at http://new.csriu.org/cyberbully. Net Family News also provides information on this topic, www.netfamilynews.org/resourcescyberbullying.htm . What can parents do to ensure safe social networking? The same kind of precautions as recommended above apply also to use of social networking sites. For example, discuss the dangers with your child, use filtering features when available, enter into a safe-computing contract with your child, and monitor what they do and say on the Internet. See www.netsmartz.org/news/blogbeware.htm and www.connectsafely.org . Although direct communication may be blocked to strangers, some of these sites allow anyone to view user profiles. There have been reports of school expulsions because of threats posted on these sites, dorm privileges revoked after pictures of underage drinking were posted, and many cases of embarrassed parents and children. Parents are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the latest technology and the safety features, if any, provided on web sites their children visit. Facebook, for example, is taking steps to protect underage users from sexual predators and obscene content in an agreement established with the New York Attorney General in October 2007. Parents should ask their children if they have a profile posted online or if they write or read blogs. In addition to reminding children of Internet safety tips, parents should be aware of which social network sites their children visit. Many of these web sites have access-control options that can be turned on. It is a good idea to not only request that your child limit who can see the profile, but also to request that your child let you view it occasionally. For more information see MySpace's safety tips at www1.myspace.com/misc/TipsForParents.html . What can I do if my child is harassed while online, or is subject to inappropriate online behavior? Instruct your child to tell you about any messages that make them feel uncomfortable or scared. Report harassment to the chat room monitor and the ISP. Most services provide a special e-mail address to report problems, for example, abuse@aol.com. Take advantage of the IM service’s blocking features. Users of AOL’s Instant Messenger service AIM, for example, can “warn” people who are sending them inappropriate messages. Those who get too many warnings are removed from the service. AIM users can also add harassers to their “block list” under the “privacy preference.” If your child receives physical threats or if you suspect that a pedophile is contacting children, contact:
7. Directory of Organizations
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Copyright © 1998-2007. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse/UCAN.. This copyrighted document may be copied and distributed for nonprofit, educational purposes only. For distribution of this fact sheet, see our copyright and reprint guidelines. The text of this document may not be altered without express authorization of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. This fact sheet should be used as an information source and not as legal advice. PRC fact sheets contain information about federal laws as well as some California-specific information. Laws in other states may vary. Overall, our fact sheets are applicable to consumers nationwide. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 3100 - 5th Ave., Suite B, San Diego, CA 92103. Web: www.privacyrights.org |
