How to protect your kids online

13 Jun 2012, 5:55 pm   -   Source: SBS
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As hours spent on the internet increase among young people, so do the risks associated with grooming and cyber-bullying. Here are some points.

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Online child safety expert and former member of the Victoria police, Susan McClean says two main places that paedophiles visit are social networking and online gaming sites, where children are easy targets.

“Young children are trusting and vulnerable so that’s the perfect canvas for a paedophile. They [paedophiles] pretend to be like-minded children and they gain their trust,” she says.

“This is something kids won’t pick up on because they don’t yet have the cognitive maturity.”

Tips to keep your child safe online:

•    Parents need to visit the same sites that their child is visiting.
•    Check contact friends list on any online application and go through them with the child.

“The only people your children are connecting with online are those they know in the real world,” says Ms McClean. “Do not have an online-only friend because that is fraught with danger.”

• Embrace technology. "It's no use saying, 'No, you’re not going online' because your child will do it behind your back,” she says. 
• Do not reveal personal details such as photos, email addresses and real names. Always use an avatar.
• Never let your child agree to meet someone they have never met in real life.

What to do if you suspect something:

•    Trust your instinct and act.
•    Contact your local police or a cyber-safety expert.
•    Have open lines of communication with your child.
•    Don’t delete accounts because that information will be crucial to police.

 “Unless parents do their job of talking about the dangers, moderating and supervising, these things are going to continue,” says Ms McClean.

For more information, click on the links below.

Stay Smart Online

Child Safety Australia

Cybersmart (government information service)

Think U Know

Family Safety links - Google

Cyber Safety Solutions

Cybersafety

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Your Comments

How about investigating how good this and other filter programs are, first?

Mona - from Australia, 11 months ago

K9 Web protection allows parents to ban all chat rooms, or just some of them, or even just one of them. The internet has matured and so have the means to prevent children from accessing everything that a parent deems undesirable! Everything!

RE: Before you rush out and ring the Police or these fancy web sites (cont)

Tristan - from Australia, 11 months ago

The problem is sites such as Habbo Hotel will more than likely be allowed through and not blacklisted. Since the issue here isn't exactly the sites themselves (the actual Habbo enviroment is relatively tame) it's more the people who are using them. Same with Skype and MSN, used properly these applications are wonderful tools, but like most things online they can and have been abused. As much as I hate to say it the best solution here is good old fashioned parenting, as mentioned in this article.

RE: Before you rush out and ring the Police or these fancy web sites

Tristan - from Australia, 11 months ago

While an Internet filter might be all well and good Mona, for the most part it will only remove sites which the filter itself deems inapporpriate, such as porn sites, etc. The internet filter that Senator Conroy is 'trying' to implement will work in a similar fashion. It will remove access to all sites which do not fall within certain rating catagories, anything above the highest rating will be blacklisted.

Before you rush out and ring the Police or these fancy web sites

Mona - from Australia, 11 months ago

Our Family First Senator Conroy has spent more than 100 hundred million dollars of our tax payers money already on an Internet Filter, Parents just need to wait until it is implemented, OR get a Free no strings filter program like K9 web protection. It really is free and a great filter that truly prevents children being able to access any nasties.

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