UK Signs on For Child Safety – We Say ‘Make it Global!’

By Laura Yecies

Summer is long since over school is well underway, and the realities are starting to set in. Around the world, a new generation of K-5 parents are dealing with a brand-new generational issue in child-rearing – how to keep your kids safe online.

We were Gen-Xers, the so-called slackers who turned out to be pretty ambitious after all. While we didn’t invent the Internet, many of us helped build it into what it is today.

Now, we’ve got to keep our kids safe, without having grown up in the same digital world. Yes, many of us are increasingly tech-savvy (the Internet started showing up in or around our college years, so we’re not completely clueless). But we certainly didn’t have the Net in kindergarten, nor were we building Facebook profiles to at age ten.

Dating back to the old Zone Labs days, all of us here on the ZoneAlarm team have long supported consumer education with our Defend the Net campaign (download the PDF format How to Protect your Family Online guide here http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/media/pdf/defendTheNet_howToGuide.pdf ). But we’re just one voice. Last month, the UK government has decided to undertake a massive effort to provide parents with a single-source guide to protecting kids online. From social networks to anti-malware, this site is expected to be very, very thorough.

More info here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7638492.stm

It’s an honorable effort. But since the problems are hardly directed at the UK, I’d like to propose that this becomes a global effort. We need one source, in many languages, where parents around the world can find out all the information they need to protect kids online.

Currently, in the US, there are a plethora of resources, both public and private. We like www.safekids.org. FEMA has a site too, www.fema.gov/kids/on_safety.htm. As does the FBI: www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/safety2.htm. And the National Cybersecurity Alliance: http://www.staysafeonline.info/home-quiz.html. And there are others.

Others sites we like:
NetSmartz
www.netsmartz.org

ChildNet International
www.chatdanger.com

Internet Content Rating Association
http://www.icra.org/kids

The New York Public Library
www.nypl.org/legal/safety.cfm

 

Comments

[buddi]

Whether doing research for school projects and homework, chatting with friends or playing games, your child is likely to spend ever more time on the computer as they get older. While they may understand computer programs, surfing the internet, chat rooms and multi-player games better than you do, they still need your guidance. Here are a few things you can do to keep your child safe online:
1. Consider using internet filtering software, walled gardens and child-friendly search engines. Use your browser's controls as some offer differing degrees of security for each family member.
2. Keep the computer in a communal area of the house, where it's easier to monitor what your children are viewing.
3. Tell children not to give out their personal details. If they want to subscribe to any services online, make up a family email address to receive the mail.
4. Children love to chat, but make sure they only use moderated chat rooms and encourage them to introduce you to their online friends.
5. Encourage your children to tell you if they feel uncomfortable, upset or threatened by anything they see online.
6. Surf together. Go online with your children and become part of their online life. The key to safe surfing is communication.

http://www.buddi.co.uk

[dexter]

I enjoyed this content, and the feedback from others is interesting.