A recent opinion article on StatesmanJournal.com deals with how to protect your kids online, and has many good, salient points about family involvement and Internet safety. However, it leaves out the most important step, which is actually securing your computer with Internet safety software.

What the article’s author, Debbie Joa, gets absolutely right is the fact that families need to have an Internet safety game plan, and discuss it as a family. Here are the steps she recommends:

• Put the family computer in a shared or common family room: this is an excellent first step, but we know through first-hand stories from our customers that this does not prevent children viewing unwanted material accidentally, or prevent them from being targets of online predators. 
• Communicate—create a list of rules for online usage, and have children and family members show the sites they visit and the people that they chat with: this works as long as everyone in your family is 100 percent honest 100 percent of the time. Also, it assumes that a child would keep track of everyone they chat with. Chat rooms simply do not function this way, and online predators are not always completely honest about who they are and what they are doing. A child might think they are chatting with a 14-year old girl when in reality they are chatting with a 40-year-old man who is “grooming” them to become their next victim. There is also a virtual catalogue of code words that are used in chats for when a parent or authority figure is watching, so that even a very vigilant parent could be clueless to what their child is talking about online.

The truth of the matter is, even if the family computer is in a shared room, and the parents engage their children and talk to them constantly about what they do online, they aren’t protected, they are merely aware. We are all aware that we should watch our wallets and purses on subways, yet people are pick-pocketed every day. Awareness is a wonderful first step, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for safety.

The most responsible thing a parent can do is install Internet safety software on their computer that allows them to not only block objectionable content, but also easily and quickly monitor who might be talking to your kids and other family members online. Safe Eyes gives parents and others who wish to be accountable for what they do online the flexible, customizable tool kit they need, and is the number one recommended Internet safety software by America’s leading independent consumer agency.

Filed under: Internet Safety News