• Benefits...a window on the world where your child can learn, explore, find new games and play with friends; a necessity for school and career • Dangers...sites that contain material that is pornographic, obscene, violent, hateful, drug related, illegal or otherwise inappropriate content for kids

• Risks... child molesters, stalkers and other dangerous strangers, inappropriate content, bomb making recipes and others sites thatencourage illegal activity

• Get involved in their online activities• Ask them to show you what they like to do• Get a book like The Dummies Guide to the Internet. Learning is fun - and necessary for parenting in the digital age. • Remember you’re the one in charge and there is no one solution to suit everyone. • There will always be ‘tough’ topics you’ll need to discuss with your kids.• Add Internet safety to the list and make it a priority to talk about this important part of life with your children.

• Spend time online with your kids • Teach kids to never give out personal information • Put the computer in a common area of the house so supervision is easier• Establish clear rules and sign a Family Internet Use Contract (included in our Safe Surfing Guide)• Discuss your rules with other adults that supervise your children online• Install software tools that block unwanted materials and sites

• Keep in touch with family and friends

• Collaborate on homework projects with their classmates

• Develop writing skills

• Find pen pals from around the world

• Encounter dangerous strangers • Receive pornographic spam (unwanted email) with links to graphic adult Web sites • Download viruses that can damage your computer

• Teach kids never to divulge personal information • Never open or reply to emails from strangers • Share their email password with you

• Introduce you to any new e-mail friends before they can begin exchanging messages (especially with younger children)

• Develop relationships with other kids around the world • Talk to people with similar interests and hobbies • Communicate instantly with family, friends, teachers and more

• Revealing personal information in a highly public place • Arranging to meet potentially dangerous 'friends' • Exposure to offensive language and 'adult' conversation • Developing relationships with people adopting false identities • Spending more time with "chat" friends than real ones • Contracting Viruses, Worms & Trojan Horse programs

• Teach kids to never give out personal information • Tell children about the dangers of meeting unknown 'friends' in Instant Messaging. • Make kids aware that people aren't always what they seem • Consider using software to block transmission of sensitive information or IM capabilities, altogether

• Spend time with your child getting to know their online “buddies” • Tell kids to never give out personal info or photographs • Never let kids agree to a face-to-face meeting with someone met online • Instruct kids to tell you if anyone proposes a meeting • Teach kids to never respond to anything that makes them feel uncomfortable • Contact authorities if you think any child is in danger

There are many tools and resources available to help parents manage the time children spend online. Choose what works best for your family. Filtering software is designed to assist, not replace parents in keeping kids safe online. It can screen out pornography, obscenity, violence, hate, bigotry, sites advocating criminal acts or any site a parent want to restrict access to…There are different filters:

Client side software is installed on your own computer and monitors use and blocks accessServer side software is installed on a host server is usually controlled by your Internet Service Provider

Static filtering is based on lists of inappropriate content or words. Some lists are based on human review and some automated.Dynamic filtering uses artificial intelligence to categorize Web content and Web sites and is sometimes used in conjunction with human review Privacy and email filtering help prevent kids from revealing personal information.Kids browsers and search engines point children to 'kid friendly' sites and filter inappropriate material.

For all of your filtering needs

A FREE trial version is available at www.cyberpatrol.com

• Revealing personal info in emails or in Instant Messaging • Taking part in online contests and competitions • Taking up "free" offers

• Filling out forms while shopping without designating how you want the information to be used

• What information is being collected • How this information will be used • If the information is shared and with whom • How you can opt-out of uses that you don't desire

• A great way to help kids stay safe and set some reasonable ground rules

• A tool to help you talk to your kids about a ‘tough topic’

• A short list of what the ground rules your family uses computers and the Internet

• Have a family discussion of Internet safety rules • Together, sign The Family Internet Use Contract which lists all the agreed rules

• Post it near the computer as a reminder of the agreed rules

• Google is an extremely powerful search engine that can monitor the entire Internet for sites that have your child’s name posted• Type your child’s name into Google with “ ” around it to look for sites with your child’s exact name (most will likely have nothing to do with your child)• Signup for Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts)which will automatically e-mail you when a new site has been found with your child’s name posted

• Call the FBI if you think a sexual predator has been communicating with a child

• If you are not sure who to call, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) 800-843-5678

• Call your local police with any other concerns regarding Internet crime

• Check the Internet Browser’s “History” to review recently visited sites

• Install monitoring software that will track your child’s Internet usage

• If Browser History is always clean, it is likely that someone is trying to cover their tracks

• Bring your computer toany Data Doctors locationfor a FREE examination

www.getnetwise.com • (202)638-4370

www.childrenspartnership.org • (310)260-1220

www.yahooligans.com • (408)731-3300

www.fbi.gov • (202)324-3000

www.ftc.gov • (888)382-4357

www.safekids.com

http://family.go.com