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Rhune
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Another Safety Concern for Children
« on: Feb 9th, 2004, 11:27am »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35414.html
 
Fewer children are becoming regular users of chat rooms, according to the interim results of a year-long study into young people's behaviour online.  
 
The University of Lancashire's Cyberspace Research Unit found that the number of primary school children becoming regular chat users dipped last year compared with 2002.  
 
The research also found that, overall, even more youngsters (nine out of ten, compared to eight in ten) were aware of basic online safety advice such as never giving out personal details when chatting online.  
 
This is encouraging for those keen to ensure that young people stay safe when using the Net, but the research also highlights a worrying trend. For despite these improvements, experts are concerned that a hardcore group of chat room users are unaware, or simply ignore online safety advice.  
 
What's more, an increasing proportion of these 8-11 year olds admitted to attending face-to-face meetings with people they've met online. In 2002 one in ten chat users admitted meeting people - last year it increased to one in four.  
 
Said report author Rachel O'Connell: "Overall, there is an increase in knowledge of safety guidelines. Worryingly, there are still people unaware of the risks associated with chat.  
 
And she warned: "The message is not getting through about meeting people."  
 
Indeed, this idea of the message not getting through was a theme that was repeated throughout the day.  
 
Ruth Hammond from BECTA (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) echoed the experiences of other speakers by saying that some children do take risks online.  
 
But while she said that parents could do more to reinforce online safety messages, she also called on people to keep a sense of perspective.  
 
Citing official figures, she said some 5,000 children under the age of 16 die or are seriously injured on Britain's roads each year. Yet in the past two or three years, there were fewer than 30 cases of children seriously sexually assaulted by a man they'd met in a chat room, she said.  
 
"The biggest Internet danger is that we concentrate on the dangers and forget the benefits," she said.  
 
Friday, Feb 6 was "European Safer Internet Day", with sixteen countries taking part in a day of action to defend "children's right to a safer Internet".  
 
Elsewhere, in the US the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has announced that reports concerning the sexual exploitation of children are at an all-time high.  
 
Over the past five years reports to its CyberTipline, a Web site - backed by Government agencies including the FBI - have increased 750 per cent. Last year, reports concerning illegal images of children, child prostitution and other crimes against children soared to 82,000.  
 
Said NCMEC boss Ernie Allen: "This dramatic increase clearly demonstrates that child sexual exploitation is a major problem in the US and around the world.  
 
"The rapid growth of sexually abusive images of children can be attributed to the ever-increasing number of users on the Internet, more affordable technology, and a federal law requiring ISPs to report all incidents of child pornography on their systems to the National Center." ®  
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david
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #1 on: Feb 9th, 2004, 11:39am »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify Remove Remove
That is exact reason my kids computer time is 100% monitored by us! They also know if someone contacts them via instant message, email or game chat that they tell us right away (before they reply) they uphold our rules and with the PC being in a "common" room it is easy for us to monitor where they go. they are even told to tells if someone they know, or claims to be someone they know, contacts them. You can never be too safe!
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luci
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #2 on: Feb 9th, 2004, 6:11pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
Don't you have parental controls on your internet provider?  It's a great thing to have.  I even set it for us so we don't get a lot of the nasty junk!  You do whatever it takes to write the ticket!
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david
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #3 on: Feb 9th, 2004, 7:55pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify Remove Remove
That is true but some of the protection programs make if impossible to do legit things you may enjoy like games etc
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Rhune
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #4 on: Feb 9th, 2004, 8:23pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
My kids are too young to chat, but I can tell you there are gonna be several rules in my house about chatting.  The first and foremost is NO webcam.  There is too much abuse of web cams with underage kids who are curious about sex.  I think that webcams really make it worse because of the level of interaction involved. One of the key things about our house is that we have one central computer room next to the living room, with no doors, just openly connected.  Computing is a family event and it's done sitting with each other. Wink  I understand a child's need for privacy, but I don't think much privacy on the computer is a good thing.  It's living letting your child have privacy with a blowtorch.
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david
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #5 on: Feb 9th, 2004, 8:48pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify Remove Remove
That is the exact local of our computer which makes it easy to inforce 100% monitoring of kids PC time
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MzWings
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #6 on: Feb 10th, 2004, 9:47pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
on Feb 9th, 2004, 8:23pm, Rhune wrote:
My kids are too young to chat, but I can tell you there are gonna be several rules in my house about chatting.  The first and foremost is NO webcam.  There is too much abuse of web cams with underage kids who are curious about sex.....we have one central computer room next to the living room, with no doors, just openly connected.  Computing is a family event .  It's living like letting your child have privacy with a blowtorch.

 
on Feb 9th, 2004, 8:48pm, david wrote:
That is the exact local of our computer which makes it easy to inforce 100% monitoring of kids PC time

 
 :clapping:  Good good!  PC's should be located centrally in a home - especially where there are children in the family (grandchildren included).
 
The dangers out there for our babies exist without them even leaving home.  I hate that our little ones have to learn of such dangers to their very lives before they've even lived.  I think we're living in a generation/time where we have to set new precedents.
 
« Last Edit: Feb 10th, 2004, 9:52pm by MzWings » IP Logged
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david
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #7 on: Feb 16th, 2004, 10:46am »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify Remove Remove
Here are some of the methods we use to protect our children
 
1. Most important of all our children know they CAN talk to us about anything regardless of what it is.
 
2. Usual dont talk to strangers even if they say things that might make them think we know them
 
3. Stay in a group and if someone does grab them they have been taught how to get free and to make as much noise as possible
 
Now Internet safety
 
1. PC is in a common room so we can monitir use and it is 100% monitored there is nothing they should be doing that we cant see
 
2. All emails mine Pilars and kids go to same inbox so we know what emails and who they are from they are getting
 
3. Kids are instructed if anyone (even someone they know) contacts them they tell us right away "Before they reply"
 
4. Kids are only allowed to go on preapproved (by us) websites any new sites must be checked out by us first
 
Our kids are very aware of the dangers out there and how they need to be cautious. Its a differnt world we live in now when I was young I would leave house telling my parents I was going out to play and I would be all over neighborhood. Now sadly I cant let my kids outside even in front yard. We cant tell our kids enough how to be careful and Pilar and I regularly tell them what they need to do to be safe. I wish they could enjoy playing as I did but that is not to be. Our job as parents is to raise and protect our children and that is what Pilar and I try to do. Not sure if many of you will agree but when we see a news report of an abducted child we make sure kids watch report too so they may learn sometimes outcome is good sometimes it is sad but regardless of outcome they learn. We can NEVER stop teaching our kids how to be SAFE!
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Rupey
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #8 on: Feb 16th, 2004, 12:20pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
Fortunately, my kids don't yet know about chat rooms and message boards.  I have a folder for each of my kids with links to appropriate sites that they may visit.  They are only allowed to visit the sites in their own folders.  We limit the amount of time they spend on the computer and our computer is located in our family room so that we can always monitor their computer use.
 
My son recently got in trouble for visiting the Nickelodean TV website (not in his folder) without asking permission.  I hadn't had a chance to preview it.  Sometimes the pop-ups can be raunchy, you know.  My pop-up blocker doesn't get all of them.
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david
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Re: Another Safety Concern for Children
« Reply #9 on: Feb 16th, 2004, 12:39pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify Remove Remove
Which is why concerns parents like you and us place our PC's in family rooms and only allow kids on preapproved websites regardless of how harmless they think they are. Yes my kids dont go to chatrooms but the do have yahoo names to play games so they could be contacted but the noise (ding) gets me up and over to see who is trying to contact them as well as they (kids) always let me or Pilar know if someone "dings" in I also forgot to mention that our perating system (Windows) has a password so PC cant even be used if its been turned off or inactive for several minutes this prevents kids and anyone else in home from using PC while we are at work
« Last Edit: Feb 16th, 2004, 1:18pm by david » IP Logged
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