Kids Internet Safety

"Internet strangers should not know, who I am and where I go."

A-1 Connect providers of Internet Services Nationwide. We feel that with this privilege comes the responsibility of getting the word out about Internet safety. Here are a few things kids (and adults) should know.

Kids 4-7
Teach children this rhyme: "Internet strangers should not know, who I am and where I go."

When learning to ride a bicycle, children need to learn the basic rules of riding before anything else. These are rules like, "Always wear your helmet," and "Always watch where you are going." It may be years before your children take their bikes out of the driveway and onto the road. That's why you save the rules of the road for later. You start them with training wheels to keep them upright and only let them ride without them when they are ready. The rhyme above is not designed to teach children everything they need to know about Internet safety. It is a fun and basic way to remind your children that when they are online, they need to be careful about what they do.

Kids 8-11
It is important to understand that the Internet can provide different methods of communicating thoughts, ideas, and information. The common phrase "surfing the Internet" refers to the simple act of visiting and exploring different Internet sites and viewing information that others have made public. However, more direct two-way communication is available over the Internet. People can "talk" directly with others by sending and receiving private messages. They can also share documents or files. Parents need to understand how the Internet functions as a communication tool in order to protect themselves and their family.

Children in this age group can surf online as long as content filtering software is used to prevent children from seeing sites they should not see. Content filtering is a type of software that blocks out web sites containing objectionable material such as pornography or gambling, or sites that contain drug related content or other undesirable content. Parents should use software that filters sites based on what real people have found when they visit them and NOT just by the words that are in the web site name. Beware that some kids in this age group know they can get around filtering software so watch them closely. Additionally, kids can bypass filtering software by sending files in emails (called an email attachment). This provides another way for bad information to be sent around the Internet, so monitor all emails carefully.

Instant messaging (IM) is another common way kids communicate online. Watch out for are incoming "anonymous" messages or website links; these are often pornographic. Many IM programs allow you to turn your online status to "off" which reduces the possibility of receiving such messages (others cannot see if you are online or offline).

Kids 11+
Kids in this group are perhaps at the highest risk of encountering Internet strangers due to their growing independence as teens and young adults. It is imperative that kids in this group know they must not give out personal information, including not only what is obvious, but also information about where they live, go to school, names of pets, etc. Any of these pieces of information can be used to help someone find them. Kids this age need to understand that anything they type can be copied. Prank or offensive emails can easily be traced back to the source. Kids this age need to know they should never meet anyone from the Internet without parental permission. Setting up meetings, phone calls, even sending or trading pictures can be very dangerous.

In General:

• Don’t tell anyone your password. Giving that out is like telling your locker combination to that one weird guy that likes you.
• Passwords are like socks. Change both frequently. If you don’t, people will find out.
• If you see a messed-up message post, the person that left it is probably messed up, too. Be smart enough to avoid trouble when it's in your face. Don’t respond to people that are that desperate for attention.
• Remember that EVERYTHING that you type on the Internet – including email – can be looked at by someone if they want to see it bad enough. If you wouldn’t write it on the back of a postcard, don’t type it.
• If something freaks you out, LOG OFF. Ask someone for advice, or just wait a while. The Internet isn’t going anywhere.
• Don’t be a jerk. Don’t flame people. Use good netiquette.

While surfing:

• Never enter an online area that will cost extra money without permission from your parent or another adult. You can lose someone else’s money quicker than you might realize.
• If your name isn’t on the credit card, it’s not even remotely cool to give out the card number online. No matter how much you need that rare J-Lo CD single off of eBay, that's a bad idea.
• Be suspicious when someone offers you something for nothing. If it doesn’t cost money it’s going to cost you something else!
• Read the fine print! You could be signing away more than you think. Many businesses hide tricky legal junk in pages and pages of small print just because they think you don’t have the attention span to read it all. Don't prove them right!

Chatting/Instant Messaging:

• Don’t let people know who you really are. If they don’t already know you, they don’t need to know your phone number, your real name (or even part of it!), your address, or where your parents work. They don’t need to know more about you either. Someone that says she’s your age could just as easily be some greasy old man who really would like to meet you. This is serious!
• Oh, and don’t share pictures of yourself. The only people worth showing a picture to already know what you look like.
• If you meet someone who lives in or near your city, NEVER set up a meeting or phone call with him or her without your parent or another adult knowing. If you ever speak by telephone, use a caller ID blocker before every call so the other person can’t track you.
• If someone is being annoying or making you uncomfortable, ignore him or her, sign off, or report them to the chat room moderator.

Email:

• Always delete unknown email attachments without opening them. There are thousands of pathetic little e-Unabombers out there that’d love to nuke your computer with a virus.
• Try to write emails as politely as you’d be in a face-to-face conversation. Remember, your emails can always be forwarded, and everyone would find out pretty quickly what a jerk you were.
• My friend sent one of our inside jokes to this guy that had a user name that looked like mine. The guy got offended, reported him, and my friend got his Internet account canceled. Be careful with online joking. It’s not the same, and can definitely be taken the wrong way.
• DON’T USE ALL CAPITALS WHEN YOU’RE ONLINE. IT’S THE SAME AS SHOUTING, IS HARD ON THE EYES, AND IT'S REALLY ANNOYING.

Chain letters are NOT cool. The Gap won’t give you any free pants for forwarding an email to 10 people, and you won’t have bad luck, either. You can lose your Internet access by sending these emails. If you send too many, even your friends will stop opening emails from you if they look like SPAM.

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