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Can We Keep Children Safe?
Is it possible to keep kids safe online?Yes, but it requires effort. Keeping them safe is a matter of communication, not technology. If you have open and ongoing communication with your kids, meaning you talk to them about their online and offline life on a regular basis, then you'll be okay. But parents need to understand that kids can always inadvertently get into trouble online, generally by accidentally tripping upon a site while searching for something else. Would your kid be okay locating a site that details how to build a bomb? Think about it and talk to them. Communication is the key.
What about filtering software?
Filtering software can certainly help parents enforce the rules. These various software packages will block access to a lot of sites, although parents need to recognize that it might block access to some good sites that parents don't object to. You need to find the one that meets your child's needs. Some block hate better than sex, some block violence better than drugs and some allow parents to decide what will be blocked.
Is it okay for kids to chat?
I believe it is, yes. But they need to learn the same precautions. Teach your children the same rules regarding privacy. They must know what is and what is not shared online. The safest bet will be for them to chat in monitored chat rooms, where live adult monitors are in the room watching and keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior. There are several sites that feature these, such as surfmonkey.com.
How do you know if you're being cyberstalked?
Cyberstalking can take many forms, but in general, if you're being harassed online more than once by the same person, you've got a cyberstalker, especially if you're getting a sense that whenever you get online you will have to confront or deal with this person and their abuses.
So what do you do if you're being cyberstalked?
First and foremost, start by ignoring the stalker. More often than not, the lack of response on your part will turn the stalker off and the behavior will end. Keep in mind that these perpetrators get satisfaction out of getting a reaction, no matter what that reaction is. They like knowing that they're reaching you. So the minute you reply, you feed the fire. The trick is to starve it instead. Keep this in mind when it comes to reading email sent by the stalker. Many Internet and email programs allow the sender to know if their email has been read. Don't give them the satisfaction to know you've read their messages. Delete them unread, period.
What if that's not enough and the behavior continues or worsens?
Then you need help from an organization such as CyberAngels. Visit our website and send us an email, or write to us directly at Cyber911@cyberangels.org . Or see if your chat program features a CyberAngel channel. If it does, you can likely find one of our 1300 members there to help you. If you do send an email, we'll generally respond within hours with further instructions.
How do you handle these cases?
We first investigate the case and debrief the victim. We need to get a sense of what has happened and how serious the threat of danger is. The big question remains: Is there a risk of offline danger? The second we think there is, we insist the victim contact his or her local police department.
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