Risks
The two greatest concerns for anyone interested in children's
welfare on the Internet are protecting children from inappropriate material and
protecting them from inappropriate contact with people they may meet online.
Content
It's no secret that not all of the material on the Internet
is appropriate for children. What is appropriate for a particular child is a
decision that should be left to that child's parents and responsible guardians.
While most inappropriate sites are easy to spot and avoid,
less scrupulous sites take advantage of likely typographical errors on the part
of the computer user to send them to another site entirely. Make a simple
mistake, such as typing .com instead of .gov in the URL of a site, and you may
end up looking at a pornographic site rather than the site of a government
office.
Naturally, the most effective way to keep children away from
these sites is supervision. Unfortunately, no one can watch everything a child
does online all the time. A useful tool in those circumstances is filtering
software. Filtering software searches a site for a certain type of content, and
if it finds it, keeps the computer from being able to access it. A number of
companies offer filtering software, including the following:
Inappropriate Contact on the Net
Another side of the Internet is its promise of instant
communication with anyone, anywhere in the world, by e-mail, chat, instant
messaging, or other means. For the most part this is a great thing, offering
chances to share ideas and meet people in ways that would not otherwise be
possible.
The ease of use and anonymity of the Internet may allow
children to be in contact with persons whom parents would not approve. While
this is a real danger, it is also one most easily countered with education.
It is critical to make sure that children understand that people may not be
what they present themselves to be on the Net. There are other steps that can
help, and I recommend the rules for internet use outlined by the Center for
Missing and Exploited Children.
