Pacific Internet - Ukiah, California

Information for Parents

Parents - Security for Children on the Internet

Strategies that can be used to help keep kids safe on the Internet

  • Setup a restricted account for a child, not an admin account, or the child can disable any protection you setup. Change this in control panel->user accounts in Windows.

  • Don't leave your account logged in and walk away from the computer. Log out when you are done if you share the computer with a child.

  • If a child knows your password, change it.

  • Log browsing history, beyond the browser's history functions. Filtering products like K-9 below, and most routers will log a url history as well and this is harder to crack (since the child wouldn't have the router password hopefully). Sometimes the logs are restricted to a couple days, or need to be manually enabled, but they are there.

  • Anti-virus, Anti-phishing, Anti-malware software does not protect children from porn or perverts.

  • Make sure kids know how and why to use fake addresses, phone numbers, zip codes, and not to post pictures of body parts on social networking sites (or send via SMS). They need to know that this is a crime, they are not anonymous, and police will come talk to them about it.

  • Kids need to know that there ARE bad people with bad intentions lurking out there. Talk to them about kidnapping, and predators. Show them some true stories.

  • For younger children, restrict, or monitor email, facebook, myspace, twitter, or other social networking, or instant messaging accounts. Most of the software below can help with this.

Software / Filtering

The Bottom Line

  • The determined child will get around any filtering.

  • Children's access should be monitored. Place the computer in the living room where you can see the monitor.

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