Talk to your teen
- Find out what sites they use, why they like them, what their friends use.
- Talk to them about what YOU feel comfortable with THEM doing.
- Discourage them from providing personal info over the net - no surnames, email addresses phone numbers. Be careful with the pictures that you use. Don't mention sports teams or schools.
- http://www.safeteens.com/ has some excellent tips. Have a loko at their section on grooming, it explains how some Internet predators operate.
- Wired Safety has some tips on what you can do if your child won't talk to you (or you don't believe them).
- Banning them from Internet access doesn’t work. If they think you will ban them from using the net, they probably won’t tell you about any problems they have had.
- Whats hot, what’s not? Get them to teach you. Let them drive (the computer) and show you what they are into. Get them to book movie tix etc WITH YOU. You may learn something.
- Check out the safety and privacy sections of social networking sites. What kind of safeguards do they have? Can the site be set to private? How are inappropriate sites identified? What is classified as inappropriate?
Filtering
This is a hot topic since the federal government released 'NetAlert - Protecting Australian Families Online'.
Details on federal policy and availability of filtering software can be found at http://www.netalert.gov.au/home.html
If you are using filtering software, explain to your teen why. Be aware that some filtering blocks sites your family may want to access.
Your library and filtering
Due to the diverse information needs encountered in public libraries, filtering on library's public access computers may not be what you would choose for your family at home. The Australian Library and Information Associations response to filtering in public libraries can be found at http://alia.org.au/advocacy/internet.access/pla.media.release.pdf
Tracking and KeyLoggers
These programs track where your child (or anyone else using your computer) goes on the Internet. They can be used to view sites (even after the history has been cleared) . Key Loggers keep a track of everything that is typed on a computer keyboard. Information on these programs can be found at WiredSafety and Safeteens.
Think carefully before employing these technologies, as teens may take affront to being spied upon.
If your looking for a site where Teens can learn about safety considerations etc. Try http://www.websafecrackerz.com/default.aspx. Websafecrackerz was developed to teach teens how to use the web safely.
