Internet child safety

I thought it would be a good idea to show people where to get info on internet child safety. A great deal of information is here at dmoz.org (a reputable source) but I posted this because I thought some practical advice might help you make sure your kids are safe online. By modifying very simple computer settings you can help prevent children from getting up to stuff they shouldnt be doing. NONE of the things I put in the quote box are dificcult at all to acheive and will take no more than 5 or ten minutes each but will add much to your childs safety.

After doing these things any software your child wants to install will have to be installed by you, also this means that the child cannot disable any services and startup programs, therefore, any safety and security software will not be bypassed by the child. It will be difficult for the child to do anything online that you cannot find out about. These steps should be seen as acheiving the goal of putting you more in control of your childs computer time and preventing them from covering their tracks

this applies to windows XP users

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Why THANK YOU! I agree, we should keep our Kids safe. And lets hope none of them read this. Else now they know how to beat parental controls.

 

No problem ! BTW if anyone needs any extra help with changing those settings I can tell you or post new links

 

Good information !!! Thanks

 

I think Internet safety for children is something we need, but we especially need to talk to children ABOUT Internet safety and tell them that the Internet is just that - the Internet.

 

Thats true, people should inform kids of dangers and making the right choices but really its terrifying because even grown adults are getting caught out by scammers and other really horrible people. You can tell a child all you want about responsibility and safety but I think really you cant ever be sure theyre not going to be sucked into some evil scheme to trick them I have heard of many tales where adults are confused enough by such ploys. Then again all the hardware and software on the planet cant protect you from that either so really its down to a parent knowing what their child is up to on the internet and keeping tabs on the child

 

It seemed worth bumping this post so people could see this link that is on microsoft all about the issue
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/family/default.mspx
some advice from microsoft

except number 7 which is debateable and contentious

 

You're RIGHT about #7. Obviously, nobody sells John Denver stuff anymore.
Otherwise, I'd stop using illegal means to get what I don't have.

Zak, IF you happen to read this, you know who you are. PLEASE re-release your dad's stuff? I'd pay for the collection.

 

this is a site which contains info on all aspects of online safety - not just how to protect your kids but how to protect against identity theft and a whole range of things most people dont consider.

It also has links to law enforcement agencies in the USA

http://www.lzarea.org/Internet_safety.html

 

This is a very good subject to bring up in here, I fully suport proper mesures in keeping the children safe. Proper Education combined with the right security to keep our kids safe is the best way to go. The children are our future, our most valuable resource.

 

cool I thought I would bump the thread as it hasnt been at the top for ages

 

if you really want to keep your kids safe (this is more on the "preventing them installing software") use Linux. It has much better access control than Windows - hey, write a LiveCD or DVD, store /home on a USB drive and then you have a system that resets itself back to defaults (leaving user files) after each reboot, so if they DO screw it up, just reboot and voila. While this may be beyond the capabilities of a lot of parents, it's a good solution for geek parents
However, the best solution is to talk to your child. Explain that on the Internet you don't know if somebody's who they say they are.
Understand one thing though: teenage boys WILL download porn. No matter what you tell them, no matter how good your access controls, they will do it. Not gonna post methods of disabling blocking software in case kids read this Probably the best you can do is damage control; make sure it doesn't get TOO out of hand (i.e. hardcore fetish scat fisting etc).

 

Thank you for your useful information. In my eyes we have to monitor what our kids is watching and browsing on the Internet, and from the other side we have to tell them why we prohibit them from doing something on the Internet, to build their independent personality.

 

I just thought it time to BUMP this thread.

 

The Arlington Kidsafe Browser is an excellent product that I can recommend
very easy to manage and add links to for the kids - very tight controls and heavily password protected so they cant even exit from it without permission
http://www.arlington.com.au/kse/moreinfo.htm

I would really recommend this !!!

screenshot of it
http://www.arlington.com.au/kse/screen1.htm

 

isn't this just more censorship? good thing kids are lil hackers these days and can get past this stuff easily.

 

There's SOO many resources out there for them to beat your censorship programs. Trust me; i was a kid, beat every one of them and thankful for it.

 

Hey there thanks so much for sharing that! These days are becoming increasingly bad over the internet with all of the cyber bullies and people who feel it is OK to attack someone over the web. We need to protect our kids from bad influences and it is hard because this can be isolated or all over. Generally though it isn't a good idea for us (as parents) to give our kids, an account of their own like on facebook or youtube until at least 14.

 

i stumbled in this firefox extension aimed at sterilizing the internet from contents unsuitable to children and more

Zoodles
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/160759/