Child Exploitation and Obscenity (CEOS): Parent's Guide to Children's Online Safety

Nearly all American children now have access to the Internet at home, in school, or at public libraries. Internet technology affords children access to vast amounts of valuable information and endless sources of entertainment. However, it also exposes children to certain dangers. For example, children may come into contact with pornographic web sites, SPAM (unsolicited emails) containing obscene material file swapping programs with inappropriate and sometimes mislabeled media content, or information about violent or hateful speech. They could also encounter actual predators who use the Internet to identify and lure their victims.

As a result, some parents may understandably feel the urge to eliminate these risks by completely cutting off their children's access to the web. However, a decision to prohibit children from using the web would deprive them of access to an amazing resource for legitimate information and communication. Parents might also find it impractical to enforce such prohibitions. For instance, motivated children and teens could circumvent their parents' rules by getting online in schools, libraries, web cafes, their friends' homes, or by using mobile phones and other devices. For these reasons, it is important for parents to strike a balance between the benefits that the Internet offers their children and the risks that it poses. Parents can achieve such a balance by communicating with their children about the dangers on the web and by taking other protective steps like those discussed below.

Communicating with children about the risks that they can encounter online is the most important step in keeping them safe while they surf. Many parents find it helpful to set down clear rules for their children to follow. Examples of rules include "no giving out your name or address," "no posting your picture on public sites of any kind," or "no chatting with strangers." Sometimes families find it helpful to design formal Internet usage agreements or "contracts." See http://www.nap.edu/netsafekids/pro_set_guidelines.html for tips on setting up those kinds of agreements.

Filtering and monitoring technologies can provide parents with additional tools. Filtering technology consists of software that screens out some content while allowing other material to flow through to its intended destination. Parents can set up various filters to block material according to their families' priorities and preferences. The technology is not perfect - some desirable material may be accidentally blocked and some objectionable material may slip through the cracks - but filtering programs generally serves the useful purpose of automatically and consistently screening out harmful material. Filtering technology comes in several forms:

Monitoring technology enables parents to supervise children's Internet activity by reporting on their surfing activity. Some monitoring software creates a digital record of the websites that children visit and makes that information available for parents to later review. Likewise, keystroke software makes a record of all of the keystrokes that a child user makes, so that the parents can later review what their children typed. Other variations and combinations of this software exist as well.

In addition, the Internet browser (such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, or America Online) that children use to surf the web automatically tracks useful information. Parents can easily review the browser "history" file to see approximately 20 sites that have been most recently visited by that browser. Parents can use this Internet history function by clicking on the small downward shaped arrow in the address box of their Internet browser. Along similar lines, parents can search their computer's Internet "cache" files, which are system resources that store a longer list of recently visited Internet sites. The simplest way for parents to access the cache files is search for the word "cache" using the computer system's search function; the search function is typically found in the start menu in the bottom left hand corner of the computer screen. Parents can gather information using their computer's "cookies" records as well. Cookies are trace files that contain information about Internet users and can provide additional clues for parents about the kinds of sites that their children are visiting. However, parents should recognize that technically skilled children can edit or delete all of these kinds of records.

What to do if a Problem Arises

National and local law enforcement agents investigate criminal activities that may arise from internet use. Parents should tell their children how to report offensive material if they encounter it before they start surfing. That way, the children have a constructive way of reacting to embarrassing or upsetting materials. Parents who come across offensive material or hear about online predators should document the online activities as much as possible and report the activity to the ISP, local law enforcement or the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, parents can submit tips to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children for further review by law enforcement: http://www.ncmec.org/missingkids.