Protecting
Children
There is no way to keep your child safe online. Absolutely
none - just as there isn't in the real world. The key is to
ensure that your child realises that the online world is a
ficticious world - a land of make-believe that can be fun and can
also be a nightmare.
There have been many cases of child abduction, paedophilia,
murder and other crimes resulting from a child's use of the
internet. If at all possible - keep your child away from the
internet - as it's an adult medium of communication.
If you must allow your child to use the internet then ensure
you do the following:
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Set the parental control
settings on Internet Explorer (or whatever browser you use).
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Consider investing in a
program such as Net Nanny (which should keep most of the bad
stuff out).
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Consider investing in a
monitoring program to monitor everything that your child does
online but remember it's no good just monitoring. You, yourself,
must check the logs to ensure everything's fine. It's a lot of
work!
-
Consider purchasing an
anti-spam program. When set up correctly, it should keep out
emails of a sexual, derogatory or perverted nature. It has been
known for spammers to send full-colour, large-size paedophile
images as part of their spam campaign.
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Never assume anything.
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Take an interest in what your
child is doing online.
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Set time-limits for the amount of time they spend online.
It's too easy for a parent to sit a child down in front of the
computer while the parent does what he/she wants to do.
Why is it bad for children to spend too long on the
internet? It's easy for the child to develop a
relationship with the internet - it's as addictive as Nintendo
Gameboys, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and television. Once there,
it's easy for the child to believe anything somebody says because
that glowing screen has an immense psychological impact. The
child begins to empethise with the online community and makes
friends. Such friends seem very real yet who are they? Where are
they? Are they what they seem? The internet is an open door for
paedophiles to groom your child and for burglars to find out what
is in your house worth stealing.
There can be only one rule with online relationships - keep
them online and never allow them to enter
the real world. If your child accepts or makes a phonecall to an
online friend, writes or receives a letter through the post from
an online friend, punish that child and remove permanantly his or
her internet access.
What should I do if I suspect a paedophile is in
contact with my children? If you're in the UK then
you're in luck because the hunt for paedophiles has reached
"Witch Hunt" status. So contact your local police
station. Don't waste your time with the desk staff - they're not
even policemen. Write a letter to the Chief Constable and drop it
into the police station. If it's in writing and you have a copy
then they can't deny having had it and can't deny what you've
said. Just try to make it rational and logical or you'll lose
credebility.
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