Damages OF Internet For Children And Their Protection

Most parents assume that pornography and sexual predators are the only dangers their children face on the internet. While these are certainly a huge concern, there are other dangers lurking in the dark corners of the net. These include the following: areas that foster hate crimes, sites that teach children how to make bombs and other weapons, forums to discuss the best ways to commit suicide, sites that encourage the use of drugs, and even areas where children watch others take drugs via webcams. The John Walsh Show recently aired an episode where teenagers watched as a young man died from an overdose of drugs. As parents, you need to know the dangers that exist on the internet, and arm yourself with the tools and rules to prevent your child from becoming a victim.

How to Protect children from These Dangers?

Statistics show that 20 percent of children have been solicited online and 25 percent have received unwanted pornography online. Of the 3 million unique users under seventeen that visited adult sites in September of 2000, 21.2% of them were under the age of 14. More than half of teenagers have visited Internet sites containing pornography, offensive music lyrics, gambling or messages of violence or hate. Federal online child pornography cases jumped from 127 in 1995 to 510 in 1999. In 1998 the FBI opened up 700 cases dealing with online pedophilia, most for posting child pornography. By 2000 that figure quadrupled to 2,856 cases. One third of parents in households with Internet access said they used filtering or blocking software.




Warning Signs To Watch For

* Your child quickly changes what is on the screen when you walk in the room.

* Your child stays up late at night talking to friends online.

* You notice links to sexually-explicit or inappropriate sites in the history section of the browser. 



Tools To Help You Protect Your Kids

Common sense and parental guidance are the leading tools for protecting your children from online dangers. However, it is unreasonable to expect that parents can know what their children are doing at all times. There are many Internet safety tools available to help you monitor your children's pc activities. Explore the links on this page to see what products are available that will help you protect your child from danger.

Which Tools Do I Need?

The links to Internet Safety Tools on this site perform different kinds of functions to help you keep your children safe. Blocking or Filtering software prevents children from accessing inappropriate content. Filtered ISPs are internet service providers that offer protection against objectionable Internet web sites as well as unsolicited and inappropriate emails. PC Time Monitors regulate the times of day and length of time your kids have access to the pc. Activity or Keystroke Loggers keep a log of all communications between your child and others, so that you can later monitor what they have been doing. PopUp Blockers prevent unwanted windows popping up as many of these are porn related.Spam Blockers prevent your children from receiving spam email, which often advertise X-rated sites. Kid Friendly Portals are a safe place for your children to be when searching the internet. It is often best to use a combination of these types of tools to ensure safe internet usage.

Where Can I Learn More?

Many of the links on this site are provided so that you can gather as much information as possible about protecting your children from internet abuse. We have also included links to sites or products that may help you protect your children offline, as well as online. Explore each section of the site to find out what you can do to protect your kids.