Types of threats on the internet
There are a lot of threats lurking on our children on the Internet. There are the most popular:
· Unwanted and inappropriate content (computer viruses, trojans, spam). For example spam can include suspicious links related to dangerous websites of a porn, racism, with elements of psychological manipulation (eg promoting religious movements considered a sect, content promoting anorexia and bulimia, encouraging to commit suicide), content incitement to commit a crime, content that promotes a fascist or other totalitarian system of state, content to encourage prostitution or gambling, content that promotes drugs and other stimulants.
· Porn sites. The Internet allows children to find erotic videos and pictures in easy way. A lot of places where we find such materials are available for a fee, but there are also a lot of other sites where you can watch free erotica and pornography. Nowadays, even inexperienced users can easily find such places. According to the latest research scientists, over 30% of search content through search engines (Google, MSN, and Yahoo) are pornographic content. The most entered word by the user in the search engines is ‘sex’.
· Perverts. The phenomenon of grooming by adults using the Internet has been recognized as a problem in the nineties, and the scale of the problem grows with the development of communication services and increases together with the population of children that are using the Internet. To establish close contact with children / teenagers perverts mainly use internet communicators and chat rooms. Internet has become a dream “hunting ground” for many criminals – ranging from ordinary crooks, ending with pedophiles.
· Cyber violence (eg vulgar name-calling, humiliation, ridicule, threats, harassment, blackmail). It is also recording movies and photos against the will of the people, publication or distribution of ridiculing, embarrassing information, photos, videos using the Web, impersonating someone against his will.
TIPS FOR PARENTS
What we, as a parents can do to protect our kids? Well, there are a few ways to do it.
Contrary to appearances, our child protection against such threats is not too difficult and complicated, even if you do not feel proficient in the use of the Internet.
Here are some tips:
1. Discuss with your child how to use the Internet and consistently enforce them (eg time to use the internet, watching TV, playing computer games).
2. Set the computer in an open area.
3. Explore the network with your child.
4. Teach your child that a person known to the network do not always have to be who he says he is, and does not need to speak the truth.
5. Pay attention to what information about yourself puts your child on the Internet (should not give their personal information and send pictures to strangers met online).
6. Show your child valuable space on the network.
7. If your child becomes a victim of a crime do not delete anything from your computer
8. Install parental monitoring software on your and on your child’s computer
9. The most important thing – talk with your child (regular)!
As soon as possible parents should aware their children that the Internet is an extremely useful tool, but it is also a dangerous one.
About the author:
PCWebControl is popular parental monitoring software. It is commonly used by individuals along with public facilities or private companies