Privacy Advocates Beware...

Let me be really clear at the start of this chapter all of the privacy advocates that pontificate about how wrong it is for parents to spy on their kids’ activities, some online, in an attempt to keep them safe can just go pound sand. There, I said it. I don’t need anyone’s permission to look at my kids’ email accounts, see where they’ve gone online, or even log into their social networking site to see what they’ve posted privately. I have every right as a parent to do what it takes to keep them safe.

Pornography

A report from Australia reported that children who eventually became sexual predators all had access and experienced pornography on the Internet.

According to Dr. Layden, there are no studies and no data that indicate a benefit from pornography use.

A Sampling of Congressman Foley's Predatory IM Sessions to an Underage Male Page

Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen: tshirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off you
Maf54: Do I make you a little horney?
Teen: A little
Maf54: Cool

Email

Kids maintain multiple web-based email accounts to deceive their parents. In addition, they often delete messages from their sent and inbox folders to hide incoming and messages sent. More sophisticated teens rename file attachments to seemingly harmful names and file types to avoid being blocked or detected. Data keys are often used by children to swap questionable content with one another.

Elementary school children should not have an email account.

Parents should set a family policy of 1 email account per person and know all of their kid's passwords.

Online Child Molesters

A 13 year old girl in Georgia was raped by a man she had met during an online conversation. According to investigators, her alleged predator, a 40 year old man, pretended to be a 17 year old while chatting online. After getting her address, the man attacked her and raped her in her home after posing as a repairman to gain access.

Search Engines

Safe search settings do not work well and are not viable methods of protecting children while searching the Internet.

Parents should use content filtering software to block public search engines for elementary and middle school teens.

www.ajkids.com and www.yahooligans.com are viable safe search engines for younger children.

Protection at School

During a test of a large public school system in the United States and using a second grade user account, Mr. Smith was able to bypass the school system's content filters and access pictures depicting hard core pornography and sex in approximately 60 seconds. He was also able to view a homemade movie of a couple having sex in their kitchen. Are today's schools really safe for children?