Thorough if occasionally geeked-out look at the technologies children are using and the steps parents must
take to minimize their kids' chances of having a bad experience online. Smith, the chief information
officer for the World Wildlife Fund, shows the 5 million ways your kids can get around the basic barriers
many parents set up. He advocates a more deliberate, comprehensive approach, including aggressively
limiting your child's Internet use: For middle schoolers, he recommends banning instant messaging,
blocking search engines such as Google and denying access to free e-mail services such as Yahoo Mail.
The amount of technical detail will liberate some and overwhelm others (hey, welcome to the Internet, folks),
but you can always skip to Smith's helpfully specific recommendations, including which filtering and
monitoring programs work best.
- The Washington Post November 25, 2007
Smith outlines methods for protecting children against online threats. He describes
recent tragedies and shows how to protect against specific dangers, for parents or
educators of children from age eight to 17. He specifically discusses how to monitor
children online, with recommendations for surfing, blogs, and social networking; email;
instant messaging and voice-over-IP, cell phones, and PDAs; and talking to children
about risks. Information has been drawn from research reports, case studies, child
advocacy organizations and web sites, interviews with experts and parents, and the
author's own experiences as a parent, technology professional, and educator.
- Reference & Research Book News November 2007
Read an interview with Gregory Smith by Tom Hoffman at ComputerWorld magazine. Smith
discusses how and why he wrote this important book.
- ComputerWorld interview(2007)
Gregory Smith offers parents an extremely powerful resource that is long overdue.
This very "parent-friendly" book should be required reading before allowing your child or teen to go online!
- Donald S Schnure, President & CEO, Parental Control Products LLC
Today's parents need to make protecting their children online a priority and they need to know about
the available tools and how to implement them. From technology to tips, Greg Smith's book provides a
comprehensive tool that guides parents on how to create a safe online environment.
- John Cheney, EVP of Product Strategy & Marketing SurfControl
The Internet can be fantastic place, AND a dangerous place. Gregory Smith lays out how to better
understand that place in terms of our children's safety. As parents, we need to understand what our
children are doing online, and this book is a great help to those of us who are novices at technology.
The book should be required reading for all parents of teens and preteens--most of whom know far less
than their own children about the Internet.
- Julie Aigner-Clark, Founder, The Safe Side
Worried about protecting your children on the internet? This is a must read for every parent and educator.
An informative and well-researched guide, this is an invaluable tool in understanding the Internet and its
galloping revolution. Gregory Smith's how to book is key to ensuring our children's safety on the internet.
I hope administrators consider making this required reading.
- Maureen Appel, Headmistress, Connelly School of the Holy Child
