6 comments

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  anonymous

  2 years ago

  One approach to implementing parental involvement is described in some detail, and with a sense of humor here:

  
  The Super Secret All Powerful Method To Protect Our Children From The Dangers Of The Internet
  [link http://www.websnark.com/archives/2006/05/the_su... ]
  

  
  The author is a sysadmin for a New England university, though the vast majority of his writing on that site is not related to these issues.
• 

  david

  2 years ago

  not all child molesters repeat
• 

  liz

  2 years ago

  I agree with the issues of "leading a horse to water..." as a major stumbling block to making the internet safer for our children. A big part of this problem is that parents don't have a "lot of time" anymore to supervise what their children are doing. Setting up blocks and parent controls take time, and many times, you just don't know WHO to block--especially when it comes to instant messages and email. Now if there is a quick, easy, and efficient way to verify who your child is talking to and a way to stop that person if they're bad, then it should be more incentive for parents to do it.
  For instance, when my daughter wants to start talking with someone online, either IM or via email, I want to be sure they are who they say they are BEFORE she begins. So, besides the parental block on the email server (where only people on her address list are allowed to message her) I have that person send me a GabMail. In case you've never heard of it, go to freegabmail.com to see for yourself how easy it is and how it works. This doesn't cost me or the sender any money and barely any time to establish that they are a valid and innocuous individual who can talk to my child. They record a brief video and send it to MY email address. If I think they are okay, I can then add that person's email address to my daughter's address list and they can chat, email etc. to their heart's content. If NOT, then I add them to her BLOCKED sender address lists in internet settings. Being consistent with this, I can control who she's in contact with and greatly reduce the chance that she'll be exposed to unwanted content from strangers. Oh, and as I have a link to their video in my email, if they step out of line I have a video of them to hand over to the authorities too!
  It's all in the tools we use and the supervision we need to provide.
• 

  Adolonta

  2 years ago

  No matter how good the parental controls or ratings systems are that you give parents, for whatever reason, some of them just never use them. For example, we still can get more than 15% of American households to use the V-Chip even thought that filtering tool is available in every TV set today.
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  Tramal

  2 years ago

  I do, however, wholeheartedly agree with him that empowering parents (and kids!) with more information, education and tools to make choices in line with their values and preferences is an unambiguously good thing.
• 

  Tramacet

  2 years ago

  This doesn't cost me or the sender any money and barely any time to establish that they are a valid and innocuous individual who can talk to my child. They record a brief video and send it to MY email address.