If you’re concerned about what your kids—especially elementary school kids—see when they surf the internet, there are tools to consider. Keep in mind that while parental controls work well for young children, teens who’ve been online for years probably won’t have much trouble working around them or finding other computers to use.
Parental control options include: filtering and blocking. These tools limit access to certain sites, words, or images. Some products decide what’s filtered; others leave that to parents. Some filters apply to websites; others to email, chat, and
instant messaging.
Blocking outgoing content: This software prevents kids from sharing personal information online, in chat rooms, or via email.
Limiting time: This software allows you to limit your kid’s time
online and set the time of day they can access the internet.
Browsers for kids. These browsers filter words or images deemed inappropriate for kids.
Kid-oriented search engines:These perform limited searches or screen search
results for sites and material appropriate for kids.
Monitoring Tools: (love this!) This software alerts parents to online activity without blocking access. Some tools record the addresses of websites a child has visited; others provide a warning message when a kid visits certain sites. Monitoring tools can be used with or without a kid’s knowledge.
The best way to protect your
kids online is to talk to them.
When children want important
information, most rely on their
parents. Children value the opinions
of their peers, but tend to rely on their
parents for help on the issues
that matter most.
Know your rights.
As the parent, you have a right to see any personal information a site has collected about your child. If you ask to see the information, website operators will need to make sure you really are the parent or they may choose to delete the information. You also have the right to retract your consent, and have any information collected about your child deleted. check out sites your kids visit. If a site requires users to register, see what kind of information it asks for and determine yourcomfort level. You also can see whether the site appears to be following the most basic rules, like posting its privacy policy for parents clearly and conspicuously.
Review the privacy policy.
Just because a site has a privacy policy doesn’t mean it keeps personal information private. The policy can help you figure out if you’re comfortable with what information the site collects and how it plans to use or share it. If the policy says there are no limits to what it collects or who gets to see it, there are no limits.
Ask questions. If you have questions about a site’s practices or policies, ask. The privacy policy should include contact information for someone prepared to
answer your questions. Report any site that breaks the rules. If you think a site has collected information from your kids or marketed to them in a way that violates the law, report it to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
