by Glen Klinkhart
Detective, Anchorage Police Dept.
1. Keep the computer in a "family" room, not your child's bedroom. You'll be letting your child know you're interested in what they are learning online and you will also be able to check the screen periodically.
2. Monitor your modem telephone bill. Adult Bulletin Board Systems are fairly easy for computer savvy kids to access. Check out any numbers on your bill that are unfamiliar.
3. Screen email for younger (usually ages 6-11) children and check all email attachments. You may even want to limit access to e-mail.
4. Don't allow your child to visit chat rooms or join in IRCs (Internet Relay Chats) unless they are being monitored by you or another knowledgeable adult.
5. Forward copies of suggestive or threatening messages received by your child to your Internet service provider (for Internet Alaska customers, mail to security@alaska.net) and your local authorities. Insist on your service provider's help in dealing with the issue.
6. Don't allow your child to go into new online sites without obtaining your permission first. Many children, especially young ones, aren't aware that a new area is often going to cost additional money.
7. Help your child understand that people online may not be who they seem. (Just because someone says she is an 8-year-old girl doesn't mean she isn't really a 50-year-old man.)
8. Make it a point to know your child's Internet pals just as you know their "real world" friends. Never allow your child to meet a new online friend alone or in a private setting. Always go along and meet in a mall, a library, or other public setting.
9. Help your child feel comfortable talking to you about their online friends, experiences and activities; talk regularly about what they are learning from the Net.
10. Make it a practice to go over your family's rules periodically with your child. Emphasize that they are to follow the same rules and guidelines, whether he is accessing the Net from her home, a friends' home, the library or school.
11. If your child has a web page, monitor it and its contents.
12. If your child has a free email address (Hotmail, yahoo, etc.) get the password and check it regularly.
13. Check with your child’s school and ask what their computer security policies are.
Immediately report online illegal activity or child pornography to your local Police Agency, the office of the FBI or to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (800-843-5678).
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