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Protect Your Children When They're
Online
March 19, 2002
Key To Safe Experience For
Children Is Parental Involvement
The most critical component of
children's online safety is parental involvement. The best method of
protecting children online is for parents to stay involved in their
online activities.
Ways To Track Your Child's E-mail
Correspondence And Web Activity:
- Search The "Sent Items"
folder. Many e-mail programs, including Outlook, Eudora, or
Web-based mail such as Yahoo! or Hotmail, will have a folder
that contains a copy of each e-mail that has been sent.
- Search the "Inbox"
folder for copies of messages sent to your child.
- Search the "Deleted
Items" folder. Copies of e-mail not available in the
"Sent Items" or "Inbox" may still be
viewable in the e-mail trash bin.
- Take a look at the Internet
"Bookmarks" or "Favorites", these are
Internet sites that have been saved for easy future reference.
- Check the Web surfing
"History," if one is available. The surfing history
will list the Web site addresses of all the sites that have been
visited recently using that browser. For example, in Microsoft
Internet Explorer, in the "Standard Buttons" toolbar,
there is a link for "History." Click on that to view
sites that have been recently viewed with that browser. (Note - the History setting can be altered to keep records dating back
up to 999 days, or as little as 0 days. Click on the
"Tools" menu item, then click on "Internet
Options." You'll see the History settings on the
"General" tab.)
One thing to note is that you might
not have the password necessary to get into your child's e-mail
account. This is why it is critical that you sit with your child and
go through the email together.
More suggestions:
Don't keep the computer locked away
in a bedroom - keep the computer in a family room and spend time
surfing together with your children.
Discuss the potential dangers with
your children. Advise them on what is and isn't acceptable
information to share with strangers on the Internet, including chat
rooms and email messages.
More Resources:
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