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If you are a parent, as am I, I think we can
agree there is little else more important than keeping our children safe and
protected. It's difficult enough keeping them safe from the
unscrupulous people we read about in the news, but dealing with children and the Internet
takes it to a completely new level.
Many young people find instant messaging and
e-mail a convenient and fun way to talk with their friends. If you
have children, like me, when they're not on the phone, they're talking with their
friends on the Internet. We have very strict rules and guidelines
about who they can talk with and for how long. We have given them
detailed instructions on what to do when they receive e-mail from someone
they don't know or receive an anonymous instant message.
Recently, someone close to me received a death
threat via an anonymous instant message. The language this person used
was so vulgar and explicit you would have thought it came from a prison
inmate. Interestingly enough, the person at the other end was a child.
After significant investigation we determined this person was a school mate who
received
detailed information about the child including the child's instant messenger alias, their home address and color, and what type of cars the
family drove. Can you imagine how scared this child and child's family
was? Quite frankly, it was not only sad but sickening that another
child could be so verbally brutal.
Additional investigation revealed that the school
these children go to were aware that this had been going on for quite some
time. Additional children had been receiving similar threats.
This particular event was all the result of
several children speaking in a chat roam and one child in particular got
upset about something that was said. That child contacted another
child,
who is known to be mean, and asked them to scare one of the other children.
We got to the bottom of the whole mess and everyone felt a bit of relief.
It's very important to pay attention and, in
some cases, monitor what children are doing on the Internet. It's for
their protection and the protection of others. I'm sure I am going to
get an ear full from privacy rights advocates on this one. Regardless, the safety
of our children is one of the most important tasks a parent has.
If your children use e-mail and Instant Messaging
on a regular basis you should:
- Limit the number of people they can
e-mail and message with. Work with them to develop an approved
list of friends;
- Limit the amount of the time they spend
e-mailing and messaging;
- Make your presence known while they are
e-mailing or messaging; and
- If necessary, install some sort of
monitoring software to see what is going on in chat rooms,
Update: Shortly
after writing this article, a 13 year old boy at a middle
school in my area was arrested for e-mailing death threats
to two teachers. In one e-mail he indicated he was
planning on bringing a gun to school to kill a teacher.
The other e-mail, sent to a teacher at a different school,
indicated that he planned on targeting students as well.
For further details please see the full article at South
Florida's
Sun Sentinel.
For information on computer monitoring
software take a look at WatchRight.
A good site to visit to learn more about
protecting children on the Internet is
www.protectkids.com. It's full of great information every parent
should know. Other sites you may want to visit are
Cyber Watch 911, The
CyberTipLine,
Obscenity Crimes Reporting, or
your local FBI office.
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