Keeping your kids safe online is a tough job in today's high-technology environment. Free and paid safe browsing filters are a great tool, but not all child protection filters work! You certainly know just how smart your kids are, and while it's true that adult content can get to them accidentally, if they seek it out, it can be difficult to stop it.
Now, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, or how far you need to go to keep your kids safe online. But I do believe in being informed, so rather than list the best tools for protecting your kids online, I'm going to list ways that kids commonly cheat the system, and how you can be one step ahead.
1. Surfing on the Wii & Phone...
You might lock down their computer, but what about their game consoles or smart-phones? Anything with Internet could potentially be abused, so be careful! Gaming platforms like the Wii have parental controls that allow you to disable the Internet browser completely, which is recommended since the browser isn't very good anyway!
As for phones, this can be hard to control since there are so many available phones. On the iPhone, go to the "Settings" application (it looks like gears), then to the "Restrictions" section to control various settings. You can then set a restrictions password to lock the settings.
2. Beating the Internet filters
Your child might be an Internet whiz-kid, but even if he or she isn't, kids know how to use Google, and will find the information they need. If you own a child protection filter, be sure to test it!
One common way to beat filters is through a "proxy" website that basically hides any traffic, making it seem like it is legitimate when it isn't. Be sure your filter can handle such complex tricks. One way to beat this approach is to block the more popular free proxy websites. Also, if the history indicates visiting these proxy websites often, there's a good chance it's for no-good purposes!
3. Beating the filters, part 2
The easiest way for kids to beat your Internet child protections is to simply turn them off. Are you using a simple password, like your pet's first name? You should never, ever use simple passwords, for anything, but especially for something that's important like banking or child safety blocks. Make sure the password you choose for your Internet protection software is secure and that your kid won't guess it.
4. The best strategy...
Is to talk with your kids. Lock-downs can only go so far, but communication is always effective. Perhaps there's a time when your child needs to know they are trusted enough with the entire Internet, or perhaps not. As a parent, the choice is yours, but be sure you talk things over with your child!
---
I'm not trying to tell you what to do, nor am I even advocating that extremely strict child-locks are necessary, but I do believe you should be armed with knowledge, as a parent, to make your own choices!
No comments:
Post a Comment