How to Protect Your Children on the Internet: A Road Map for Parents and Teachers / Edition 1

by Gregory S. Smith

Overview

Parents and teachers are often ill-equipped to deal with the variety of devices and applications such as email, instant messaging, browsing, blogs, cell phones, and personal digital assistant devices (PDAs) that can facilitate the dangers lurking online. How to Protect Your Children on the Internet offers a comprehensive overview of the ways in which youth use such technologies and exposes the risks they represent. At the same time, it provides a roadmap that will enable parents and teachers to become more engaged in children's online activities, arming them with techniques and tips to help protect their children. Smith underscores his arguments through chilling, real-life stories, revealing approaches people are using to deceive and to conceal their activities online. Filled with practical advice and recommendations, his book is indispensable to anyone who uses the Internet and related technologies, and especially to those charged with keeping children safe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275994723
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Gregory S. Smith is Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Information Technology at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. and Adjunct Professor in the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education Graduate Programs at The Johns Hopkins University. He is an expert in the field of information technology with several technical articles and public speaking engagements to his credit. In addition, he is the author of Straight to the Top: Becoming a World-Class CIO.

Table of Contents

Preface     xi
Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction to Technology and Risks on the Internet
Welcome to the Internet     3
Growing Up     3
The Internet: What Is It?     6
Recommendations     12
Back to School     15
Internet Technologies Defined: Education 101     15
Recommendations     42
Risks Overview: Are Parents Making the Grade?     45
An Overview of Online Risks     45
Some Statistics for Kids Going Online     62
How Are Parents Doing Protecting Their Kids?     64
Protection at School and in Libraries     69
Recommendations     71
The Risks of Going Online     74
A Sampling of Unfortunate Events     74
Recommendations     80
A Road Map to Protect Children While Online
How to Monitor Your Kids Online     85
To Monitor or Not to Monitor     85
Tricks Kids Use to Hide What They're Doing     85
Nontechnical Parental Monitoring     88
Software for Better Monitoring     89
Recommendations     97
Internet Surfing, Blogs, and Social Networking     101
Surfing/Browsing the Internet     101
Search Engines: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly     101
Social Networking and Blogging     105
Video Cameras Gone Wild     109
Firewalls and Wireless     112
Recommendations     114
Email     118
Email Options and Programs     118
Email Risks     120
Kid-Friendly Email Programs     121
Tricks Kids Use to Hide Email Activities     122
Blocking Free Email Services     122
File Attachment Risk     123
Don't Forget about Spam     123
Recommendations     124
Instant Messaging and Voice-over-IP     129
IM Basics and Tools     129
IM Lingo Parents Must Know     132
Blocking IM: It's Not Easy     132
Chat Rooms: A Hangout for Predators     136
Making Phone Calls over the Internet     137
How Predators Find Their Victims     137
Recommendations     139
Cell Phones and PDAs     142
An Overview of Portable Communication Devices     142
Text Messaging: How Teens Communicate     149
Monitoring Call Logs and Bills     149
Browsing and IM Challenges with PDAs      150
Recommendations     151
A Glimpse into the Future     155
Converging Devices     155
Free Stuff Everywhere (Advertisers' Heaven)     156
Global Positioning Takes Off     156
Built-in Security for Future Operating Systems     156
Futuristic Ways to Stay Connected     157
Recommendations     161
Talking to Your Kids about Online Risks     162
An Internet Usage Contract     162
When and How to Be Firm     164
What Not to Say to Your Teen     164
Advice from the Pros (Child Psychologists)     165
Recommendations     167
Notes     171
Bibliography     181
Index     187

What People are Saying About This

Julie Aigner-Clark

"The Internet can be fantastic place, AND a dangerous place. Gregory Smith lays out how to better understand that place in terms of our children's safety. As parents, we need to understand what our children are doing online, and this book is a great help to those of us who are novices at technology. The book should be required reading for all parents of teens and preteens--most of whom know far less than their own children about the Internet."

—

Julie Aigner-Clark, Founder, The Safe Side

John Cheney

"Today's parents need to make protecting their children online a priority and they need to know about the available tools and how to implement them. From technology to tips, Greg Smith's book provides a comprehensive tool that guides parents on how to create a safe online environment."

Maureen Appel

"Worried about protecting your children on the Internet? This is a must read for every parent and educator. An informative and well-researched guide, this is an invaluable tool in understanding the Internet and its galloping revolution. Gregory Smith's how to book is key to ensuring our children's safety on the internet. I hope administrators consider making this required reading."

Julie Aigner-Clark

"The Internet can be fantastic place, AND a dangerous place. Gregory Smith lays out how to better understand that place in terms of our children's safety. As parents, we need to understand what our children are doing online, and this book is a great help to those of us who are novices at technology. The book should be required reading for all parents of teens and preteens—most of whom know far less than their own children about the Internet."

Maureen Appel

"Worried about protecting your children on the Internet? This is a must read for every parent and educator. An informative and well-researched guide, this is an invaluable tool in understanding the Internet and its galloping revolution. Gregory Smith's how to book is key to ensuring our children's safety on the internet. I hope administrators consider making this required reading."

—

Maureen Appel, Headmistress, Connelly School of the Holy Child

Donald S Schnure

"Gregory Smith offers parents an extremely powerful resource that is long overdue. This very parent-friendly book should be required reading before allowing your child or teen to go online!"

—

Donald S Schnure, President & CEO, Parental Control Products LLC

John Cheney

"Today's parents need to make protecting their children online a priority and they need to know about the available tools and how to implement them. From technology to tips, Greg Smith's book provides a comprehensive tool that guides parents on how to create a safe online environment."

—

John Cheney, EVP of Product Strategy & Marketing, SurfControl

Donald S Schnure

"Gregory Smith offers parents an extremely powerful resource that is long overdue. This very parent-friendly book should be required reading before allowing your child or teen to go online!"

Editorial Reviews

[S]hares the risks of the Internet by detailing recent, real-world tragedies and revealing some of the secrets of online activities. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the ways in which youth use such technologies and exposes the risks they represent.” —Library Media Connection

“[A] thorough if occasionally geeked-out look at the technologies children are using and the steps parents must take to minimize their kids' chances of having a bad experience online. Smith, the chief information officer for the World Wildlife Fund, shows the 5 million ways your kids can get around the basic barriers many parents set up. He advocates a more deliberate, comprehensive approach, including aggressively limiting your child's Internet use: For middle schoolers, he recommends banning instant messaging, blocking search engines such as Google and denying access to free e-mail services such as Yahoo Mail. The amount of technical detail will liberate some and overwhelm others (hey, welcome to the Internet, folks), but you can always skip to Smith's helpfully specific recommendations, including which filtering and monitoring programs work best.” —The Washington Post

“Smith outlines methods for protecting children against online threats. He describes recent tragedies and shows how to protect against specific dangers, for parents or educators of children from age eight to 17. He specifically discusses how to monitor children online, with recommendations for surfing, blogs, and social networking; email; instant messaging and voice-over-IP, cell phones, and PDAs; and talking to children about risks. Information has been drawn from research reports, case studies, child advocacy organizations and web sites, interviews with experts and parents, and the author's own experiences as a parent, technology professional, and educator.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher