Ok, I was originally just going to talk about the rules to keep your kids safe on the internet on safekids.com however, after browsing this site its become obvious that it was created by people that have no idea what they're talking about so I'm just going to go straight down their "Tips & Tools" section (you know, the part that's actually what they are trying to "teach people). Alright, I'll
just go right down their list, first off after reading their "child safety on the information highway" I think they missed the concept of the internet completely, see the internet isn't a new world, its an extension of the world. You got to remember that every part of this cyber playground was created by an individual with their own agenda, an easy example of this is that if you don't use a proxy there can easily be ten people that will know your IP address at the end of a browsing session, and your IP address is like your cyber address and tells people plenty about you. Also if you have a Myspace or Web page there will see that information (which can be anywhere from one to one million) and alot of us have the brains to learn a lot of info from a little bit. Ok, that’s the internet for you next is "slide shows and videos" now I don't even need to watch these to know how stupid they are, first is "setting up vistas parental controls", now I can tell you from experience that your kids will always be able to find a way around these things and since vista is a new system with a lot of bugs still in it there’s probably an easy way to get around your controls (I couldn't tell you what they are because I won't touch that pile of shit). Also most if you have one of those filter programs that will block certain searches I can tell you right now if you typelikethisitwillgorightthroughthosessystems. Second is setting your kid up a myspace, and myspace is one of the most easily exploitable programs ever, the only thing they moderate is profile pictures and they don't do a very good job at that, all I’d need to do (and this is the simplest method I know) is go on google search for a picture of a kid in the right age group. Create a myspace account with that picture as the one you see on the account and set all the profile info to look right for age and background in the picture. Then go send friend requests to other kis in the same area as my profile says. Once you get into a page all you really need is a first name and the name of the kids school, public schools all have websites now and I can do a search for the first name with the school and get newsletters or other places a school will list your name. Then with the last name I get from the school I go to www.whitepages.com and do a search for that last name in the same area, as I know the kid is, and that’s the easy way to around myspace. Next is the thing that set me off on this website in the first place "kids rules for online safety" this can really be summed up in one rule "just like real life don't talk to strangers" that kind of takes away from the fun of the internet so I’ve modified the kids list to be adult friendly, lets face it you secure your computer more than your kid anyway.
1.LEARN HOW TO USE THE INTERNET: if you have your kids show you the sites they go to and explain them they can take you to whatever they want you to see. As a parent you should not have an Internet connection if you don't know how to use it. Get the Internet for dummies or something. If you have some idea how to work the web, set the history of the computer for only refresh after a week and check it weekly, if you see your kids account has been going to www.bigdickedniggas.com maybe you have to explain the birds and the bees to your kid or at least get them some better porn.
2.GET A PROXY: I’m not a big fan of using proxys, but I don't have kids, it doesn't matter if someone finds me. However if I ever have kids I’ll be getting the best one I can find, its a lot harder to track someone down when it looks like their signal is coming from the north pole.
3.WARN YOUR KIDS ABOUT ONLINE PREDATORS: unless you're raising an ender Wiggin
predators are smarter than your kid and probably smarter than you as well. I don't mean to scare you away from the Internet completely, but you should have a certain level of respect for predators just as you would for a poison snake. Kids can be better with computers than their parents, if you tell them to protect themselves they may know some tricks you don't.
4.USE A PSEUDONYM: typically people on the Internet go under a name of their choosing online. And don't use your real name in it or someone can just trace you from that. If you want to be really safe make yours someone else’s normal name, since I’ve never seen anyone do it that wasn't already pretending to be someone else it could very well throw someone off.
I agree with 1. 3. 4. And 7. But they're common sense, if I have to tell you not to give strangers your phone number maybe the internet isn't right for you anyway. One more big problem I have with this list is that last one
| I will help my parents understand how to have fun and learn things online and teach them things about the Internet, computers and other technology. |
As far as safe blogging goes I can pretty much sum up their list. Anything you write can be used against you, if you're underage and want a diary keep it offline, there’s nothing wrong with the old paper method and if you like me type better than writing do it in Word. Also I disagree with the list (big shock if you look at the rest of this) don't use your real age, moderation on most sites is overrated and can leave you open more than it helps.
Next is parent guideline I pretty much already covered this above so I can just add one thing down here, if your kid wants to meet someone they know online BE THERE WITH THEM, at least the first time, no exceptions.
Last is chatroom safety, the list on that is just plain common sense, don't give out personal information and look out for creeps, and don't go by your real name. None of this is rocket science. You should however realize that if you're using an IRC client any user can use the whois
feature to look up your IP address and through that, this is why you should as I mentioned earlier use a proxy. Also if you talk about going to certain locations an educated stalker can track you down simply by looking up place names.
Jul 14, 2007 11:43 pm US/Eastern
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