Internet Safety for Kids (and adults)

Catholic News Service recently had a good article on internet safety, which offered some training options for parents and kids.

Your local library, if they're doing their job, probably has regular courses on Internet safety.

The basics, however, are common sense. And they shoul be a standard part of parenting in this day and age for kids as young as Renee Roach.

1.) Never give out ANY Personally Identifiable Information (PID) to strangers over the Internet. This includes real name, phone #, address, bank account #'s, etc.

2.) Don't use your real name in an email address you use to sign up for anything on the web. Sign up for a free yahoo or gmail account that is anonymous.

3.) ASSUME that anyone you don't know who contacts you via email is trying to scam you or worse, until they prove otherwise.

4.) With regard to open social networking site such as MySpace, don't post ANYTHING that you wouldn't want Grandma Pat to see.

5.) On such sites, use the option that people must know your real name in order to invite you as a friend. This allows you to be "found" by former classmates, etc., but eliminates opportunity for shady characters to even find their way into your inbox.

6.) NEVER NEVER NEVER agree to meet someone you don't know in person whom you met over the Internet. Just because you've been chatting with them online for 6 monts doesn't mean you "know" them. This rule can change later in life, depending on the circumstances. For teenagers, it is absolute.

7.) Fear can be an ally. It does not hurt to be honest with your kids about the fact that people have been KILLED by people they've met on the Internet.

8.) All that being said, and while erring on the side of caution, remember that the Internet is the closest we've yet come to quantifying the Collective Unconcious. There's alot of bad out there, but there's a lot more good, so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Love you all!