TRURO – Truro Police Services's TOP TEN tips to protect children from Internet predators:
1. Communicate with your child and establish ground rules on their use of the
Internet.
2. Become more computer literate and Internet savvy yourself. Learn what your
children like to do online and join in. i.e. set up an MSN/Facebook account for yourself.
3. Check out parental controls available on your online service. Block adult chat rooms.
Block Instant/Personal Messages from people you don't know. Install filtering/blocking
software, or use a 'clean Internet provider' that filters at the server level.
4. Keep the computer in a 'public' area in your house. NEVER allow a child to have a
computer in their room that has Internet access.
5. Monitor the amount of time your child spends on the Internet, and at what times of
day. Excessive time online, especially at night, may indicate a problem. Agree on a set
time; use an egg timer; one hour means one hour. (Time on the Internet is time taken
from other healthy activities.)
6. Tell your children to never agree to meet someone they've met online; or give out
personal information, including name, address, school they attend or teachers' names,
parents' names, etc.
7. Do not allow your child to use a Web Cam, digital camera, or video camera without
your very close supervision.
8. Regularly search the Internet 'history' on every computer with Internet access in your
home, and don't be hesitant to question the parents of other children your child
may visit. If your child erases the 'history,', they don't want you to see where they've
been. This is a good time to have a talk.
9. Very closely monitor chat rooms your child may visit. Chat rooms and web sites that
cater to children are where 90 per cent of the initial contacts are made by Internet child sexual
predators.
10. Remind your children to conduct themselves online the same as in the real world.
Schools have been dealing with Cyberbullying on a regular basis. Kids need to treat
each other with respect and look out for their friends and younger siblings.
Letting children use the Internet unsupervised, particularly talking in chat rooms, is the
equivalent of dropping them off at a park, at 10:00 p.m., and saying, "Go make some new
friends."
- Source: Truro Police Service
SOCIAL NETWORKING TIPS
TRURO: Truro Police Service's TOP TEN social networking site tips:
1. Think about which site you want to use. Some sites will allow you to restrict
users who access posted content; others allow anyone and everyone to view your
postings.
2. Keep control over the information you post. Consider restricting access to
your page to a select group of people, for example, your friends or friends from school,
your club, your team, your community groups, or your family.
3. Keep your information to yourself. Don't post your full name, address, phone number,
or any kind of financial or personal information; SIN #, bank and credit card account
numbers - and don't post other people's information either. Be cautious about posting
information that could be used to identify you or locate you offline. This could include the
name of your school, teachers, family members, sports team, clubs, and where you work
or hang out.
4. Use a screen name that doesn't say much about you. Don't use your name, your age,
year of birth, or your hometown. Even if you think your screen name makes you
anonymous, it takes very little effort to combine clues and figure out who you are and
where you can be found.
5. Post only information that you are comfortable with others seeing – and knowing
– about you. Anyone can see your page, including your employer, your parents, your
teachers, the police, your school or the job you might want to apply for in five years.
6. Don't post personal photos. They can be altered and used in ways you may not be
happy about. If you do post one, ask yourself whether it's one your mom would display in
the living room.
7. Flirting with strangers online could have serious consequences. Because some
people lie about who they really are and their intentions, you never really know who
you're dealing with.
8. Be wary if a new online friend who wants to meet you in person. Before you decide
to meet someone, do your research; ask whether any of your friends knows the person,
and see what background you can dig up through online search engines. If you decide to
meet them, be smart: Meet in a public place, during the day, with friends you trust. Tell
someone where you're going, and when you expect to be back.
9. You can't take it back. Even if you delete the information from your page, it's still out
there; on other people's computers.
10. Go with your gut feeling. If you feel uncomfortable or threatened because of something
directed at you online, tell an adult you trust and/or report it to the police, and the social
networking site. You could be preventing yourself or someone else from becoming a
victim.
Remember, if you're not willing to shout out information about you from the top of
City Hall in your hometown, then don't post it.
- Source: Truro Police Service
