THE RISKS

It is a sad fact that one of the internet’s most popular uses is also potentially one of its most dangerous. Because you usually can’t see the person that you are “talking” to online, it is impossible to establish whether they are really who they say they are. Children often use bogus identities online as a form of play-acting, while paedophiles and sex abusers have been known to target chat rooms popular with children. Such unscrupulous adults will often seek to gain their victims’ trust by posing as a similarly aged child before suggesting a face-to-face meeting. On the internet, as in real life, it is important to exercise a high degree of caution when meeting strangers for the first time. It is also important to remember that no matter how intimate you feel you are becoming with someone, he or she is an unknown quantity.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO

If parents ban an activity, such as joining chat rooms, they run the risk of their children doing it in secret, which is the worst possible scenario. Encourage your children to tell you what they have been doing and who they have been chatting to. Some chat rooms designed for young people are monitored for content, and moderators will edit any posting deemed inappropriate; these are a good place to start chatting.

Parents should also emphasise the need for caution to their children. They should be told, and told again, never to divulge personal details on the internet. These include their full names, where they go to school and where they live. Even giving out an e-mail address can result in unwanted attention, such as inappropriate spam e-mail.

Children and teenagers should never arrange to meet anyone they have met online without a responsible adult present. Remind your child that everyone they meet in a chat room is a stranger.

Chat rooms usually offer the option to block messages from particular users. So if someone repeatedly types something your child doesn’t like, they can block those messages. In some chat rooms, you can report abusive behaviour by clicking an on-screen “report button” or by phoning customer services. It is a good idea to check out any safety tools on the system your children use.

Some chat rooms are more suitable than others. Encourage your child to use only chat rooms that are suitable for their age. You can save the addresses of child-friendly chat rooms and agree with your child to use only these.

Supervised chat rooms often use a real person, a moderator or technology to block personal details being revealed and to keep the chat suitable. They are a step in the right direction, but the technology isn’t foolproof, so don’t rely on them 100 per cent.

And advise your child to delete links to other websites that they might be sent in a chat room (they may contain pornographic or upsetting images).

THINGS TO REMEMBER

Most of the material on the internet is legal, decent and honest. Some of it is useful, but children may still stumble across unsuitable content.

To prevent this from happening, consider installing software that blocks or filters the material that comes on to your computer. Some of this is free, some is included in a broader package of services and some, such as McAfee Internet Security Suite and Norton Internet Security, is commercially available for around £30-£40. Go to www.getnetwise.org to find an extensive list of protection software.

The more you as a parent know about computers and the internet, the better equipped you will be to monitor your children’s usage. Many local libraries offer free basic computer skills courses for adults.

For more information on filtering and monitoring material to your computer, and all aspects of PC and internet safety, visit www. internetsafetyzone.com