Linking Up: Online Safety for Children
As more families, schools, and public libraries acquire computers, more children gain access to the Internet. At the same time, the use of the web by unsavory individuals attempting to lure children into threatening situations has also grown.

For parents, monitoring a child's Internet access and providing important safeguards can prove challenging, especially when that child, as is often the case, is the most computer savvy member of the family.

To help steer children toward positive experiences on the Internet and away from sites that parents may find objectionable, or even dangerous, the nation's largest Internet-service providers and leading education and children's advocacy organizations have joined together to develop common-sense tips and strategies that may prove valuable for busy families. The joint effort, called "America Links Up," has resulted in a wide-ranging campaign to deliver information and provide guidance to parents and others responsible for children, including the following recommendations.

Take time to be online with your children. When a parent or teacher is directly involved with a child's Internet activity, the potential for danger is greatly reduced.

Teach children to never give out personal information to people they encounter while online. This type of information can be used to target the child or the family for criminal activity.

Instruct a child never to plan a face-to-face meeting alone with an online acquaintance. News accounts from across the country have highlighted the dangers of arranging meetings with strangers. While a child may think that an online acquaintance has become a friend, a computer can often mask the true intentions of a criminal.

Establish clear ground rules for Internet use by your children. As an added precaution, parental controls and protective software are available and can be installed, often at little or no cost, to help prevent a child from wandering into dangerous cyber-territory when an adult is not directly supervising Internet activity.

The Internet has rapidly become one of the most valuable learning tools available. People of all ages use the Internet every day for research, for communicating with friends, and for entertainment. However, parents, teachers, and other caregivers need to recognize that, with all of its benefits, the Internet poses very real dangers.

That old maxim, passed down through generations of parents, still holds true in today's high-technology age; "Children need limits."
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March 31, 1999