AG Encourages Parents and Kids to Step Up Safety Strategies in June: National Internet Safety Month

INTERNET BROWSING ·         Open up the lines of communication with your kids about Internet use.  Talk to your children about their activities online and on their cell phones. ·         Establish ground rules.  Set clear boundaries for what is and is not allowed. ·         Place the family computer in common areas, such as the living room. ·         Consider instituting a “media curfew” for phones and computers, or limiting the amount of time that these may be used. SOCIAL NETWORKING ·               Make your child give you his/her password so that you can check the private messages. ·               Use a strong password.  A good password should have at least eight characters and include letters, numbers and symbols. ·               Do not include your full birth date in your profile.  Choose to show no birthday or only your month and day. ·               Do not permit your children to use a social networking site unsupervised.  Use your email address as the contact for their account so that you receive notifications.  Do become one of their online friends. ·               Set your privacy settings high.  On Facebook, for example, you can go to the search setting of Facebook’s privacy controls and select “Only Friends” for Facebook search results.  Limit access of your profile, photos and other information to only friends. ·               Be careful what you post.  Never mention or suggest that you’ll be away from home. CELL PHONES ·               Review your cell phone records for unfamiliar numbers and late night calls and texts. ·               Remind your child that anything shared in a text can be easily forwarded and shared. ·               Learn texting acronyms such as “POS” (Parent Over Shoulder) so that you can identify troublesome messages. ·               Explain to your children that sending a sexually explicit image of someone under the age of 18 may be considered distribution of child pornography and receiving it may be considered possession of child pornography. ·               Familiarize yourself with your cell phone’s security settings and use them. ·              Check with your cellular service provider on getting GPS on your child’s phone to keep up with your child. VIDEO GAMES ·      Take an active interest in the games your child is interested in.  Play with them. ·      Research game ratings and content at www.esrb.org, especially prior to purchasing.  The website is maintained by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. ·      Keep gaming consoles in open locations where they can easily be monitored. ·      Warn your child not to give out personal information while gaming and never agree to meet anyone outside of the game. “In order to best protect your child, parents have to take the bull by the horns,” said Attorney General Hood.  “Open communication, clear guidelines and consistent monitoring are collectively a parent’s best plan.” The Attorney General offers more tips through a variety of brochures on the topics of Cyberbullying, Sexting and Illegal Downloads.  These brochures can be found online at www.agjimhood.com.  Another valuable resource recommended by the Attorney General is www.netsmartz.org, an educational resource of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).  The Netsmartz website has information for Parents, Educators, Law Enforcement, Teens, Tweens and Kids on issues such as blogging, cell phones, sexting, cyberbullying, gaming and social networking.]]]]> ]]>