Children and the Internet

Willie W. Webfoot talks about kids and the Internet

Children and the Internet

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."

—Erica Jong

"Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."

—Socrates

Parenting seems to only follow one hard fast rule - there are no easy answers. No matter what decisions you make about child-rearing, someone is going to disagree with you.

Why should it be any different on the Internet?
You can almost guarantee that any slightly shocking or twisted story involving the Internet will grab headlines. Occasionally you'll even come across a nice human interest story about a classroom using the Internet to research a science project or to communicate with children across the globe in a positive and meaningful way.

There are definite schools-of-thought about what children should and shouldn't be able to access. This seems to be more of a philosophical issue rather than a technical one.

How your family chooses to monitor your children's Internet activities should be decided by your family. There are a number of individuals and companies who offer advice and tools to help you find a level of monitoring that is comfortable for you. This page is offered to help you find the information and tools you will need to make informed desicions.

Philosophically Speaking
Here are some sites that discuss the developing issues, standards and digital steet smarts.

PICS - Platform for Internet Content Selection: "PICS is an infrastructure for associating labels with Internet content. It was originally designed to help parents and teachers control what children access on the Internet, but it also facilitates other uses for labels, including code signing, privacy, and intellectual property rights management."

Families Against Internet Censorship: "Our goals are 1) to provide a resource for anti-censorship families on the net, 2) to maintain a list of families willing to speak out against Internet censorship, 3) to make families aware of commercial products for filtering objectionable material, and 4) to oppose those who would use the power of government to regulate Internet content in the name of "protecting the family".

SafeKids.com: A web site dedicated to issues surrounding children and the net, including child safety, privacy issues, and privacy issues. Includes a "Family Contract for Online Safety" that can be printed and posted next to your computer.

Get NetWise: "The Internet offers kids many opportunities for learning, constructive entertainment, and personal growth. At the same time, parents are concerned about the risks kids face online. The challenge for parents is to educate themselves and their children about how to use the Internet safely. GetNetWise can help."

The Internet Advocate: "A Web-based Resource Guide for Librarians and Educators Interested in Providing Youth Access to the Net."

Safe Surf: From the Safe Surf FAQ: "We believe that standards must be implemented in cyberspace. Children should be protected on the Internet, however parents should have the choice to raise children as they see fit and define the word 'indecent' for themselves. The online community is made up of many diverse cultures from around the world. Obviously, opinions will differ on levels of acceptable material. Parental choice is really the only answer to this problem. The only way we will be able to achieve freedom of choice by parents is to implement an Internet-wide rating standard."

Tools for parents

Tools for Families: An index of some of the companies offering software that blocks or limits what kids can access on-line.

List of PICS-Compatible Products and Services: A list of some of the products that are supporting the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) standards.

The SafeSurf Internet Rating Standard: This page discusses the Safesurf rating system and will give you an idea of how pages can be encoded to determine the sutability of content for children. The document is a little bit technical, but interesting reading.

The tools, standards, ratings and information available on this subject are changing rapidly. We know that we cannot offer you an exhaustive list of resources on this subject.

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