Guide to Children Internet Safety in India
Parental control for children and internet safety advice, parents help for kids: As a parent, you must be aware of many benefits to your child from the internet. Access to the Internet can improve your child’s reading skills by providing new materials to read, send emails to their friends, learn about other cultures, access libraries, and reference materials for school or homework.
CHILD SAFETY ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
Did you know that there over 500,000 websites containing pornography? And more than 60% of kids admit seeing adult pictures on the internet.
However, if your child has full access to the internet, you should not be without concern. With unrestricted access, any child with a computer and a modem can access pornographic material in seconds, and once it’s been seen, the pornography can never be entirely erased from the mind. We want to protect the innocence and purity of childhood for as long as possible. Yet children need to know specific rules about the computer and their access to the internet exists. They may be less likely to violate the laws if they are told the truth about why they are not allowed to see everything on the internet.
New & dangerous trend on the internet these days.
Luring children into pornographic sites by redirecting URLS & other deceptive means.
Children may click on sites these sites assuming them to be homework sites etc. ( these sites are titled deceptively or are URL redirects ), and children would easily be led to believe these sites are meant for them. ( NEW YORK (CNN)Wednesday, September 3, 2003 — An Internet site owner was arrested used misleading domain names on the Web to deceive minors into logging on to pornographic sites. http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/03/trick.names/ )
Just as disturbing as pornography itself is, so is the difficulty in protecting children from online predators who have a sexual appetite for unsuspecting children & women and can entice them through friendly conversations.
And with Cyberstalkers, Paedophiles, and Cyber Criminals on the prowl in chat rooms even in India, children and parents certainly need to be still more cautious in cyberspace. ( More Recent incidents in India).
Even if you use every protection available, unless your children know what to expect and how to react when they run into something terrible, your children are at risk. Arming them well means teaching them well. This is more important than any software or hardware device you can buy. We can begin to educate our children & ourselves about dangers in cyberspace. Protecting our children on the internet is a shared responsibility!
Cyber laws and content filters can only have limited effectiveness. Parents must supervise children online to make sure that they are protected from harmful content and to ensure that youngsters know how to avoid the sexual predators they could meet in the anonymity of cyberspace.
You are not powerless, and you are not alone!
With all the pros and cons of the internet, you, the parent, should not feel you are without options. Child protection technology is plentiful. You can implement responsible safeguards, ensuring that your children will have safe, educational, and entertaining online experiences. Educate yourself about cyberspace. Raise your awareness of the benefits as well as the risks of going online.
Remember, there is no substitute for good parenting, and no software can replace trust and communication. Some offensive material could inevitably slip through filters. Technology shouldn’t be a babysitter and considered the solution. It’s a tool available to help knowledgeable parents enforce their choices, nothing more. It’s not a magic wand.
But there’s lots more to cyberspace than risks to our children, hardcore sexual content, and other bad stuff. We’ve found some useful web sites you can enjoy as a family which is listed at Indianchild.com. So, do keep visiting us for parenting articles, Internet safety news & updates.
And yes, please do suggest good sites.
“The best way to assure that your children have positive online experiences is to stay in touch with what they are doing.”
If you find yourself in a situation where you suspect online abuse of your child or if you come across Cyber Cafes in India allowing unauthorized access to cyber pornography to children or about children, don’t hesitate to call law enforcement. Help is available when you need it, thanks to the cybercrime cells set up by the Indian Government. You are requested to contact the nearest Police Station for help and guidance in this regard. There is nothing to fear. In fact, it could end a nightmare.
www.naavi.org/ – useful resource for cyber law information
If you find sites luring children to porn with misleading or Deceptive redirects from search engine results, you could also report here: http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html
The editor recommended site: http://www.cyberangels.org – CyberAngel volunteers have been instrumental in putting child pornographers and predators behind bars, where they belong.
The editor recommended site: http://www.asianlaws.org/fact/index.htm – To tackle the abuse of children through the misuse of modern technology, the Asian School of Cyber Laws (India) has launched FACT (Freedom from Abuse of Children through Technology). The FACT is a five-pronged program that includes Educating the children, Educating the parents, School awareness program, Creating Media awareness, and Establishing a FACT Help Line.