Parents: What You Need To Know
1. Visit National center for Missing & Exploited Kids for more tips on protecting your children.
2. Surf the Internet with your kids. If it is not possible for you to actually surf with your kids, at least talk to them about the Web sites they are visiting.
3. Place the computer in a public room in your home so that even when you are not surfing with your kids, you can monitor their use.
4. Establish ground rules for your kids’ Internet usage, including the hours they may surf and the kinds of Web sites they may visit.
5. Become familiar with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires Web sites that are directed toward children under 13 to obtain a parent’s permission before collecting many types of information. For more information on COPPA, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site.
7. Teach your kids not to give out personal information such as their last name, your last name, their home address, or phone number, especially in a chat room, over a bulletin board, or to an online pen pal without your permission.
8. Be informed before deciding whether to give consent. Check a Web site’s information collection practices before you decide whether or not to give consent. Keep in mind that you can give a Web site consent to collect information, but refuse to allow your child’s information to be passed on to a third party.
9. Be willing to ask a Web site to delete your child’s information. If you think a Web site might already have collected information from your kids, ask to see what information they have collected and request that it be deleted.
10. You can always change your mind and revoke consent. If at any time you change your mind about a Web site’s collecting your child’s information, you may revoke your consent and have your child’s information deleted.
11. Instruct your kids never to respond to e-mail or chat messages that make them feel uncomfortable or from someone they don’t know. Stress that they should show such messages to you.
12. Make sure your kids know not to agree to a face-to-face meeting with someone they meet online.
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