Parents need to help protect children from online predators

ROMAN CASTRO/Acorn Newspapers THE DIGITAL AGE- Camarillo residents Michelle and Graig Workman speak with Senior Dep. Julie Novak of the Camarillo Police Department as Dep. Edward Beauvais looks on after the Cyber Safety forum at Las Colinas Middle School Tues., Nov. 6. The purpose of the seminar was to inform parents about the new dangers youngsters face when surfing the Internet.

The Camarillo Police Department presented a community forum for parents, "Cyber Safety: Keeping Your Kids Safe in a High Technology World," earlier this month at Las Colinas School.

The seminar was geared toward teaching parents about the dangers teens face when surfing the Internet.

Senior Dep. Julie Novak with the Camarillo Police Department offered tips on how parents can safeguard their children against online predators and inappropriate websites.

•Safe Internet behavior starts in the real world, with focus on imparting values and standards. Help kids understand what information should be private and teach them how to use the privacy settings.

•Know the age limitations for individual social networking sites; almost all of them require participants to be 13 and older. Children should understand that only information that the family is comfortable with the whole world seeing can be posted. Information posted online creates "permanent footprints" that cannot be taken back if the information has been shared with someone else.

•Future employers and schools are now looking at profile pages; if someone posts pictures and comments that are inappropriate or illegal, they could be denied entry into a school or turned down for future employment.

•Talk to children about not entering any chat rooms, even if connected to a social networking site. Studies show that most predators and online bullies use chat rooms.

•Become computer savvy, go online and do some research.

•Have children sign a contract for appropriate Internet use; such forms are available online. There should be consequences if the rules are violated.

•Use key logging or key stroking software to track everything that the child types on the computer. Keep the computer in a common area and check the history on the computer. Make it clear there will be consequences if the history is deleted.

•Explain that "bullying" someone online, over the cellphone or using text messages can be a crime. Make it clear that such actions can cause harm to people.

•Know the laws. Report anything suspicious to the police.

•If a parent discovers that a child is involved with an online stranger, they should not confront the child, who could erase evidence, run away with the person or alert the stranger. Instead, the parent should call the police.