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"A tale from the trenches" and "Golden nugget" will be regular features of this news letter to which you can also submit articles for consideration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ General announcements ===================== Special thanks this month go out to Brooke Jones for submitting this gueat article. Pass it on. :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brooke Jones phone: 541/344-9291 fax: 541/342-4002 e-mail: bjones0399@aol.com "WHAT EVERY ONLINE PARENT SHOULD KNOW" (what you don’t know could hurt your kids!) by: Brooke Jones If your child has access to the Internet, dangerous people, places and things have access to your child! (And please don’t say that your child is too smart to be victimized, because police and FBI files are full of tragic cases involving very smart kids. In cyberspace, everybody looks harmless!) When it comes to keeping your children safe from online pedophiles, pornographers and hate groups, the more you know, the safer your children will be. With that thought in mind, here is a brief overview of what various types of "safety software" can and can’t do to help you safeguard your kids. BLOCKING SOFTWARE: Blocking programs, like NetNanny, are designed to keep inappropriate material from appearing on your computer screen, and some do a good job of blocking known danger Sites. However, according to the latest government statistics, there are tens of thousands of violent, pornographic, and offensive places on the Web, and many of them have names that sound legitimate. [Error! Bookmark not defined. is just one such example... unfortunately Error! Bookmark not defined. is a porno Site!] Because countless thousands of truly disgusting Web Sites are cleverly disguised (either behind innocent-sounding names, or behind legitimate Sites), and because hundreds of new offensive Sites are created every day, there is no way to know the names or Web addresses of the vast majority of the Sites that you wouldn’t want your children to visit. As a result, it is impossible for any blocking software to keep them out of the reach of your children! FILTERING SOFTWARE: Filters (like SOS KidProof and Cyber Sentinel) prevent the typing or viewing of pre-programmed language or material, but even the best filters are relatively easy to fool. Simply misspelling a word that is on the filter’s list of "no-no’s" will enable the word to be typed and received! In addition, a filter that is programmed to keep out "sexual content" will filter out anything that contains the word "sex" (including "sextet" or "Sexual Harassment"), and Web Sites dealing with breast cancer. Buying tickets online to see "Porgy and Bess"? Not if your computer has a filter! Searching the Web for software that can keep pornography, bomb building and drug-related material off your computer screen? If you have a filtering program, you won’t find it, because such Sites require the presence of the words pornography, bombs and drugs; all subjects that filtering software is programmed to prohibit. (what it filters from your child’s view, it also filters from yours) Software that filters out violent content can make it difficult to do research on the making of the Atomic Bomb, or the classic TV show "Gunsmoke", not to mention a certain Vice President by the name of Al Gore! It is worth noting that blocking and filtering software, as a rule, is programmed by the company that creates it, which means that someone other than you is deciding what material your family can and cannot see. Do religious or political beliefs play a part in a company’s decision to block or filter certain Web Sites? There’s no way to know because the makers of these programs will not allow consumers to view their lists of "Inappropriate Material". Result: when you install this type of software, your child’s online activity (as well as yours) is being censored, and you will have no way to know what information is being withheld. Should a stranger decide what you and your family are permitted to see? That is a question many parents are asking. MONITORING SOFTWARE: Only one product enables you to truly monitor online activity. ChatMinder is the only software program that records word-for-word transcripts of online conversations (Instant and Private Messages, Chat Room discussions, etc) so that you can actually read what your children are saying to strangers AND what online strangers are saying to your children. The other monitoring products (Cyber Snoop et al) can give you the names of Web Sites your children have visited, but cannot tell you what cyber-strangers have been saying. While these programs are often advertised as "catching chat and e-mail", in reality what they catch is only what your child types, not what strangers type to your child. PRE-FILTERED INTERNET SERVICE: Several companies are now offering Internet Service that is designed to allow only "safe and harmless" material to appear on your computer screen. In theory, this would seem to be a simple way to keep the pornography and violence from ever arriving in your home. Unfortunately, this type of service has many of the same pitfalls as standard blocking software. The company providing the service can only bar those Sites and subjects that it knows about, thus leaving the door open to the thousands of Sites it has yet to discover. Equally disheartening to many parents is the realization that, by using a Pre-Filtered ISP, they are enabling total strangers to decide what information their family receives. An in-depth analysis of all available safety software could take days to read. Suffice it to say that keeping your children out of harm’s way when they surf the Web is not as easy as some companies would have you believe. Should you find a way to know exactly what your children are being exposed to on the Internet; to know who is saying what to them, and what is being said in return? The experts say YES! Just as you make it a point to know where your kids are going each time they leave the house, you should know where they’re going each time they log on to the Internet. In the same way that you know who their friends in the real world are, you should know who their friends in the virtual world are. An online friend can claim to be a fifteen-year-old girl, but how can you be sure? In cyberspace, people are invisible! By all means, do make use of software that can help you protect your children, but know what you’re using – know what it CAN and CAN’T do! [Former Talk Radio Host Brooke Jones is a mother, a freelance writer and the Media Director of the Ribbon Of Promise NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO END SCHOOL VIOLENCE. She is an expert in the field of Internet danger and what parents can do to safeguard their children, and is a frequent guest on Talk Radio shows around the country. Ms. Jones can be reached at: bjones0399@aol.com] =================================================================== Be informed. Be involved. And be well. Most sincerely, Mark Brasche Owner, New England Webmasters Author, Child Safety-Net