| 1- Script
of Recording
Parents Need Safe Surfing Lessons Too
Tuesday, 19 June, 2001,
@ BBC News online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1397222.stm
Script
Parents keen to ensure their children stay safe online are being
advised to become as familiar with web browsing and chatting technology
as their offspring. Greater familiarity would mean that parents
have a better idea of what their children are getting up to online,
and make more sensible decisions about policing net time.
The knowledge would also mean that if children are subjected to unwelcome
attention, parents can gather evidence to help the police. The advice
comes from an EU-backed project that is researching ways for children
to stay safe when using the web.
In January this year the European Union gave £500,000 to create The
Once Project - a group that is researching the dangers facing children
online, and drawing up teaching aids for schools and parents. Project
co-ordinator Dr Rachel O'Connell said children cannot be adequately
protected by issuing them with a list of safety tips which they
have to learn off by heart.
Far better, she said, was for both teachers and parents to work with
children to show how what they do online can put them at risk, or
bring them face to face with unsavoury websites.
Dr O'Connell said parents should not rely on schools to do the job
of informing their children about the dangers of spending time online
chatting or surfing. She said parents had to become familiar with
the technology their children were using so they could get a better
idea of the pitfalls and make sensible recommendations about the
ways they could protect themselves.
Often, she said, parents are scared to admit that they are unfamiliar
with computer technology in front of their children and over-react
if they find out that a child has accidentally, or intentionally,
looked at a pornographic website.
She said in the same way that someone who cannot drive a car cannot
teach someone else the rules of the road, then parents who do not
have a clue about how net technology works cannot hope to teach
children how to surf safely.
Parents also need to be aware that children need more supervision
at home than at school.
"Parents do not realise that there is a great disparity between
the limited access children get at school and the full access they
have at home," she said.
The Once Project recommends that parents spend time learning their
way around net surfing and chatting software with the help of their
children. This should help ensure that children are happy to tell
their parents about anything unsavoury they see online, or if they
are being targetted by paedophiles.
Dr O'Connell said the safe surfing advice issued by the Once Project
will help children gather evidence about the identity of anyone
that bothers them.
The Once Project is planning to produce advice packs that cover different
net technologies that can be used by both parents and teachers.
Chatroom advice for kids
Ensure the chat room software lets you save discussions
Question the truth of information revealed by other chat-users
Uncover identifying information about others in the chat room
Interrogate the internet to find out real identities
Don't give out personal information or agree to meet other chat-users
offline
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Parents
Need Safe Surfing Lessons Too
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Parents
Need Safe Surfing Lessons Too
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