What are Mauritian Kids doing online??? Parents Guide

Useful guide for parents

What are you doing online?
Where do you access the Internet? At school? At home? At friends' homes? Elsewhere?
How do you access the Internet? Whose computers do you use? Do you use web-enabled mobile phones?
How much time do you spend online? How often do you use the Internet?
With whom do you use the Internet? By yourself? With teachers? Friends? Adults?
For what do you use the Internet? What websites do you visit regularly? What websites have you visited recently? What are your favorite websites?
Do you communicate with people online? Who? Have you met new people online? Who? Have you been contacted by adults online? Who?
Do you have personal web pages? Where?
At what websites do you have accounts? What usernames do you use?
What email addresses do you children use? Do you have any others?
What instant messenger services do you use? What are your screen names? Do you have any others?
Do you ever put personal information online? Pictures? Where? How do you protect this information?
Have you come across inappropriate content online? When? What did you see? Where did you see it? How did you come across it? What did you do when you saw it?
Has anyone communicated with you online in an inappropriate manner? When? What happened? Where did it happen? What did you do?
Do you know how to be safe online? What would you do if they were contacted by a stranger online?
Remember: these questions should only be used as a means to start an ongoing dialogue with your teen about online safety. The goal is to make sure you fully understand how your teen is using the Internet so you can take appropriate measures. No matter what your child says, try not to overreact. Take some time and consider what your children have told you before taking serious action.
Monitor your teen's internet use.Watch your teens when they're using the Internet.
Put your home computer in an open space.
Check frequently to see what websites your teens are using. (Look at the browser's history and cache of websites if necessary.) If you see your teen close a window as you approach, ask why.
Review email messages your teen has sent and received.
Review active instant messenger conversations.
Look at photos and other files saved on your teen's computer.

Consider parental tools that will allow you to monitor your teen's Internet usage when you're not present. Explore the websites your teens use. Your teen should not be using websites that allow communication between users that do not have the following minimum safeguards:

Control over who is admitted into your teen's network of friends.
The ability to block certain users from sending messages to your teen.
A means of reporting inappropriate content and users to a user safety department.
The ability to remove content previously posted by your teen.
The ability to completely delete your teen's account.

Parents Guide to Online Safety

We all know that the Internet can be a fun place and a useful resource for teens. But it is also full of risks and dangers. No one person can ensure teen online safety. However, parents play the biggest role in keeping teens safe online. Parents must be willing to elicit the support and advice of other parents, educators, online safety specialists, and teens themselves to be successful. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes the concerted efforts of all of us, working together, to make sure teens are safe online.

Every parent should have an online safety plan for their teens. Below are some suggestions on how you should go about developing one for you and your teens.

Here is a list of some of the popular online safety websites:

BlogSafety.com
ChildrensPartnership.org
Common Sense Media
Child Safety Network
Cyber Angels
Family Tech Talk
FBI
Get Net Wise
InternetSafey.com
iSafe America
Kids Online Resources
Microsoft Security At Home
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Net Family News
Net Smartz Kids
Safe Kids
Safe Teens
Stay Safe
Stop Cyberbullying
Teen Angels
Web Wise Kids
Wired Kids
Wired Safety
Wired Teens
Wired with Wisdom
Yahooligans! Parents' Guide

Mobile phones additional costs for parents

Mobile phones are increasingly pervasive in Europe with 80% of households having at least one handset. Many parents now purchase mobile phones for their children, often for reasons of safety and peace of mind. However, mobile phones pose a number of dangers, which parents may be unaware of. 3G telephones with advanced capabilities offer services much like the Internet, which bring with them many new risks. Nonetheless they are an excellent tool for children to keep in touch with their peers, either by talking or via texting (SMS). They are also increasingly used for playing games, and as alarm clocks, personal organisers and cameras.

Children are often "early adopters" of mobile phone services, and many have purchased ring tones, animations, games and images to customise their phones. In the future, we can expect mobile phone services to increasingly converge with other devices, with phones therefore becoming personal digital assistants. In Japan, they are even used as digital wallets for payment. As the services diversify, both risks and opportunities will increase.

Safety Issues

Contact: some children have been sexually harassed by mobile phone, and bullying using mobile phones is common. Children are often reluctant to discuss such problems.

Theft: expensive mobile handsets are often stolen, and children may be mugged or physically attacked for their handsets.

Spam: Most children with mobile phones have received some form of SMS spam. Some of these services are charged at a premium rate and may be difficult to stop.

Photographs: many mobile phones now include cameras. They are often taken without permission and forwarded to friends or websites.

Supervision: children normally use mobile phones alone, so parents are not involved in their use.
Advertising and sales pressure: children may receive advertising content via SMS, and some services for children allow them to pay for goods using their phone credit.

Health issues: evidence is inconclusive, but some people fear that prolonged use of mobile phone may give rise to health concerns.

Statistics

50% of children with mobile phones in Spain send an SMS every day 82% of young people in Belgium own a mobile phone. In NLand FR In Sweden, 97% of the pupils have their own phone and 80% of them use it daily39% of children in Finland use camera phones regularly80% of households in the EU member states have at least one mobile phone When asked in a survey 60% of young people aged 18 and under would forward photos of violence towards classmates via mobile phones

Links

Insafe articles:

Rating system introduced for Dutch mobile content Danish parents prepare children for harmful content Handywissen.at for safe mobile phone use in Austria Committee of Ministers adopts first ever international declaration to boost human rights and the rule of law in the Information Society Hacking and malware go mobileAustralian government reviews mobile communication safety Children and young people's use of moblogs

Other sources: eMapps: The use of ICT, games and mobile technology in the New Member States

Advice

Austrian node: Website with information and recommendations for safe mobile phone use for parents and teachers Austrian node: brochure for parents Austrian node: tips for children Greek node: Advice on safe use of mobile phones Slovenian node: Tips and recommendations for parents about safer internet and mobile phone use Swedish node: Tips on mobile phone use for adults, children and young peopleUK node: Website with advice for children on mobiles Childnet international: KnowITall for parents, advice on computers and mobile phones O2 and Childnet: Website with broad range of advice on protecting children from risks Childnet international: Children and mobile phones: an agenda for action Nokia: Protect your phone

Mauritian kids exposed to ebullying

Studies from different countries suggest that around 1 in 10 children has been or is being bullied via ICT tools. This is known as cyberbullying. According to Wikipedia, "Cyberbullying or online bullying is the term used to refer to bullying and harassment by use of electronic devices though means of e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, blogs, mobile phones, pagers, and websites". However, cyberbullying can be more invasive, as bullies can continue to taunt their victims even when they are not physically present. For instance, the bully might send SMS messages late at night, interrupting the victim's sleep patterns and causing increased stress.

It can take many forms, and can involve quite sophisticated use of technology. For instance, children may use mobile phones with cameras to film bullying incidents – termed ‘happy slapping’ and post them online on video sites such as YouTube. An early example of cyberbullying was the case of the Star Wars Kid, where a private self-made video was shared without the boy’s permission online via peer-to-peer networks and became a global phenomenon. The boy in question suffered depression due to taunts from his peers, and unusually became a cult hero as a result. However, more typically, cyberbullying is low-level, persistent and has a constant negative impact on victims.

Risks

Physical impact: victims may find their health suffers due to the stress of bullying, and when cyberbullying is accompanied by physical harassment, te impact is more significant.
Educational impact: victims typically show poorer academic performance, and bullying can impact negatively on the morale of classmates.

Spoofing: bullies can use false mobile phone identities and hence aggravate their bullying actions by making themselves non-identifiable

Statistics

74% of teenagers don’t ask for advice when they are cyberbullied. Source: MSN

10% of Belgian youngsters claims to have been a victim of bullying through the internet or by mobile phone. Source: Belgian node

12% of teenagers between 11 and 15 years old in the Netherlands experience bullying on the Internet. Source: Insafe Newsletter

Links
Bluetooth bullies
Cyberbullying: big deal? (PDF in Dutch)
Spain offers support to victims of online bullying

Advice
Council of Europe Internet Literacy Handbook: Bullying Factsheet
Spanish node: Anti-bullying helpline
A Parents' Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats
Stop Cyberbullying
Internet Superheroes: Cyberbullying

Hi5 danger for Mauritian Kids

Social networking websites, where users meet others according to shared interests, are now the most visited sites on the Internet. Social networks (SNs) can be defined as "websites with profiles, semi-persistent public commentary on the profile, and a traversable publicly articulated social network displayed in relation to the profile". They are extremely popular among teenagers on the internet, via sites such as MySpace and Facebook. There are a number of specifically mobile SNs springing up, such as Dodgeball and Enpresence, which arguably pose more risks for children than internet based SNs, as they notify users when they are in physical proximity to their contacts.

Meanwhile the existing web-based SNs are adding mobile services to their offering. Facebook, for instance, offers mobile browsing, photo uploads and the facility to exchange personal messages with other users via SMS (currently US-only) and MySpace is deploying similar services. Online 3D environments with some of the features of SNs (such as chat and messaging) where a player interacts with others using a character or avatar, are also becoming better known. Habbo Hotel, Neopets and Second Life are examples. However such environments lack the ‘profile’ aspect of typical SNs, although in some cases users may have virtual ‘homes’ where they can invite others to visit them.SNs are an easy way to stay in touch with many friends simultaneously, and to make new ones. They also stimulate users to learn how to use internet technologies and acquire basic HTML skills, in order to customise their profiles or "homes".


Safety risks

Contact: SNs are by nature aimed at helping people get in contact with each other. Children can be approached by people with negative intentions (e.g. cyberbullies) through chat, personal messages or through posting comments on profiles. In 3D environments, avatars may suffer virtual physical harassment.

Content: there is little or no moderation of content on many SN websites. Thus, it is easy for young people to come across inappropriate content related to sex, drugs and violence.

Commercial and financial risks: many companies now use SNs to advertise their products. Some SNs have components which must be paid for, or have virtual currencies. They do not all require credit cards and can use e.g. phone credit to pay for virtual goods. Virtual goods can acquire high value and be resold e.g. through eBay. This has stimulated growth in theft of virtual goods, which is unprotected by the law.

Lacks of age verification: most SNs are aimed at users aged 13 years old and up. However, it is difficult to verify ages as no credit card or other proof of identity are required to join. Young children therefore find it easy to register as a member.

Internet Pornography!! Who are responsible for this shit!!

As young people spend more time online and generate and consume a growing amount of content, the importance of internet safety is constantly increasing.

But who is responsible for teaching youngsters about safety, parents or teachers? What are the areas of greatest online danger, and how can we best raise the awareness of youngsters and their parents? The Insafe network would like to hear your opinions on this important topic and invites you to respond to its teachers’ survey here The responses received so far have shown that more than 1 in 4 teachers do not teach internet safety to their class. The same number lack confidence to deal with issues surrounding mobile phones, social networking and online gaming.

However, the vast majority of teachers who responded to the survey (over 80%) agreed that children should be taught about internet safety from the age of 7. It is vital that we recognise this and do something about it – another INSAFE survey, this time of children and young people suggested that the most vulnerable group to risks on the internet are those under 10 years of age. This group are most likely to engage in risky behaviours online.

Learn from the Czech

Adolescents, primary school pupils and teachers from the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Spain shared their thoughts about safety online during internet safety workshops held on the occasion of the eTwinning camp 2007 in Città del mare. The teenage participants brainstormed and worked on specific topics, the teachers prepared lesson-plans integrating internet safety aspects in the classroom and the youngest pupils worked on an internet safety fairy-tale.

The internet is connecting thousands of pupils in Europe and is a powerful communication tool and an excellent means of cross-border education. Young people are intensively using new communication technology and are often way ahead in their understanding of these tools compared to their teachers or parents. However, whereas they deem themselves technically savvy, they are not always in a position to judge the material they come across on the net. So what could make more sense than delivering Insafe internet safety workshops to young and enthusiastic Europeans and their teachers? The pupils’ workshops took place in two different age groups: a) adolescents (14-16) and primary school pupils (7-9). In both groups, the sessions started with a brainstorming that showed that all pupils use/had used the internet to communicate and the striking majority played games online.

Subjects such as e-privacy, source-criticism, responsibility and cyber-bullying were discussed and the older students worked in groups on themes such as: anonymity, publishing power, cyberbullying, seeing is believing, solidarity. The younger children were just starting to use the Internet at school. Nevertheless, they had quite a good idea of what it is and what kind of dangers it may expose users to. They were asked to work on their well-known Gingerbread house fairy tale that was the core of their eTwinning project. They had to transpose it into an e-safety context so consequently the ginger-bread house became a misleading site, whereas the witch became a cyberwitch.

The story they created was filmed and can be by clicking on this link. Answering the question “What did you learn during the workshop on playing safe on the internet” the young Czech and Slovak students provided answers such as: “Think before clicking”, “Do not reply to people you do not know”, “We should help each other when we’re in difficulty”, “Do not let strangers take pictures of you” and “Protect your computer”. On the other hand the teachers were asked to talk about the subjects they teach and reflect on how internet safety elements could be integrated in those subjects and in their eTwinning projects. Subsequently they were asked to create lesson plans were they would use internet safety aspects of interest to them.

The lesson plans developed could in some cases form the basis of an eTwinning collaboration project. The European Internet Safety Network, Insafe, will celebrate the 5th edition of Safer Internet Day on February 12 2008. In that context a new competition will be launched for schools in Europe and beyond. To keep informed about Internet safety issues and upcoming events,

please visit the Insafe portal:http://www.saferinternet.org