eSafety

e-Safety in the Home

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Parents guide to being 'e-Safe' at home

The Risks: (Taken from Becta 'E-Safety')

1. Copyright infringement: Downloading and swapping music files, 'cut and paste' homework, purchase online assignments.

2. Obsessive use of the Internet and ICT: Spending a significant amount of time online can cause a deterioration in school work, diminished sleep time and a negative impact on family life.

3. Exposure to inappropriate materials: This may be material that is pornographic, hateful, violent in nature, illegal, extremely political, racist or sexist.

4. Inappropriate or illegal behaviour: Young people may become involved in inappropriate, anti-social or illegal behaviour whilst using the internet. This can include bullying, identity theft, participation in hate or cult activities, or the possession, making and distributing of indecent and/or child abuse images.

5. Physical danger and sexual abuse: The threat of physical danger is the most worrying risk associated with the internet. This can occur through online predation or 'grooming' and arranging to meet their online 'friend' offline. This can also include providing personal information which could be used to identify the child, e.g. name, school, mobile number.

Whilst many children use the Internet in School, many also have access at home. This is the place where they tend to spend most of their time using the internet.

Many of the sites mentioned on this WIKI are blocked in most schools (e.g. Bebo, Myspace, Piczo) but often these sites are unregulated in the home.

There is a thriving market for filtering and blocking software, and most browsers incorporate filters and security, although there is little evidence that schools or homes use them. Filtering requires a subjective judgement: determining what is unsuitable and for whom. Typically there are two broad approaches:

• ‘Black Listing’, identifies and blocks inappropriate sites, either through a reporting system, or through monitoring web addresses to try and identify and categorise sites.

• ‘White Listing’, where the user only has access to web sites that have been approved, with all others blocked.

In either case it presents a major administrative burden, and is complicated within education by the very different needs of children at different ages and stages of development.

Computers can be attacked through various means. For an Internet connected computer, the most common forms of attack come from either email attachments or through the use of an insecure browser.

All browsers use small software applications called ‘cookies’. These can be harmless, and are intended to pass information to a web-site to enable it to remember things such as passwords, or individuals’ names. It is the basis of much of the personalisation found on Internet portals etc. Occasionally these can be used to collect personal information or to provide advertising opportunities. Alternative browsers such as Mozilla have become popular because they enable these to be controlled or eradicated easily. Microsoft Internet Explorer has followed suit, and now incorporates pop-up blocking as well as cookie control.

Adware is a programme that downloads without permission, and often hi-jacks the browser [tool bar, and provides a homepage that cannot be altered.

If your browser and anti-virus software is kept up to date, this should not be a problem; however care should always be taken.

Top Tips for the home:

Invest in a sophisticated filtering system
Talk to your children about how they use the Internet and discuss the risks with them
Keep your computer in a family room
Make sure they have not published any personal information
Make sure they only download files (e.g. music and videos) from a trsuted source e.g. iTunes

Useful Links for Parents

Blog Safety Forum

Social Shield

BBC Parents message [board

Interactive animation for Parents

National action for Children - Internet safety tips

Family Guide Book - DfES recommended

A family guide on getting to grips with technology

NCH & Tesco Telecoms study - Get I.T Safe

Parents Centre

Microsoft advice for the home

Getting your head around Internet Safety