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Verbal agreements 'not enough' to protect children online
Thursday, 07 August 2008
By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Research from BroadbandChoices.co.uk has shown that 84 per cent of parents rely on a verbal agreement to ensure their children stay safe online.
However, Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said that with 45 per cent of children admitting to making new friends online and a further 40 per cent a member of a social networking site like Bebo, Facebook or MySpace, this simply wasn’t enough.
| "Children are often more tech-savvy than their parents and the click of a mouse can take them anywhere" |
“We were surprised to learn that such a high proportion of parents heavily rely on verbal agreements to ensure their children’s online activities are safe and legal,” said Phillips.
“Children are often more tech-savvy than their parents and the click of a mouse can take them anywhere. This research highlights the need for parents to be aware of the simple checks they can put in place to safeguard children who are increasingly using the internet to build new relationships.”
He added that children’s downloading habits could also leave parents paying out extra for overused download allowances.
“As well as the possible safety issues,” he said. “There are financial implications to your child’s internet activities. With 48 per cent downloading music online it would be easy to exceed your broadband fair usage limit leaving unsuspecting parents out of pocket at the end of the month.”
And with the recent agreement between major ISPs and the BPI - representing the music industry - parents could also receive warning letters and find their broadband connections severely throttled if their children have been downloading from the popular but illegal peer-to-peer sites that breach copyright laws.
However, there are steps that parents can take to keep children safe and ensure that they don’t misuse the internet said Phillips.
Parental control software and education are key but keeping the family PC in the living room where children can be monitored also works very well, he said.
“And if you’re worried about viruses or exceeding your download allowance, simply make sure that you have up-to-date antivirus and firewall software installed, and use our free Broadband Download Monitor to ensure you never go over your monthly limit,” he advised.
Related article - Protecting children online.
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Comments
Firm guidelines should always be given to children, with severe punishment if they are broken, but peace of mind and the purity of childhood are priceless. My friend i recommended it to got a free trial from their website and now agrees it is outstanding.