Online Safety

But in an environment where a child old enough to punch in a few letters on her keyboard can literally access the world, parents need to be vigilant about monitoring what their children see and hear, who they meet, and what they share about themselves on the Web. That free, uncensored connection to the world can potentially be dangerous.

A Vast Network of Information

The World Wide Web, one portion of the Internet, is a vast network of virtual libraries. Not everything in those libraries, however, is something you'd like to see - or have your child see. For example, your 8-year-old might go to a search engine and type in the word "Lego." But with just one missed keystroke, she might enter the word "Legs" instead and be directed to thousands of websites with a focus on legs - some of which may contain pornographic material.

The debate between those who defend the unrestricted right to free speech in the United States and those who want to ensure that children do not have access to pornographic materials or offensive speech is ongoing. The 1996 Communications Decency Act, designed largely for this purpose, was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court the following year. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA), passed in October 1998, made it a federal crime to use the Internet to communicate material considered harmful to minors, and charged commercial providers of sexually explicit materials for adults (such as pornographic websites) with restricting the access of minors. But it, too, has been challenged on the grounds that it restricts freedom of speech, and an injunction (a court order prohibiting the law from being enforced) has been ordered. And although privacy laws addressing the online collection and distribution of children's personal information and the need for parental consent have been enacted, the Internet is largely unregulated. For example, at this time, in most states, it is not against the law for pornographic websites to send out explicit email advertisements (though it may be illegal in some states if the sender knows the email address belongs to a minor).

Your Are Your Child's Best Protection

This means your child's best online protection is you. By talking to your child often about potential online dangers and monitoring her computer use, you'll be giving her the tools she needs to learn to surf safely.