INTERNET SAFETY October 2012

Content  What’s great about being online  Some online issues relevant to your child  What we do to protect your child  What you can do to protect your child  Where to find more help

What we want to achieve “Helping to make the Internet a great and safe place for children” Responding to the negative Promoting the positive

The generation gap YOUNG PEOPLE Interactive chat, IM, Music, Games, Blog, social networking with online ‘friends’ PARENTS Mostly , web for research, meet friends in person for coffee and a chat

Learning Online? Research Communication skills Confidence Computer skills Creativity Money management Skills

Most popular online activities for Form 1 Pupils

Survey results 2012 – Internet usage  44.5% use the Internet every day  3.2% use the Internet for more than 4 hours a day

The most popular locations for Internet access? Home90.6% School1.6% Mobile phone7.0% Friend’s or family’s house1.3% Never use the Internet0.0%

Survey results 2012 – What room use Internet in? Front room/sitting room/lounge42.4% Your bedroom29.7% Brother's/sister's bedroom3.4% Parent's bedroom1.7% Dining room3.4% Kitchen4.2% Study15.3%

Survey results 2012 – offline meetings  10 of the 128 children surveyed said that they have met someone in the real world that they had only known online  Over half of these children didn’t take anyone with them  Over half of those who took someone took a friend (the same age as themselves)  One said that they arranged to meet up with this ‘stranger’ at a party

Digital footprint WHAT YOU SHARE + WHAT OTHERS SHARE ABOUT YOU = YOU ONLINE

Issues with using the Internet ContentContactCommerce  Inaccurate information Threatening s Blur between advertising & content Racist contentStrangers / groomers Invasion of privacy & SPAM Pornography Cyberbullying

Gaming  Internet has facilitated revolution in gaming – social element  Many gaming sites allow you to play and communicate with users all over the world  Gaming can be addictive  Keep gaming friends ‘in games’  Don’t share personal information  Ensure games are age appropriate – age doesn’t relate to skill level – relates to content suitability  Set limits on how long and at what times children can play – some children set alarm so that can get up and play with players in America, Australia, etc

CEOP  CEOP, Child Exploitation and Online Protection organisation, provide information and training on the safe use of the Internet. Throughout this presentation, some of the facts and figures have been provided by CEOP  CEOP are a worldwide organisation  They have reports made to them each month. These include reports about unsolicited attention and inappropriate online contact.  One case study – a 42 year old man pretending to be a 17 year old boy, grooming approx. 200 children over 18 month period

Issues surrounding use of internet  Photographs  Cameras on phones in pocket  Quick and easy to send image  Once sent control is lost  In a survey of year olds by Plymouth University in 2009  39% sent explicit/provocative images of themselves  40% thought it was alright to send topless images  15% though it was alright to send nude images

Issues surrounding use of Internet  Sexting  By sending indecent pictures of a person under 18 on to someone else you could be breaking the law.  If a teenager were to have in their possession an indecent image of another minor, they would technically be in possession of an indecent image of a child, which is an offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Criminal Justice Act  Addiction  Some children can become obsessed with using social networking sites  Loss of inhibitions  Some children will pretend to be something they are not – more confidence online – can attract wrong type of attention

Issues surrounding use of Internet  The Internet never forgets  Children share too much information  So that they can be found by potential friends  To seem popular  Know real information about people before meet them and bring an adult  Children can share with too many people

What children should be aware of  Once content posted online it is difficult to remove, can be easily searched and its global  Information online leaves a traceable ‘digital footprint’  Children should not share  their real name, home address, their phone number, …  Some offenders say they look to see if webcam image shows child in bedroom – if it does then they can push the child further  Never post picture in school uniform or in front of your house  Some digital cameras and mobile phones have inbuilt GPS receiver which provides location information attached to photographs

What children should be aware of  camchat/webcamchat  Easy to fake webcam feed – pre-record chat with other child  Easy to record webcam feed  Where could the video end up?  Webcams  Cover when not in use  Put down lid of laptop  Turn away from room towards wall  Can be remotely accessed

Facebook  In 2012 Facebook admitted that more than 83 million of their 955 million global users were not real  This number was accounted for by: Duplicate profiles A user having more than one account User-misclassified profiles Business profiles, profiles for pets, etc Undesirable users Set up to send spam messages or content to other Facebook users

Unsuitable sites  E.g. Chatroulette  Link you to complete strangers  Live video chat  Trial by CEOP middle of the day – 14% were undesirable/inappropriate  Trialled with male in 20s – 19 out of 20 'nexted' to next person  Trialled with young female – 9 out of 10 talked to her  Ask.fm  Issues with anonymous postings  Users have freedom to write what they want  Formspring.me  Similar to Ask.fm

Report abuse  CEOP report abuse button  Available on many websites  Complete form with details of issue  Someone will contact you/your child from CEOP  The issue will be investigated

What do we do in MCB?  Logon ID and password to control access to our computer system and personal files  Have web filtering to block undesirable material – categorised as GREEN, AMBER and RED sites by C2K  At the end of the first term we have Internet Safety classes with the Form 1s  Links to information and sites, for example, ‘thinkuknow’ from Intranet  Very effective and approachable pastoral system and staff

What can you do?  Know what your child is doing online or with mobile phones  Ask them to teach you about what they do  Help your child to understand that some people lie online and that it’s better to keep online friends online

What can you do?  Tell your children to block people they feel uncomfortable with and to report them  Make sure children are aware that online actions can have offline consequences  Don’t open messages from unknown people  Remind children that it’s never too late to tell someone if something makes them feel uncomfortable  Check out filtering for your home Internet usage  Remind children that once photo shared they lose control of it

What can you do?  Keep computers in communal rooms – not in child’s bedroom  Be your child’s ‘friend’ on Facebook  Use your address as the main contact address  Set rules – eg what details they can give out, no mobile phone in the bedroom at night  Talk to your children about any experiences they have already had on the Internet  Keep copies of any unsuitable messages, texts, etc received  Encourage children to use search engines specifically for young people e.g. Yahoo kids

What can you do?  Talk to your children about any experiences they have had already on the Internet  Keep copies of any unsuitable messages, texts, etc received  Encourage children to use search engines specifically for young people e.g. Yahoo kids  Revisit settings on a regular basis  they can be changed by the site itself  Children can search online for ways to get round parental controls  Realise content of Internet is not moderated

What can you do?   Report any concerns  Sites can use eg google alerts, tweetbeep - you when there is twitter activity relating to you chosen alert topic eg your child’s name

childnet.com kidsmart.org.uk ceop.gov.uk thinkuknow.co.uk