Keeping kids safe on the internet

Assemblymember William Scarborough is urging parents to take an active role in their children’s Internet activity. He wants parents to know that they are their children’s first line of defense when it comes to Internet predators.
Scarborough has created a brochure titled &#8220Parent’s Guide for Computer Safety” which offers Internet safety tips for parents and their children. It advises parents to warn children about the dangers of trusting a stranger they meet in cyberspace.
The brochure advises parents to warn their child never to give personal information such as their address, phone number or school to anyone over the Internet, never send their picture without checking with a parent first and most importantly to warn children never to arrange a meeting without telling a parent and then to only meet in a public location with a parent present. It is also advisable that parents place parental controls to prevent children from reading adult bulletin boards.
According to &#8220Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later” conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, approximately one in seven children online have received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet.
The FBI website also offers helpful tips for parents to know if their child is at risk on the Internet. Some signs a child might be engaging with an on-line predator are if they spend large amounts of time on-line, especially at night, there is pornography on a child’s computer or a child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.
The “Parent’s Guide for Computer Safety” is available at Assemblymember William Scarborough’s District Office, located at 129-32 Merrick Blvd. in St. Albans. The office phone number is 718-723-5412. In addition, the FBI’s website, www.fbi.gov, also has valuable information on protecting children from Internet predators.