A Matter of Extremes
Is the Internet a safe place for children?
The opinions presented below are intended to raise the concerns of
parents about the Internet and children. My opinions may offend some
parents. Mild references to pornography and unsavory activities on the
Internet are included.
The Internet is without a doubt one of the greatest advents in human
history. The concept of endless amounts of information flowing freely to
all ends of the earth and accessible by anyone with access to the
Internet was merely science fiction a decade ago. Today, over a billion
people can use this tool for numerous purposes including instantaneous
global communication and information gathering on virtually any topic.
Personally, I've been using the Internet for nearly 10 years and can't imagine
life without it. It's a great tool that I use both in my personal and
working life. With a few quick clicks of the mouse, the 'net' provides
me with my daily news, access to my bank account to pay bills, access to
my RRSP, information to help make important purchases like a car or
computer, the ability to buy just about anything on-line and shipped to
my home, weather information, telephone directory, entertainment
information (TV, movie, concert, restaurant and travel guide),
communications with friends and family across the country, an
educational tool for children, and information on any topic you can
think of. And the Internet is only in it's infancy!
The Internet is a great tool for adults. But for children, it is
fraught with hazards. Improper use of the Internet by children can harm
your child mentally and physically! Before your child uses the Internet
unsupervised, you, the parent, must educate yourself about the unsavory
side of the Internet. It's a scary thought to know that 100,000's of
parents ignorantly allow their children (all ages) to roam freely around
the Internet. For most of those parents it's simple naiveté and
ignorance, for others it's irresponsibility and downright negligence. In
my opinion, children under seventeen are not ready for unrestricted
access to the extremes of the Internet. There are those who will
disagree with this when it comes to children at the high end of that age
range. But for children in their early teens and younger, there is no
question about it, they are too young to be exploring the Internet in a
unsupervised and unrestricted manner.
The extreme side of the Internet is massive and involves 100's of
million of dollars in advertising and pornography sales and often
involves organized crime. Many sites are commercial and many are just
operated by private individuals with unusual tastes.
Offshore web site hosting is a booming new industry that appeals to the
pornography and gambling industries among others and provides a safe
haven for businesses that don't want to base their web site in Canada or
the U.S for tax and/or legal reasons. The global
nature of the Internet allows anyone to access these sites though.
The Internet contains unlimited materials and web sites that are extremely
explicit in every sense. Sexual, morbid, gruesome and perversely
explicit material that is easier to access than your local weather
forecast. Sites that promote degenerate, illegal, immoral, irrational,
anti-family, anti-establishment, subversive and dangerous (etc..)
behaviours are as easy to find as an on-line search engine. Perverts,
freaks and criminals are as easy to find as a chat room. Anybody and
anything is out there and easy to find either accidentally or
intentionally. By pure chance, it is easy for an Internet user to
end up at a pornographic site. The administrators of these
sites go to extremes to get business and that includes automated links
at non-pornographic sites and the purchasing of outdated webpage addresses.
It is common to see pornographic links at gaming and warez (pirated software)
sites that are frequented by children ages 8 and up. Sometimes all you have to
do is access such a site and a new browser window automatically opens containing
sexually explicit material including links to unlimited explicit Internet sites.
Now you can also end up at a pornographic site by trying to connect to a web
page that has closed down. Pornography companies purchase the old addresses and
they automatically redirect you to their site when you try to access the original web
page! It happened to my wife only yesterday much to her surprise! Is this what you
want your child exposed to?
Chat rooms are another dubious place for children. The problem with chat
rooms is that they are rarely monitored and usually don't or can't
restrict access. The anonymous nature of the Internet allows anyone to
have access to any chat room, even monitored chat rooms for young
children. The FBI has warned the public about this as a result of
numerous child abductions and other crimes that have emanated from
contact in chat rooms. Do you want your child exposed to this?
Credit card fraud is also growing. Did you know that free access passes
to pornographic sites are available to anyone supplying a valid credit
card number? The intention is to prevent children from accessing the
sites by assumming you are an adult if you present a valid credit card number.
These sites say they will not charge the credit card or disclose the information.
There are reportedly thousands of teen age children who have accessed
pornographic sites using their parents credit card number. One year ago
I had an odd $37 charge on my visa and investigated it only to find that
someone had purchased pornography with it at a web site based in
Seattle. I called the site and they credited back the money to me. I
called the police (RCMP) and they said this is so common and hard to
solve that they no longer investigate it. The same was said when I
called VISA. Now it's come to my attention that there are sites on the
web that post numerous credit card numbers and passwords to gain access to
explicit sites. These password sites aren't being frequented by adults
but by teenagers looking for quick and concealed access to adult sites.
On-line casinos are also accessible with only a credit card. Is this a
concern for you?
As you see, there are two extremes to the Internet. Like other great
inventions, it has the duality of good and bad aspects. There are 2 ways
for adults to attend to this problem. Either we push the government to
apply extensive controls, laws and limitations that would, in my
opinion, ruin the good aspects of the Internet. Or we act responsibly by
becoming informed about the Internet and do not allow children to have
unsupervised, unlimited, and unfiltered access to the Internet. Ideally you
should supervise your child at ALL times while on-line and/or use a good
filtering program like Net Nanny to prevent your child from accessing
(intentionally or accidentally) the negative aspects of the Internet.
Net Nanny also protects children in chat rooms. If you can't do this
then do not allow your child any access to the Internet. You should also
inform yourself about Internet access that is available at the homes of
friends of your children. Many children of responsible parents gain
access to the unsavory side of the Internet at the homes of irresponsible
parents.
But don't take my word for it. Get informed! Log on to the Internet and
see for yourself what is out there and how easy it is to come across.
Merely typing in a topic oriented word like SEX in the address window at
the top of your Internet Browser and hitting the Enter key will
instantly give you full access to the world of Internet pornography. Try
GOTHIC or DEATH or WAREZ or CRACKS for keyword searches at a popular
search site like AltaVista.com or Lycos.com or Yahoo.com . You'll be
surprised at how easy it is to access the most shocking images you ever
saw.
The Internet can be a wonderful experience for a child, even as young as
2 or 3. Every day there are more and more age appropriate sites that are
perfect for parents and children to visit. Children should have the
Internet incorporated into their education and playtime. But it's up to
you, the parent, to make sure it's a good experience by participating
and being informed. The links page at
Little Rascals' homepage is a great place to start exploring if you have
a child under 10 years, and will lead to links for older children as well.
Also, I strongly recommend visiting Net Nanny's
homepage and trying Net Nanny out for free.
