Helping Keep Children Safe Online

Welcome

Lorna NaylorAnti-bullying Co-ordinator

Children, Families and Cultural Services

For

Parents

Learning Online?

Money management

Research

Communication skills

Confidence Commitment Computer skills

Creativity

IN SCHOOL Generally supervised,

protected and monitored

WE NEED TO DO MORE

THAN SUPERVISE- WE NEED TO

HELP EDUCATE

CHALLENGE = to ensure that children are safe wherever they use

the internet

OUT OF SCHOOLOften no filtering,

supervision or monitoring

Supervised/Unsupervised Access Points

Special Education Needs

Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) can use the internet in educational, creative, empowering and fun ways, just like their peers. However, they may be particularly vulnerable to e-safety risks.

Specific things to consider for children with learning difficulties

• Children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder may make literal interpretations of content, which will affect how they respond.

• Some children may not understand some of the terminology due to language delays or disorders.

• Some children do not understand the concept of friendship, and therefore trust everyone implicitly. They do not know how to make judgments about what is safe information to share. This can lead to confusion about why you should not trust others.

• There is some concern around cyberbullying. We need to remember that some children with SEN or disabilities may be vulnerable to being bullied through the internet, and may not recognise that they are being bullied.

• In addition, some children may not appreciate how their own online behaviour may be seen by someone else as bullying.

Social networking

Instant messaging/BBM

Online gaming

Mobile technology

Websites and Technologies...

Positives, Risks and Actions

Facebook Security

•Help them set up their account – make sure that they don’t put any unnecessary personal information. •Don’t make them any older than 13-17. Facebook have separate security settings in place for younger users •Use your email address as the main contact – this way you can see the people who are ‘friending’, messaging and commenting on your child’s profile.

If your child is setting up a Facebook account, consider the following:

Talk through the privacy settings – go through the settings step-by-step

Set privacy settings to ‘friends only’ and ensure that the friends they have are ones they know and trust in the real world.

• Limit the amount of adult ‘friends’ they have – these could be friends of yours or family members. These users may post content which you would not want your child to see!

• If your child is already an underage user, revisit their profile with them and ensure that these steps have been implemented; it is never too late to take control.

Talk to them about some of the things that can go wrong

• Discuss bullying, unwanted contact and inappropriate content.

• Ask them to talk to you about anything that makes them feel unhappy.

• Learn how to report any issues directly to the site.

Risks

Inappropriate content

Unwanted contact

Overuse

Tips

Leave all gaming devices in a family space

Open up communication - talk to your child about the sites they are using and why they like them

Explain that people lie online and they are not always who they say they are

Explain that people can be mean online and don’t always have their best interests at heart

Ask them to never give out personal information

Set parental controls

Set time limits on how long they can game for. Allow time for non-technology based activities and allow an hour ‘screen free’ time before bed

PEGI (The Pan-European Game Information age rating system) was established in 2003 to help European parents make informed choices

Bad Language - Game contains bad language

Discrimination - Game contains depictions of, or material which may encourage, discrimination

Drugs - Game refers to or depicts the use of drugs

Fear - Game may be frightening or scary for young children

Sex - Game depicts nudity and/or sexual behaviour or sexual references

Violence - Game contains depictions of violence

PEGI

Instant Messaging and Private Chat

Risks

Unwanted contact

Webcam capability

Private moments

Usage

Ask your child to never accept people they don’t know and trust in the real world

Inform them that giving out personal information can be dangerous. They need to treat personal information such as the school they go to or their location like their tooth brush and not share it with anyone!

Ask them not to webcam with people they do not know from the real world and turn the webcam off after use!

Teach them how to report a problem and delete people that make them feel uncomfortable

Tips

Chat Text

Online Images

Location

Functions

Risks

Images taken and uploaded

Location

Personal messaging

Usage

Tips

Is my child old enough to have a mobile phone? Set boundaries

Before buying your child a mobile, find out what functions it has – Internet, private messaging, built in applications

Set parental controls where required

Set mobile rules - no mobile phone in the bedroom at night, mobile free time before bed, no use after lights out

New site check list

What can you do? - Functions of the site or technologies Is there any parental information available?How do you report a problem?Can the account/profile be made private?Does it have any parental controls?

Parental controls

Block sites that are not age appropriate

limit inappropriate and illegal material

Set timings – automatic switch off at bedtime

Monitor activity

How can they help?

Can you get an app for that?YES!!!

Vodafone has launched two apps to protect children and young people and to empower and inform parents as smartphones play an increasingly important role in how families manage their daily lives.

•Vodaphone Guardian- helps parents to manage their child’s smartphone by providing protection from inappropriate calls, messages and online contact

Vodafone also provides Content Control that help prevent access to age-sensitive content and services on mobile phones, such as those rated 18..

•Vodafone Digital Parenting- this app aims to help parents get to grips with some of the digital devices and services their children enjoy, such as Facebook®, Google and smartphones, and to get more involved in their digital world. It is available on a range of Android devices and provides a selection of articles from our Digital Parenting magazine.

•www.vodaphone.com

What is Bemilo?• Bemilo is a safe mobile network, managed by

parents, used by children.• Bemilo safety pack costs from £2.95 a month.• Bemilo gives parents full control of their child’s

mobile phone usage. They can control the costs i.e. how much they spend each month, they can control time of day that their children can chat with their friends using voice and SMS, and they can control when data is on or off. In addition to this functionality, Bemilo offers parents a whole host of controls to monitor and check their children’s mobile online activity should the needs arise.

• Bemilo operates through the Vodafone network which covers 99% of the UK’s population.

• www.bemilo.com

What is Cyberbullying?Threats

Hacking Manipulation

Stalking Public postings

ExclusionPrejudice

Advice for parents on cyberbullying• Discuss cyberbullying with your children

- always respect others- treat your passwords with care- block/delete contacts & save conversations- don’t reply/retaliate- save evidence- make sure you tell

• Report the cyberbullying- school- service provider- police

SEXTING

Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between mobile phones and/or the internet. Sexting is an extension of cyberbullying when someone (or a group of people) deliberately attempts to hurt, upset, threaten or humiliate someone else. This includes when a recipient is made to feel uncomfortable as a direct result of the content, or asked to do something which makes the recipient feel distressed.

Beatbullying’s research of 11-18 year-olds found that:

* 38% said they had received a sexually explicit or distressing text or email (male: 36% | female: 39%)

* 70% of young people knew the sender of the message. 45% of messages were from a peer, 23% from a current boyfriend /girlfriend and just 2% from adults

* Of the 25% who received an offensive sexual image, 55% were issued via mobile phone

* 29% have been chatting online chat when someone started talking about offensive or up-setting sexual things (male: 24% | female: 31%)

* In this instance, 45% said the chat was instigated by a peer, 10% by an ex-partner and 2% by an adult

SEXTINGHOW TO STAY SAFEThe safest way is to not take such photos - or allow them to be taken. Resist

pressure to be photographed. Failing that, there are ways to guard your privacy better both on the phone and on social networking sites.How to increase privacy on your mobile phone

• Ensure your phone is password protected• If your phone is sold or goes for servicing ensure that all photos are

deletedHow to increase privacy on social networking sites

• Do not become ‘friends’ with people you do not know or trust• Report content on a social networking site that you believe is inappropriate

to the site administrators• Check your general privacy settings: you can usually choose your profile to

be visible to everyone, to networks of which you are a member, or only to approved friends. Restricting it to approved friends is the safest option as deter,ined strangers can often circumvent checks to enter school or college networks

• Check settings for content you have uploaded: privacy of your photos, videos or applications may not be covered by general profile settings. Check through settings on pages where you manage your content and limit access to friends

SEXTING

If you are concerned about this issue and want advice or if you want to report an incident

contact:

www.beatbullying.org

www.ceop.gov.uk

Online Reputations• “It takes many actions to build a

good reputation, and it only takes one bad one to lose it”- Benjamin Franklin

In August 2009 a survey revealed that 45% of employers use social

media to check out job applicants

What employers look for According to the same survey, 35% of employers

have rejected candidates based on:• Provocative or inappropriate photos or

information • Drinking or using drugs • Bad-mouthing previous employees, colleagues or

clients • Poor communication skills • Discriminatory comments • Lied about qualifications Young people should understand 2,3 or 5 years may

seem like a long time in their world but actions today could hurt them in the future.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre

CEOP is the UK national lead agency who deal with the sexual exploitation of children in the UK and abroad

www.ceop.police.uk www.facebook.com/ceop

Click CEOP