In our cyber world, it has become everyones' responsibility to become good "cyber-citizens". Just as the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, now it takes the village to create good citizens of the cyber world. In the blog, Digital Citizenship , digital citizenship is defined as being a citizen of a particular community with an understanding of all the rules and boundaries that exist in that community which includes both rights and responsibilities. Also as in the physical world, there are many risks in the cyber world. Internet users must understand that almost anyone from anywhere can post information on the world wide web. Learning to be a good cyber citizen takes effort, education, and diligence. Students, parents, educators and the Internet Service Providers (ISP) all have responsibilities in this process of "growing ethical, moral cyber-citizens".
Please follow this link to read 10 Internet Rights and Principles ; it describes cyber citizenship in a familiar way. This would be an excellent poster to place in computer labs at school.
Students' Responsibilities
Students' responsibilities have to be taught at home and at school. The sections below for parents and educators will discuss this more. Children must understand and appreciate the fact that use of the Internet and other cyber technologies are a privilege and not a right. They need to have an on-going dialogue with their parents and teachers about safe cyber practices.
At school, the student must follow the guidelines that they agreed to when they signed the "Acceptable Use Agreement Form". School computers are for educational purposes only; students are not to download music or games, use chat rooms or instant messaging. They agree to respect personal privacy, protect and not share passwords, not illegally use any material, and ethically use the equipment and supplies. The student's signature on the AUP also means he/she has discussed these items with parents and teachers and understands the penalties of failing to follow the rules. These AUP declarations are designed to help remove or reduce the risk of a student becoming a "cyber victim" or a "cyber criminal" (details on earlier blog pages).
Check out this website for a printable half-page document made for students, Be Safe Online .
Parents' Responsibilities
TEACH AND RETEACH, TALK AND TALK SOME MORE! Parents should open and continue a good honest dialogue with children of all ages about cyber safety. Children need to feel comfortable about talking honestly about what they are doing online. There are many resources online to help parents or give advice. Here are a few of the parents' responsibilities:
- know your children's online activities and friends; check out all
- supervise computer use (helpful online tools below)
- know your rights - e.g. COPPA gives parents control over what information websites may collect as well as the right to require information be deleted. It also requires parental permission to share personal information and requires websites to specify exactly what will be done with any information collected
- utilize parental controls (more information below), filtering software, and privacy settings
- establish rules and consider a written agreement; for an excellent example see 10 Commandments for Kids Online
- be computer aware and involved - become a "techie"; you can't supervise something you do not understand
- have a set plan if problems arise; children know what, when and how to report
- keep computer operating systems up to date as well as anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and firewall
- keep cookies and other online histories deleted, see Hiding Internet Activity for steps to follow for various browser software; see also Cookie Management .
ProtectKids.com
Kids' Privacy
Cyber Safe Kids - excellent printable guides for parents and children
Educators' Responsibilities
Since teachers basically replace parents for 7-8 hours per day, five days a week, the responsibilities include most of those listed above for parents. Also, since the teachers sign an AUP, those responsibilities listed above for students also apply to teachers. Here are a few additional ones for educators:
- Model good cyber citizenship, make sure your "digital footprint" is pristine
- Teach cyber safety to students and parents
- Teach the AUP and follow it precisely, i.e. educational use only
- Supervise computer use consistently; no exceptions
- Establish a good relationship with students and parents
- Know what websites are out there and use a reference list for students to help prevent misuse as well as waste of time
Key Competencies in a Digital Age
Digital Citizenship
How to Keep Kids Safe Online
Danger Online - includes tip for protecting kids as well as interesting statistics
Legitimate Websites
How to determine what is right and what is not
When you know a company or a source well, then you can probably tell if the website baring that name is legitimate or not. But the thousands of websites you might visit that are new to you may pose a more difficult assessment. Here are a few tips to use:
"1. Check the domain. If the site is supposed to be a site about education, does the domain address end in .edu?
2. Read the "About Us." Is there contact information, as well as a clear detailing of who is responsible for creating and updating the site?
3. Check the last update. If the site hasn't been updated recently, it isn't a site from where you want to get information. The date for the most recent update usually appears at the beginning or at the end of the site's home page.
4. Compare similar sites. Check other sites that are supposed to have the same kind of information as the site you are visiting.
5. Use common sense. If the site is supposed to contain education information, for example, but it talks about unrelated things, it makes sense that the site is not valid."Source: http://www.fcps.edu/LutherJacksonMS/library/techtips/tips/website_validity_guideline.html
Other resources for validation:
Validator - where you just enter a website url and it checks it out.
WDG HTML Validator - will give you the last dated updated if this seems to be a problem
Website Validity - another good list of tips to use
Rights and Responsibilities of All Users
Passwords
All computer users are responsible for creating strong passwords, protecting passwords and changing them regularly. All computers should be passworded; nearly all programs should be password protected as well. Laptops and cell phones are particularly susceptible due to the constant use and portability. The harder it is for a predator or hacker to access your equipment and your personal information, the safer you will be. If it is necessary for you to write down passwords, store them securely and never keep them near your computer. Here are some tips:
How to Make Strong Passwords (courtesy of Microsoft.com)
- use 14 characters when possible; I always heard at least 8
- use letters, numbers, symbols and punctuation
- the more varied the better - use the whole keyboard
- use a password checker; Microsoft offers one, Password Checker
- words from a dictionary in any language
- words spelled backwards, common misspelled words, or abbreviations
- personal information such as your date of birth, your children's names or dates of birth, or your drivers license or passport numbers\
- repeated or sequenced numbers or letters
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| http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/firewalls-whatis.aspx |
Firewalls
What is a Firewall?
"A firewall is a software program or piece of hardware that helps screen out hackers, viruses, and worms that try to reach your computer over the Internet."
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/firewalls-whatis.aspx
Every computer should have an active firewall.
Free or inexpensive firewalls are available from the following sites:
ZoneAlarm
Comodo
iOpus
Parental Safeguards
There are tons of sites and mounds of information on the Internet to help parents safeguard children online. The risks of all kinds of dangers are high for all children who use the Internet whether it be through a computer, laptop, cell phone or gaming system. Here are a few tips from Donna Rice Hughes and the website, Rules 'N Tools :
- understand and utilize your ISP's parental controls - these will allow you to restrict access to certain website; if your ISP has none, there is software available for purchase
- consider monitoring software to help manage where children go online; these allow parents to view online activity as well as set boundaries
- restrict access for your children on social networking sites to limit who can access their information
For a step by step instruction for Microsoft Windows, see Set Up Parental Controls .
Take a few minutes to watch these two short video clips:
Kids can be anywhere
Know where they go
Internet Service Providers
Just as a note: The "real" rights and responsibilities of ISPs are being fought out in the courts and legislative arenas. There are pro and con arguments as to what they are responsible for and what they are not. Many consider the ISPs purely a "common carrier", similar to the postal service or delivery service and not responsible for what the "package" contains. Others believe they should be responsible for what passes through their service. This will be an interesting legal battle to follow. But meanwhile.......back at home......
Most Internet providers furnish online safety services free or at a reduced rate. These can include simple services such as spam blockers or website blockers and most include parental controls. Many ISPs have developed Acceptable Use Policies (AUP); these should be available on their website or by contacting their customer service department. As with other AUPs, these can include specific consequences for failure to comply.
GetNetWise.org has compiled a list of the more common providers and their services in this article, Tools for Families . It mentions AOL, AT&T, Comcast, MSN and Verizon with a link to each of these websites. The MSN site also includes a video and tutorial on parental control features.
Suddenlink cable provides McAfee Security software free of charge to their high speed Internet service customers. Suddenlink Security
Additional Resources
SafeKids.com - has very valuable information and useful tools
2011 Monitoring Software Report - read reviews of various software
iKeepSafe - outstanding source of guidelines for parents, teachers and kids, including games and other activities
KidSites - links to many kid safe sites by category
COPPA.org
So, what does it C.O.S.T. you to be cyber safe?????.......not nearly as much as it might C.O.S.T. you if you are not!
