C.+E+safety+for+children

**__ E-Safety and the Child __**

The internet is a widely used resource which can provide hours of fun for children, connect with their friends and family and can be used as a research tool, but this tool can have a side that is worrying for any parent.

One of the main causes of concern is internet chat rooms. Which can sometimes mean adults posing as children chatting to unsuspecting kids and in extreme cases trying to organise secret meetings with the child? Things are changing slowly and a lot of chat rooms are starting to monitor their sites more closely, but unfortunately not everyone is following suit.

Another problem children can encounter is explicit material that they can become exposed to.

More and more websites are increasing their security and providing warnings but this seems to be a slow process.

While children are in school and using the internet, Hampshire County Council has blocked them from any potential harm. Children are most at risk when using the internet at home without any child filters.

In 2007 the Prime Minister asked Professor Tanya Byron to conduct an independent review looking into the dangers children incur and the hazadous exposure they suffer from damaging material on the internet and in video games. In 2008 and 2009 Professor Byron was asked to follow up her review with a progress report.

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There are things that can be done to protect your children from this type of exposure on the internet, and below we will cover a few of these things and also some e-safety websites.

Rules to remember that can help us stay safe on the Internet.

We only use the internet when an adult is with us. We can click on the buttons or links when we know what they do. We can search the Internet with an adult. We always ask if we get lost on the Internet. We can send and open emails together. We can write polite and friendly emails to people that we know.

David Tennant narrates Caught in the Web, a program for children about staying safe on the internet produced by BBC media type="youtube" key="bQlzu62DmFM" height="390" width="640"  media type="youtube" key="t8C8N05zcNQ" height="390" width="640"

Be in the know - E-safety keywords

Bluejacking
Some users with Bluetooth-enabled mobile s use this technology to send anonymous text messages to strangers. This has been nickname d ‘bluejacking’.

Chatroom
An area on the internet or other computer network where users can communicate in real time, often about a specific topic. 

Online grooming
Online grooming is defined by the UK Home Office as: “A course of conduct enacted by a suspected paedophile, which would give a reasonable person cause for concern that any meeting with a child arising from the conduct would be for unlawful purposes.”

Phishing
Pronounced the same as ‘fishing’ this is an attempt to trick people into visiting malicious website s by sending email s or other messages which pretend to come from banks or online shops. The email s have links in them which take people to fake sites set up to look like the real thing, where passwords and account details can be stolen.

Moderation
Supervising what goes on in a chatroom, newsgroup or other online service

Hacker
Originally thought of as a computer enthusiast, but now a hacker is normally used to refer to computer criminals, especially those who break into other people’s computer network s. Bibliography [] (14/10/10) [] http://internet-safety-primary-education.wikispaces.com/Internet+Safety [] [] []