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Extra Tips for Parents … Do you know who your kids are talking to ? ?

Stay involved in your child's use of new technologies - get them to show you how social networks work. Set up your own account, join your child’s ‘friends’ and see for yourself what they’re doing. It can be a fun experience for you too!

Help your child set up their profile to make sure that they don't put too much personal information online.

Work out a plan–Check the privacy settings for each service, and see how to report abuse. Hopefully you will never need to do this but it’s good to be prepared.

Talk to your child about what they like about social networking websites, what some of the dangers are in using them and teach them ways to stay safe. You may be able to create some house rules together.

Remember - Social networking can be useful, fun and rewarding if the risks are managed. It can be a great way to stay connected with your family and friends.

Above all, keep the lines of communication open. Kids need to be confident that they can talk to you about what’s happening, without being afraid that they’re automatically going to get into trouble.

Social Networking
Make friends and stay safe online
Social networking describes a variety of services like YouTube, MySpace, LiveJournal, Twitter and online games such as World Social networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with your friends and family. You can post information about yourself and display to, play games and basically just hang out. There are dangers. Bullying, people making inappropriate contact, over-the-top advertising campaigns, identity theft, scams and possible exposure to adult content can make places like these risky, but if you play it smart you can stay safe online.

Tips for Kids
Keep personal information secret - Make sure you don’t put any personal information on your profile. This includes your phone number, personal email address, home or school addresses, sports teams or the name of your school. Be careful when you post photos that they don’t include any of this information either.
Checkwith your parents or guardian if you do decide to give out personal information or put it in your profile.

It’s pubic … Remember you may think you are just talking to friends, but the whole world could be tuning in. Keep an eye on what’s being posted, tell everyone what you’ve been up and guard your privacy! Don’t post photos that you might not want strangers to see.

Check out the features - Learn how to make your profile and other content you post public or private. You’re the one in control here.

Think twice! Posts to blogs and profiles can stay there forever. Your parents, future employers (and perhaps your children) may end up seeing it.

Remember - Not everyone is who they claim to be. Although it’s great to have lots of online friends, including those on your friends list allows people you don’t know to see all about you. This information could be used for a scam, to steal your identity, or worse.

Keep your online friends online.
However, if you want to meet someone that you haven’t met before in person, ask a parent or other adult to go with you and always meet in a public place, preferably during the day.

Be considerate, be yourself but play it nice.
Only post comments you would be happy to receive yourself. Don’t post photos of other people without their permission. Remember, when you post photos you might be hurting the privacy of your friends too.

Tell a trusted adult
Don’t respond if someone sends you nasty or bullying messages or asks you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Instead, tell you parents or another adult you can trust.

BUYING A MOBILE PHONE ? ....... DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING ?
A CHECKLIST FOR PARENTS
You can now access the Internet on most mobile phones and whilst this access brings a world of incredible opportunities in terms of communication, interaction and entertainment, there are certain risks to children posed via the Internet. These risks include accessing potentially harmful content, such as pornography, possible dangerous contact with strangers in chatrooms and commercial pressures like spam and intrusive advertising. The UK Mobile Operators have recognised these risks and have taken steps to help you protect your child from potentially harmful content accessible via your mobile phone. There are also things you can do to block premium rate calls and texts.

This guide written by children’s internet charity, Childnet International, gives you a checklist of important questions to ask your Mobile Operator when purchasing a mobile phone so that you can ensure you have the tools and support to help protect children and make sure they get the most out of using their mobile phones safely.

1 … SAFETY ADVICE
Questions to ask
Ask for information and advice about the phone and the services that are available on it, so that you can ensure your children know how to use it safely.
Background
Your mobile operator is committed to providing you with information and advice on safe use of their service. Be sure to check that they are keeping you informed.

2 … INTERNET ACCESS
Questions to ask
Does this phone have Internet access?
Is there a filter to help block Internet content that is potentially harmful for children?
Is the filter switched on? If no, can you switch it on (please)?
Background
All the UK Mobile Operators have to provide an Internet fi lter on their phones to help block accessing material that is potentially harmful to children, such as pornography. However, with most operators you will need to ask your Operator to activate the filter.

3 … REGISTERING THE PHONE
Questions to ask
Is the phone registered for a child or for an adult user?
Background
Being registered as a child user will mean that you cannot access material provided by your mobile operator or its partners that is rated as 18+, ie unsuitable for children.
All mobile phone users are considered to be children by their mobile operator unless or until they have proved to their mobile operator that they are 18. Proving your age is a one-off action, so if you ‘inherit’ a phone check with your operator whether the phone is registered as a child or an adult user.

4 … BLUE TOOTHED ENABLED PHONES
Questions to ask
Is this phone ‘Bluetooth-enabled ? How can I turn this off, or set it so the phone is not visible to others?
Background
Bluetooth technology essentially enables your mobile phone to find and ‘talk’ to other bluetooth-enabled mobile phones in the vicinity, or other enabled phones to talk to your mobile.
When activated on your child’s mobile phone, for example, it means that your child may receive unexpected and unwanted messages from other bluetooth-enabled phone users nearby, and any personal information stored on your child’s phone – for example their contact list - could be vulnerable. Switching off the bluetooth option is safer as it makes the phone ‘invisible’ to other bluetooth users.

5 … PREMIUM RATE CALLS AND TEXTS
Questions to ask
Can you put a bar on all premium rate numbers (ie all number starting with 09, or 5 digit shortcodes for premium rate texts), (please)? If you can’t bar these numbers, what services do you provide to protect the user here?
Background
Calling premium rate numbers can be expensive. If you have a complaint about such a service you should contact ICSTIS the Premium rate service regulator, www.icstis.org.uk or 0800 500212.
If you do find you have signed up for a reverse-billed premium rate service (where you pay to receive rather than send text messages, for eg ringtones or football score updates) and you do not want to continue this, then text STOP to the shortcode number you got the text from. This will end the service and your payments to it.

6 … CHATROOMS
Questions to ask
Can this phone access chatrooms or games where users can chat to each other?
Are these chatrooms (or games) moderated? How are the chatrooms (or games) moderated?
Background
Chatrooms or games (where you can chat to other users) that are provided by your Mobile Operator or its partners and which do not have 18+ age-restrictions must be moderated.
Different mobile operators may have different moderation policies and systems, which may affect the level of safety, so ask your Mobile Operator about this. In Childnet’s opinion, a view shared by the Home Office in their guidance issued on this subject, moderation by a person is better than purely technical moderation (a filter blocking out bad words for example). Remember that chatrooms accessed on the Internet via mobile phone (ie which are not provided by the Mobile Operator or its partners) may not be moderated.

7 … NUISANCE / MALICIOUS CALLS
Questions to ask
What number can I call to report receiving unwanted or abusive calls or messages?
Background
Your mobile operator should have systems and procedures in place to help you deal with nuisance and malicious calls.

8 … REPORTING ABUSE
Questions to ask
Where do I report abuse of service? If for example I receive unwanted adult (18+) material on my phone while the filter is switched on, who should I report this to?
Background
It is important to let your mobile operator know if their system is failing, both in order to protect yourself and others using the same service.

9 … SPAM
Questions to ask
What action is your Mobile Operator taking to prevent Spam?
Background
Your Mobile Operator will take action against spam, whether it is text, picture or e-mail. Find out what action your mobile operator is taking and report any spam received on your phone to them.