Privacy Rights And Children

Privacy and Safety Tips

Privacy policy. Read the privacy policy statements on the web sites visited by your children. Teach older children to do the same. Look for policies that explain what information is collected, if any, what the web site operator does with it, and how you can choose whether or not the child's information can be collected.

Consent. If your child is under age 13, you must decide if you are going to give permission for web sites to collect personal information from them, a requirement of federal law (see Section 2). Be sure to carefully read the privacy policy and terms of service before making this decision.

Web seal. Look for a privacy "seal of approval," such as TRUSTe, www.truste.org, on the first page. Participants agree to post their privacy policies and submit to audits of their privacy practices in order to display the logo. Web seal programs also provide dispute resolution services. TRUSTe displays a seal especially for children under age 13. The Council of Better Business Bureaus also has a seal program, www.bbbonline.org.

Contracts. Encourage your children, especially teens, to take responsibility for their online behavior by establishing a contract with them. The Federal Trade Commission's "Site Seeing on the Internet" provides sample language, www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/sitesee.html. The web guide for parents, GetNetWise, also provides contract language, www.getnetwise.org/tools/toolscontracts.php.

Family rules. You can establish family rules for online computer use. Among those suggested by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com) are the following:

• Tell your children never to give out identifying information such as family information, home address, school name, or phone number in chat room discussions and when visiting web sites. They shouldn't even reveal such data in private e-mail unless they know who they are dealing with. They must also not send out personal or family photos without your permission. It's best for children to use "screen names" that are different from their own in chat rooms.

• Explain to children that passwords must never be given to anyone else, even someone claiming to be from the online service.

• Warn your children not to respond to messages that are threatening, suggestive, demeaning, or otherwise make you or the child uncomfortable. Tell them to report such messages to you.

• Set reasonable usage rules, including time limits, for your child's use of the computer. Watch for excessive use of online services late at night. That could be a tip-off there is a problem.

• Try to make online use a family activity. Keep the computer in a family room rather than the child's bedroom.

• Get to know your children's online "friends," much as you try to get to know their other friends. Never permit a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without your attending at least the first meeting.

• Explain that people online may not be who they seem to be. Someone claiming to be a 12-year old girl might be a 40-year old man.

• Also explain that not everything they read online may not be true. Any offer that's "too good to be true" probably is.

• Learn about the online services your child uses. Find out about ways to steer them to child-friendly sites. If you are a novice to online use, ask your child to show you what they do online and how to log on to online services. Better yet, take a class and learn to navigate the Internet yourself.

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