How to Protect Your Children on the Internet: A Road Map for Parents and Teachers

How to Protect Your Children on the Internet is a one of kind book that breaks down complex computer technology terms and software into an easy to use set of recommendations that average parents can use to protect their children as they navigate the Internet. Written by an IT expert and educator, Gregory Smith puts his finger on the pulse with regards to how to monitor teen Internet use and how to manage and restrict Internet technologies to mitigate the risks of going online. How to Protect Your Children on the Internet brings to light some chilling examples of how minors and adults conduct themselves online and follows up with recommendations to mitigate the risks by a variety of online tools and countermeasures. Part One provides an introduction to the Internet with a highlight of the benefits and risks of going online. The bulk of this part of the book explains some key technologies and why they're important for parents and educators to understand, along with the risks associated with going online and what parents are doing to protect their children. Part Two is designed to give parents and educators a map and clear set of recommendations on how to protect children if they use a variety of the Internet-enabled tools and technologies that introduce risk in the first place. These include email, IM, Internet browsing, blogs, cell phones with text messaging, PDAs, online chat, social networking sites, and even Internet-connected video cameras. The final chapter concludes with some helpful hints for parents to talk to their children about the risks associated with using the Internet.