WHAT ARE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THOSE USING THE INTERNET?
In my opinion, responsibilities for educators, parents, and students have many layers. All three parties play a major role in maintaining safe internet practices. Educators and parents must lead by example and use safe and ethical Internet practices, and students must show responsibility while exploring the online world.
Responsibilities for Educators:
Educators’ main responsibilities regarding internet safety are to educate students about online risks, to work to ensure students have a full understanding of their school AUP agreement, to monitor student’s use of the Internet while in the school environment, and to model safe online practices for their students. Legally, educators act in place of the parents while children are in the school environment; therefore, they must be vigilant and make sure students are not accessing inappropriate material or engaging in unsafe behavior.
Responsibilities for Parents:
Parents’ main responsibilities regarding internet safety are to safeguard their computers at home using parental controls, firewall, and antivirus software; to communicate with their children about not talking to strangers online and not giving out personal information online; to monitor their children’s Internet usage at home; and to report any abuses of the internet to the proper agencies. In regard to the school’s AUP, parents are to understand that their children may be exposed to inappropriate material if they purposely work to circumnavigate existing filters. Legally, parents must be aware that their child may be punished at school (or beyond) for inappropriate online conduct. In addition, if their child engages in inappropriate conduct on their home computer (e.g. illegal downloading), they, as parents, may be held responsible in some way.
Responsibilities for Students:
Students’ main responsibilities regarding internet safety are to follow the school’s AUP and only use the Internet for school-related assignments; to not engage in Cyberbullying or otherwise harassing behavior online; to not give out personal information such as real name, phone number, and address; and to report Internet abuses to a trusted adult. Legally, students should always respect copyrighted material, never download media files illegally, and never plagiarize someone else’s work. Also, students should never pretend to be older than they are to gain access to sites unsuitable or unintended for minors.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO COPPA…
Effective as of April 2000, COPPA is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act which outlines the responsibilities of Website operators regarding the collection of children’s information under the age of 13. Please take time to read more about COPPA here!
USERS RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES: PASSWORDS, FIREWALLS, & PARENTAL SAFEGUARDS
Would you tell a stranger your email password? Would you allow a stranger to access your financial and personal information online? Would you allow your children to access websites with inappropriate adult content? Of course not! So, you must put measures in place to prevent this from happening. Here are some tips.
PASSWORD PROTECTION: Why is password protection necessary? Strong passwords are important for safer online transactions.
Microsoft.com offers tips for creating strong passwords:
Common Password Mistakes to Avoid: - An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.
- Whenever possible, use at least 14 characters or more.
- The greater the variety of characters in a password, the better.
- Use the entire keyboard, not just the letter and numbers you see most often.
- Dictionary words in any language.
- Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, or abbreviations.
- Sequences or repeated characters: (ex: 22222, 12345, or qwert)
- Personal information: your name, birthday, social security number, driver’s license number, etc.
FIREWALLS:
According to Microsoft.com, a firewall is software or hardware that checks information coming from the Internet or a network, and then either blocks it or allows it to pass through to your computer, depending on your firewall settings. Even if you think there’s nothing on your computer that would interest anyone, a worm could completely disable your computer, or someone could use your computer to help spread worms or viruses to other computers without your knowledge.
*Always make sure your firewall software is updated to protect yourself against the newest threats!!*
Links to free firewall software:
PARENTAL SAFEGUARDS: Why are parental safeguards important? It is important for parents to use proper controls to protect their children from the risks online. Check your child’s online activity, check their email accounts, and check their browser history!
Microsoft.com gives 4 tips for keeping your kids safe!
DECIDE WHERE YOUR CHILD CAN GO AND CANNOT GO ON THE INTERNET-- Block Inappropriate Content
INCREASE YOUR SECURITY AND PRIVACY—Set limits on downloads, use antivirus and antispyware on your computer, adjust security settings to individual websites
MONITOR WHERE YOUR KIDS GO ONLINE—Review browser history to see websites your child has visited
REMIND KIDS NOT TO TALK TO STRANGERS ONLINE-- Use a nickname online, never give out phone numbers, never send photos of themselves, and never agree to meet a stranger in person!
DOWNLOAD THESE TOOLS FROM MICROSOFT TO HELP KEEP YOUR KIDS SAFE:
Windows 7 Parental Controls- This software helps you filter information based on each child's age. You can also limit searches, block or allow certain websites, and monitor what your kids do online. You also have access to guidelines on how to help a child use online communications safely or how to talk to children about inappropriate web browsing.
xBox Parental Controls- Keep your child from playing inappropriate games or watching inappropriate DVDs with this software.
LOOK TO YOUR ISP FOR HELP! ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer many services to help keep their customers safe online. These services include protecting internet users from spam by using email filters. Also, these ISPs provide parents with proper controls needed to make sure children are safer while on the Web. Some ISP providers give consumers access to firewall software needed to guard computers against hackers.
ISP Services to Filter Email (and more)!
AOL offers parental controls. You can select predetermined limits for email, Web, and chat, or you can create set your own custom controls for each child.Comcast-Comcast customers can now get the top-rated Norton Security Suite and Norton Internet Security for Mac. It helps protect your computer, files and identity without slowing you down.
McAfee firewall subscription will guard your computer against hackers and automatic E-mail filtering protects you against spam.
HOW DO YOU KNOW A WEBSITE IS VALID? Nearly anyone can create a website. You don’t want to give your credit card information to order merchandise from a fake website- you could fall victim to identity theft. So, how do you know that the site you’ve accessed is legitimate?
Check the validity of your website (tips according to www.fcps.edu):
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.
Links to check the validity of a website:
w3c markup validator Checks the validity of Web documents (HTML, XHTML, SMIL, MathML, etc.)
Truste.com: Checks the validity of privacy seals on websites to prevent you from giving personal or financial information to a fake website. This could be key to protecting yourself from identity thieves!
