Kids
roam Internet too freely: Survey
Adults don't go to sites most popular with kids
Shannon Proudfoot, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Beaches and backyards have their charms, but most Canadian
children will spend at least part of their summer vacations
online, and a new survey shows parents are lacking the
know-how to keep a virtual eye on them.
Ninety-two per cent of parents told Ipsos Reid they've
talked to their children about online dangers, but many
don't know where to look for resources to help keep them
safe. Six in 10 (58 per cent) know where to download parental-control
software, but only one-third actually use such programs.
Twenty-two per cent say they don't know where to find
materials to educate their children about Internet safety.
Just under half (49 per cent) of parents know the online
aliases their children use.
Despite the enormous popularity of YouTube, particularly
with young audiences, one-quarter of parents (26 per cent)
say they're unfamiliar with the video-sharing site.
Forty-one per cent don't know the social networking site
Facebook, and one-third are unfamiliar with MySpace.
Many parents remain oblivious to these online destinations
because children hide their usage, says Parry Aftab, executive
director of WiredSafety, which calls itself the world's
largest Internet safety group.
But the majority of parents know how to peer over their
children's shoulders. Almost two-thirds (62 per cent)
say they monitor the content of sites their kids visit,
and 65 per cent know how to use their browser's history
function to check out their children's online travels.
According to the survey, parents' top online concern
is sexual predators, with 77 per cent worrying about that
threat. Seventy-four per cent fret about their offspring
happening upon pornographic sites and 70 per cent are
concerned their children will be victimized by online
scams.
"Setting your kids up and talking about online safety
in a 30-minute session isn't something that's going to
carry children through their online experience,"
says Signy Arnason, director of Cybertip.ca, Canada's
national tip line to report children being sexually exploited
online.
The Internet usage of an eight-year-old is completely
different from that of a 14-year-old and they face different
risks, she says, so parents' approach needs to evolve
as their children grow.
Since it launched at the beginning of 2005, Cybertip.ca
has received more than 20,000 reports resulting in almost
30 arrests and 3,000 sites shut down.
"Parents have to be nosy," says Lynn Hargrove,
senior manager of marketing at Symantec Canada, the software
company that commissioned the survey
© The Vancouver Province 2007
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