The Internet safety study, conducted by Microsoft Canada and Ipsos Reid, reveals 70 per cent of kids age 10 to 14 believe information they post online and send to friends is private, and one-quarter say they would be comfortable meeting in person with someone they only knew and talked to online.

One in 10 children admit they don't know all the people on their instant-messaging contact lists, and 11 per cent have been asked by a stranger for personal information such as their full name, home address or phone number.

One-third of kids -- 40 per cent of boys and 26 per cent of girls -- have seen pornography online, and 26 per cent have been exposed to hateful messages, although girls experience that twice as often as boys.

More than one-third of girls (37 per cent) and 22 per cent of boys have e-mailed their picture to someone, and 14 per cent in the 10-to-14 age group said someone they have never met in person has said something online that made them uncomfortable.

These online attitudes and behaviours are certainly not due to lack of experience: One-third of kids say they spend six to 10 hours a week online, while 23 per cent surf for three or more hours daily.

"They're so caught up in technical gadgetry and peer pressure. That's the nature of being a kid -- there's this sort of innocence that acts as an umbrella that shields them from realities," says Paul Gillespie, a former police officer and vice-chairman of Toronto-based Kids' Internet Safety Alliance.

"Children are always going to be children and thus, parents have to be parents, and teach."

Ipsos Reid conducted the study for Microsoft Canada, surveying 1,000 children age 10 to 14 and 600 parents of kids in the same age bracket.

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© The Vancouver Province 2007