The Internet is like the Wilderness. . .

 Today our focus is going to be on keeping the kiddos safe online.  I know I have mentioned this topic before but, it needs to be repeated.  If you are like me you worry about the predators and the ugly things that linger on the Internet.   My brother was looking up a BBQ recipe one time and he just entered "brown sugar" in the search, you can just imagine what that brought up.  He was shocked at the images it produced and they had nothing to do with BBQ.   Imagine your child looking something up for school and what might end up in the search results.  There are ways to set up parameters for your childs' profile.    Yes, each person that uses your computer should have their own profile.  I did not think that was necessary until I took some of my computer classes.  You would be surprised at what your child might load on your computer without either of you realizing it.  This causes more issues with viruses and unnecessary programs taking up precious space and computer resources.
In one of my security classes we discussed how each person that uses your computer should have their own profile, especially your kids.  If your kids ages differ greatly this is very important.  You can set each profile (person) with their own limitations.   If your account is the administrative account then you should also  set up another administrative account.  This is the scenario that we discussed in class;  what if you change something on your computer and you end up locking it up, with another administrative account you can go in and undo what ever you did.  This is advice straight from my instructor, he had this happen with his computer.
By giving your kids their own profile there  is less opportunity that they will accidentally delete an important file or program of yours. They will not be able to download things from the Internet either without administrative permission.  Kids click on things very spasticaly on the computer and you never know what they might download but, if you have their profile set up then they will not be able to download anything without administrative permission.
This may seem like a lot of work but it will pay off in the long run.  I know that before I set our main computer up this way that both of my kids downloaded viruses inadvertently.   Kids do not know how to beware of pop ups and flashy ads and yes that is how some viruses find their way on your systems.  By doing these little things you will protect your kids and your computer from harmful things on the internet.

What Social Media are your Kids in to? ? ? ?

A friend on Facebook brought up all these new apps and social media sites where our kids may be hanging out.  I decided to do some research on the subject to see what I could find out.  These are the top apps and such, as a parent you need to be aware of:  Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, Google+, Vine, Wanelo, Kik Messenger, OooVoo, Ask.fm, Yik Yak, WhatsApp, Omegle, Yo, and Whisper.  I knew what Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram were but some of these others I was unaware of.   Tumblr is a cross between a blog and twitter.  Parents need to be aware of this one because porn is very easily found through this app.  Google + came on the scene with circles of friends but, Google tries to keep an eye on the content.   Vine is also one parents should keep an eye on.  According to the article I read it is full of inappropriate videos with sex and drugs.  Wanelo is a shopping site, the only issue I think this site has is that kids have access to clothes that are inappropriate for their age.  Ask.fm  is a really bad app for the kids.  A friend of mine warned me about this one a while back.  Both my friend and the article I read said it is full of cyberbullying and lots of sexual content.  YikYak reveals your location by GPS and is full of cyberbullying and sexual content.  Some schools have banned this app due to its nature.  WhatsApp is for kids over 16 and is a texting app.  Omegle, users get paired with strangers with similar interests.  This one seems to be the most troublesome to me because of the stranger aspect.   There is no registration required with this one either which makes it all the more dangerous.  Whisper is a confessional type app and has lots of sex and encourages "meet ups" between users.
With all of the sex trafficking, drugs, and kids disappearing all around; I think we have to be diligent in our parenting.   Technology is changing everyday and we must keep up with it in order to keep our kids safe.   There are at least two apps that encourage talking with strangers and possible meet ups with strangers, those seem the most dangerous to me.   I am sure most days people think I am to over protective of my kids, I probably am and I really do not care what anyone thinks when it comes to this topic.   As a parent we must protect our kids from things they are not aware.   It is our job to step in and say no sometimes.  We are not parents to be popular, we are parents to raise strong minded adults.  

Internet and Social Media Safety

I am going to get on my public address soap box today.  A friend of mine shared one of her friends posts about a man, and I use that term loosely,  that is stalking young girls on Facebook.   Here is my beef.  If you do not know someone personally why on earth would you be friends with them and open your whole life up to them on Facebook.  When I say personally, I mean a face to face knowledge of them.  Everyone on my Facebook I have a face to face relationship and I don't understand people just accepting friend requests if you do not know the person.   I think young people are especially guilty of this.  This is a dangerous practice because this is how pedophiles,  perverts,  and stalkers get started.  This is also how your profile picture could get stolen and a new  Facebook account could show up.  Think about all of the things that you share and the pictures that you post on social media.  Now would you want just anyone seeing these family pictures or knowing some of the things you might share. Please educate your kids if they are on social media.  I think kids are the most susceptible to these kind of things and they are also guilty of the over share on social media. 
We have been submerged in all of this technology and there is so much that we as adults still need to learn.  Do not forget about your kids,  they are conditioned to jump in and embrace all new things.  It is our job to remind them to be cautious.  The old look before you leap adage.  

School finishing up. . for me

My computer class is over and I just finished my last project for Ethics.  I finished up with the computer class with a 98/A for the semester.  I am pretty excited about that.  I turned in my term paper for Ethics on pornography for an A.  My last project was to research a recent law and do a power point presentation on it.  That was an interesting assignment.  I picked a law that had passed the House and was still in the Senate. I researched a cyber security law that deals with sharing information between the government and the private sector with regard to cyber terrorism.  I hope this one passes, but it has a lot to overcome with the civil liberty groups.  My power point presentation was pretty cool, it was my first one and I think I did a pretty good job.
After all the research I did for my term paper on pornography I started looking in to how I can better protect my family.  The pornography industry has free rein on the internet.  There are no laws governing them or protecting our children.  I am using Norton antivirus software and they have a free add-on called Norton Family.  Norton family deals mostly with protecting your children from pornography and pedophiles while surfing.  If you would like more information about how to protect your children check out one of these sites:  www.netnanny.com and  www.staysafeonline.org.   They both have good information about how to protect your family.  https://metacert.org  this site has free software you can download to help protect your family while they are on the net.
The pornography industry thrives on the fact that unsuspecting people stumble on their websites.  That is why they use common names for some of their website addresses.  In fact did you know that www.whitehouse.com used to be a porn site?  Yes, children doing simple research for school could stumble on pornography by looking up something as simple as the White House.  This is the seedy side of the internet that we want to protect our families from.  Do some research, check things out, and keep a watch of your history on your computer.  The internet is wonderful place to find good information but, it is also a dangerous place for your children to be by themselves.