1. Where is the best place to locate your family computer?
A. Child’s bedroom
B. Family room
C. Home office in remote area of house
Answer B. The safest location for the computer is
in a room where there is sufficient adult supervision.2.
Which is the best example of how to protect your children online?
A. Post clear, simple, easy-to-read house rules on or near the
monitor and supervise your child’s online activity
B. Only allow your child to use the computer at the public library
or school
C. Do not allow your child to “surf” the Internet without having a
friend nearby
Answer A. Posting clear, simple, easy-to-read house
rules is an excellent way to set boundaries for your child’s
Internet use. The rules can be signed by you and your child and
should be periodically reviewed. Visit www.NetSmartz.org for
examples of rules. At this site you can also find safety tips and
definitions to help you better understand the many different areas
of the world wide web. Remember that nothing beats your supervision
of and attention to what your children do while online.
3. Your children are completely safe if they only visit
child-friendly chatrooms. True or False?
Answer False. Although it is recommended that
your child only visit child-friendly sites, realize that anyone can
access these sites. Child predators have been known to entice
children in child-oriented chatrooms. Nothing can replace your
supervision.
4. What should you do if your children tell you that
someone they have “met” online has asked for their telephone number
and wants to meet them in person?
A. Take away their computer privileges
B. Praise them for being honest with you about this information, and
discuss with them the reasons why it is
unsafe to meet in person with someone they have first met online
without your supervision C. Tell them that it’s okay to meet their
friend as long as you know where they are going
Answer B. Rewarding your child for being
forthcoming with information is an excellent way to keep the lines
of communication between you open. Furthermore, your acceptance and
praise of this may encourage them to report incidents to you in the
future. You should remind your child not to give out personal
information or meet anyone in person without your prior knowledge
and consent. If you want to consider a meeting, ask to talk to the
other child’s parents. If you agree to the meeting, accompany your
child and meet with the other child and his or her parents in a
public place.
5. Of the choices below, which is the worst screen name
for a child?
A. katie_ny13
B. CuteLitlAngel
C. BlueEyes7642
Answer A. Internet predators often use screen names
to select their potential targets. A screen name should never reveal
any identifying information about a child especially things like a
name, age, location, year of birth, school name, and year of
graduation.
6. How many children received a sexual solicitation or
approach over the Internet in a one-year period of time?
A. 1 in 7 children
B. 1 in 100 children
C. 1 in 500 children
Answer A. As reported by Janis Wolak, Kimberly
Mitchell, and David Finkelhor in Online Victimization of Youth:
Five Years Later, Alexandria, Virginia: National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children, 2006, page 1, 1 in 7 children received
such solicitations or approaches in 2005.
7. If you are not familiar with computers and the
Internet, you should
A. Take a basic class to become familiar with them
B. Sit down with your children to have them show you web sites they
visit and how they navigate through the world wide web
C. Both
Answer C. Taking a class is an excellent way to
begin to learn about the Internet. Check your local adult community
education schedules or with computer retailers for suggested
classes. There are also many excellent books available about
computers and the Internet that you could either check out from your
local library or purchase. Furthermore, sitting down with your
children at the computer is not only an excellent way to learn, it
is also a great way to connect with them. This can be a pleasurable
experience for both you and your children.
8. What should you do if you suspect online “stalking” or
sexual exploitation of a child?
A. Ignore it, and hope that it goes away
B. Report it to your local law-enforcement agency and the
CyberTipline®
C. Change Internet Service Providers
Answer B. Immediately report the information to
local law enforcement and the CyberTipline at www.cybertipline.com
or 1-800-843-5678. The Federal Bureau of Investigation recommends –
if your child or anyone in your household has received pornography
depicting children, your child has been sexually solicited by
someone who knows that your child is younger than 18, or your child
has received sexually explicit images from someone who knows your
child is younger than 18 – that you keep the computer turned off in
order to preserve any evidence for future law-enforcement use.
Unless directed to do so by law enforcement, you should not attempt
to copy any of the images and/or text found on the computer.
9. If your children have their own personal web page and
ask you if they can put their photographs on it, what should you do?
A Tell them that they can put their photograph on the web page if
they promise to only give the web-site address to people they know
B. Tell them that it is not safe to put photographs on web sites
Answer B. Remember that anyone in the world can
access a web page. It is not recommended to put any personal
information on the Internet that may be used by online predators to
identify children as targets for molestation. Publishing a child’s
photograph on any web site is a risk. If your child has a personal
web page, don’t post the child’s photograph on the page. If your
child is a member of a group with a web site, photographs of
children published online should not be accompanied with identifying
information. Group shots are preferable to individual pictures, and
the group may be identified as “Members of the basketball team.”
Remember, even a first name can be a tool that empowers those who
use the Internet to identify and stalk children. Also many schools
are now posting individual information about students in Internet
yearbooks. Check with your child’s school to determine their policy
about posting information online.
Copyright © 2003 National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children. All rights reserved.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is
the national clearinghouse and resource center funded under
Cooperative Agreement #98-MC-CX-K002 from the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this work are
those of NCMEC and do not necessarily represent the official
position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children® is a registered
service mark of the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children.
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