    
|
|
|
|
Tips for Kids: Surfing the Web Safely |
|
1. If you see any threatening or offensive language online, report it to a
parent, teacher or librarian immediately. 2. Do not give out your home address, telephone number or school name without asking a parent, and never share personal information online. 3. Never accept email, files or URLs from strangers. 4. Keep your passwords a secret. Don't even tell your best friend. 5. If you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, notify your parent, teacher or librarian and leave the chat room or web site immediately. 6. Do not agree to meet someone in person without asking a parent first. 7. When you are doing research on the Internet, focus on sites that end in ".org" ".gov," or ".edu" -- these are sites that are associated with not-for-profit organizations, governments and educational institutions, like schools and universities. This is not a guarantee, but these sites are often times more trustworthy. 8. Do not respond to flames (a strongly worded, sometimes nasty, message) sent to a public forum, such as a newsgroup, or those sent to a personal e-mail address 9. Stop immediately if you see or read anything that upsets you. 10. If you find a site via a search engine, click "home" on the page to see where the site comes from. Is the home page a hate organization, or a university? This is one way to verify the honesty of a page. 11. If a site is poorly written, there is a good chance that it is not a honest source of information. 12. Look to see who is sponsoring the site that you are viewing. There should be an "about us" link that describes the goals of the sponsoring group. 13. Look to see if there is a phone number or address associated with the organization. Often, sites that are less trustworthy will not offer contact information. |