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Protect your children

The danger of internet and spyware

Most of us think of scumware and spyware as being just a pain in the neck. Sure, you need to remove the crud to improve performance and get your browser back, but did you ever think about the fact that scumware and spyware can be dangerous to kids? Think about this:

One in five children who use computer chat rooms have been approached over the Internet by pedophiles, according to Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Akerman, Telegraph.co.uk January 2002.
89% of solicitations were either made in chat rooms or via Instant Messages. (Pew Study reported in JAMA, 2001)
The majority of teenagers' online use occurs at home, right after school, when working parents are not at home. (Arbitron New Media Study, October 1999)
1 in 33 received AGGRESSIVE inappropriate solicitations (asked to meet, called them via phone, sent mail, money or gifts), according to Online Victimization, NCMEC, June 2000)

How can you protect your children when they are online? Every family should have clear rules regulating online use, including:

Never give out personal information to strangers online.
Never give out your full name, date of birth, home address, school name, or telephone number in a chat room, message board, newsgroup, profiles or e-mail unless you know for sure who you are talking to and trust them.
Never post photographs on web sites, message boards or newsgroups or online profiles that are available to the public.
Never list names or e-mail addresses in any public directories and profiles.
But even if your children follow all the rules, they could still be sharing personal information with strangers without their (or your) knowledge. How? You guessed it, spyware and scumware!