Due to the emergence of modern technology, which includes computers and the Internet, loads of information can be easily accessed with one simple click of the mouse. A person can know the happenings in a place like China even if he/she is located thousands of miles away – like North America or Europe. Such is the power of the Internet. Unfortunately, there are dangers associated with it as well, especially for unsuspecting children.

Children, including those going into their adolescent years, are often fascinated with the thought of meeting new people through the Internet, especially via chat rooms and social sites (e.g. Friendster, MySpace, etc.). While there is nothing wrong with social networking using technology as a means, it can be dangerous, particularly if someone finds out about the child’s age and tries to exploit him/her into revealing unnecessary information. This is why it is important for parents to take good care of their children, more so in this so-called Age of Information.

One of the most reported cases of child exploitation in chat rooms is related to sexual exploitation.

A perpetrator usually spends hours in a particular chat room that he thinks will interest children, waiting patiently for an innocent child to talk to them. Some young girls (as is often the case) are more than willing to speak with seemingly friendly individuals, often for them to confide in and just share thoughts with. Little do these young ones know that the perpetrator is actually preparing them for sexual activity.

When the innocent child and the perpetrator get better acquainted via chat and/or instant messaging, the perpetrator gets more and more confident and begins to make advances, such as an “eyeball” (an actual meeting of the once virtual chatmates). This will eventually lead to an invitation to the perpetrator’s place, where the actual sexual activity occurs.

The child may find it quite difficult to let go of the virtual relationship because he/she feels that there is an actual friendship going on, when in reality, the perpetrator is actually setting him/her up. As such, the child will more often than not reveal information that is usually not revealed to strangers or people hiding behind chat room nicknames. When this happens, the perpetrator can do a lot of things, such as robbing the family of the child, sexual activity, even to the extent of kidnap for ransom, and worse, murder.

A less serious threat that can occur (but nonetheless a threat) is acquiring viruses, spyware, and unwanted files through the chat room or social sites, which will damage your computer and in some cases, break it down totally. Computer owners will find it a great hassle to be dealing with viruses, particularly if the infection is a deep one, and more so if they aren’t adept at dealing with viruses and/or spyware. Sometimes, an anti-virus program isn’t enough, especially if the user is a child who doesn’t know that the files he/she might receive are infected.

This threat becomes more serious when the computer is used as a means of income, meaning a person works off of his computer.

Should a computer break down due to a child’s ignorance in the chat room, a lot of work could be lost, which will lead to loss of income, definitely something you don’t want.Another cause for concern is that the chat rooms and social sites are often times found with adult material in it. A child could possibly have his/her life changed forever if his/her morality is questioned and lost at such a young age. Nude pictures and videos aren’t uncommon within such areas of the Internet, even though there are some sites that try to eliminate these.Social sites and chatting is fine, so long as the children are kept away from the evils that are linked with these uses of the Internet. Should a child become exposed to these dangers, there is no telling what the overall effect in his/her life would be. One way of parents protecting their children is by checking on them from time to time, especially when they are using the Internet, a powerful yet potentially dangerous tool.

Free Firewalls and Children Protection Programs

The internet is an established part of our world, and modern education has included it in the education of our children. Unlike past generations, where the internet was as much a source of games and amusement as a tool for adults, these days our children are immersed in it. Given that it is a part of their daily lives at school, it naturally follows that we can’t keep them from their computers at home so they can do research and homework on it. With that in mind, we have to keep a close watch on the things our kids do online so that they don’t unwittingly become security risks in this day and age of computer-related crimes.

There are two types of programs that will help our home security over the internet immensely; the first is firewalls, which keep out viruses and spyware that our kids may accidentally touch on in the course of conducting their research. The second is child safety software, which are programs especially geared towards helping parents monitor and control their children’s online time. Here are the big three free picks for firewalls and child safety programs you can download.

Firewalls

Comodo Firewall - one of the top picks among both free and purchaseable firewalls, comodo scans all incoming internet traffic before actually allowing it to touch any other part of your PC. It’s main feature is a program behavior analyzer that detects if programs have any unusual activity that may signal a virus or worm in the program. For inert viruses it also has a trojan protocol detector that is constantly updated online.

Kiero Personal Firewall - this is a software that has been reported by users to offer them minimal headache in operation and use. While it’s protections aren’t as sturdy as some other firewall programs, it offers reasonable defense nontheless. It’s main strength is it’s ease of use, so that you can teach your children to operate it, giving them the benefits of learning internet security early in life.

Zone Alarm - this is rated as a cross between comodo and kiero. It offers more security options than Kiero and is easier to use than comodo. The most balanced choice between ease of use and security. Depending on your preferences, it can also be taught to your children, but it’s advanced settings may actually cause them to mess up your firewall, so it might be a good idea to keep the operation of this software to yourself.

Child Security

EZ off - this program is essentially a time management software for your computer. It will automatically turn the PC on and off at scheduled intervals, allowing you to control how much time your children spend on the net. This is best used to keep your kids from playing video games past their bedtime. The timer also features a calendar and scheduler, so that you can even keep the PC running for set intervals when you’re not at home.

Windows Supervisor - this is an office program that can also be used at home. It’s main purpose is to monitor all logs made on the computer, so that you will be able to tell not only WHEN your children access the internet, you’ll be able to tell what activity was running when they were there, including what sites they visited, files they up or downloaded, programs executed, and even keyboard typing done.

StopGame - for those who want to let their children enjoy the internet from time to time, a less-strict version of EZ off is similar to a firewall in that it lets certain, specified programs and web sites be accessed at certain times of day by the computer. If your kids are, for example, doing homework from 6pm to 8pm and you let them have game time from 8pm to 10pm, you can set this program to allow them access to certain games (that you specify) from the 8 to 10 slot. Also, taking a cue from Windows Supervisor, it will be able to monitor past activity as far as the allowed game programs listed are concerned, as well as attempts made by your kids to access other sites.

Older kids and teenagers are often the victims of computer virus and spyware. This is because they frequent sites that contain spyware or share computer viruses from computer to computer. So, if you have kids who share a computer with you, then it is highly possible that your computer is home to viruses and spyware.

To prevent further invasion and a possible computer crash, it is important to teach your children how to avoid attracting computer viruses and spyware.

• Avoid peer-to-peer sharing. As human viruses are transmitted by person-to-person contact, computer viruses, are transmitted from computer to computer, often via p2p file-sharing. It is essential, therefore, to teach your kids not to use these programs. Peer-to-peer file-sharing softwares known to hold malicious contents are Kazaa and Grokster. If possible, get the paid versions of p2p file sharing softwares since they are virus, adware, and spyware free.
• Avoid entering lyrics and music sites. Many of these sites tend to insist that you download ActiveX control first before you can enter their websites. If you are going to think about it, ActiveX control has no relation to viewing music lyrics as they are just ordinary texts. To make matters worst, kids aren’t aware of the danger of downloading such programs from these sources; so spyware can easily penetrate and bring you inconvenience.
• Don’t click on banners, advertisements and popups from webpages. Often, viruses, adware, and spyware enter the computer because kids ask for it. The sad thing though is that kids are unaware that the things they do are the exact things that invite these malicious programs. What you should do is to tell them that they should never click on any banners, advertisements and popups they see online.
• Don’t download email attachments from unknown sender. Kids are eager to open emails. But if they are from unknown senders, then they may contain viruses, spyware or adware. Tell them never in any circumstances would they download attachments without your permission.
• Give you kids limited computer accounts. Whether your kids have their own computer in their room or share one with you, keep their accounts “limited” so that you (administrator) have the control on the things that can be done by your kids.

It is your responsibility to tell your kids about the dangers that these threats can give.