Internet safety for kids

[GGV8Cruza]

So the kids want to do more surfing and school stuff on the internet. Just wondering what everyone is using to keep them safe?

GG

[Swannie]

A strong conversation around if I catch them doing anything outside the norm & no clicking any links or chat sites they will be banned

Swannie

[Watty2975]

Having no devices in bedrooms and the computer in an easy to see common area of the house.
There are also settings in tablet devices etc to set security.

It;s a mine field out there!

[plusnq]

Same. We use the removal of their devices for infractions, poor grades etc. it's a great parenting tool. There is also lots and lots of chat about appropriate internet behaviour. Our family friends all watch the social media and we report back to each other if there is an issue that needs addressing. Usually the kid says try to hide any inappropriate activity. I have my phone set to receive all apps that the kids download. Mostly innocuous but I did wonder what was going on when tinder showed up 😀

[firefox]

Kids get rules and strong talks. But have reasonable freedom.

I use kaspersky kids safe to monitor activity on all devices. We monitor and we can alert them to things but we don't block. Coupled with some basic monitoring and discussing with kids it works well.

[Paddler Ed]

I don't know the equivalent to CEOP from the UK here in Australia, but I'd have a look at some of their resources (and the Australian equivalent)

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
https://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/

Also, always worth looking to see what else is going on - I used to work in Blackpool in the UK as a youth worker where there were some very serious problems with sexual exploitation so we had to be quite hot on this; there was a whole team based in the Police station who were a multi-agency team tasked with identifying those at risk. Look up Operation Awaken if you're interested in that. It's not cheerful reading though.

[trinityalyce]

Your ISP can sometimes help you out with kids internet filtering. Otherwise there's other software you can get and install on their computers/tablets/phones etc. so you can spy on them... If that's your thing and works for you.

Also a lot of our mates with teenagers who use the internet make it a rule that they must be Facebook friends so they can monitor their Facebook usage. Fair call I think. Facebook, Instagram etc. are probably bigger traps for kids than some other "dodgy" sites these days.

Pretty sure that there are parental controls through most operating systems on computer, no idea how good they are...

The "strong talking to" approach worked for me. Make sure you know what boundaries you want to set though. Just don't want them accessing dodgy sites? Want to limit their screen time? Want them to talk to you if they feel bullied/pressured/etc. online? What them to know what is appropriate "nettiquette" and other online behaviour?

I know plenty of parents who don't let kids have computers/devices in their rooms where they could be getting up to mischief in private, and I guess there's pros and cons of that approach.

Seriously is a minefield and I don't envy those of you with kids... No idea what I'd do.

[D4D]

http://familysafety.live.com/ works for Windows10, Xbox etc. You'll need something else for iPads/iPhones etc.

[rotare]

For the kids we just make sure all their devices have the restrictions set up to limit which web pages they can go to.  We also regularly do a check of their internet history to make sure they aren't going anywhere they shouldn't.

Now that there is a heavy reliance on the internet for school work, the school regularly runs sessions for parents and kids on internet safety.  I think it's mandatory attendance at least once a year at my kids school.  Maybe ask the school if they run something similar, as we've found the ones we've sat through with our kids to be really informative and up to date with the latest information and safety tips.  And since it's coming from the school, with a consistent message to all kids and parents, our kids are more likely to follow it because it's not just Mum and Dad being overly protective. 

[noel_w]

Most decent routers will have website filtering to some degree. Have a look in the router setup to see if this can be used if you want to block certain sites, keyword searches or URLs containing banned words.
My old router had filtering that you could set that would turn on and off at certain times of the day hence Facebook was blocked between 4PM and 9PM etc but only on the fixed IP's for the kids PC's. Worked a treat.

[Bird]

Having the PC in a common area is a good idea.. VERY good.. watch what they do and they are less likely to be sneaky with a boss key etc.

Friend of mines kid has Ashbergers and is a real handful to say the least...
Eg: telling parents to F off, mums a lazy C or F'n slu...
and if you turned one of his 3 TV's/DVD/Movies off it was nearly a riot... Anyway it got to the point the parents were happy to have him locked in his room "Gaming" so they thought.. just so they could just have dinner or 2 seconds to themselves without being abused.

The issue with that was by the time he was in Kinder, he was well versed on bondage and was telling the other kids all about it at school... he was asked not to come back.. They tried all sorts of filters and software, but he was that switched on he bypassed much of it easily... sometimes blew my mind how he did it...

[paceman]

have seen this work in the past....

https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

[The punter]

http://www1.k9webprotection.com

[Bird]

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2655718

[Ben.Archer]

I may go a bot over the top, but with very young kids I believe better safe than sorry.

All internet access at home - and on mobile devices is proxied through my servers, stateful inspection firewalls which have heuristic rules in place to monitor and if necessary block traffic.  I have blocked entire domains such as facebook where their entire IP address range is blocked as are all DNS entires. 

The kids primary access at home is in the living room, and is provided via remote desktops - so can also be monitored.

[rossbarb]

Hi Everyone,
I organised the Cyber Safety lady to come to our school, she was fantastic, disappointing that hardly any parents came (free of charge) I suggest you check out her website
Barb

[Troopy_03]

I found this a bit ironic when I googled the website for "the Cyber Safety Lady" Kaspersky Internet Security flag says

No information on website safety (according to Kaspersky Security Network)

 

https://thecybersafetylady.com.au/

[tonywatto]

Google Kola Safe. Seperate wifi network that is time controlled as well as website filtering.
Designed in Melbourne and sold through amazon.
I've had installed for 2 years and is great. Also good with giving scheduled internet hours

[tryagain]

Google Kola KoalaSafe. Seperate wifi network that is time controlled as well as website filtering.
Designed in Melbourne and sold through amazon.
I've had installed for 2 years and is great. Also good with giving scheduled internet hours

That seems to be a pretty easy option without ongoing costs, can also easily control time limits as well as content by the looks of it so that is a plus.