15-year-old Maine resident Nichole Cable was lured to her death by a 20-year-old man using a fake Facebook account. He wanted to stage her kidnapping and rescue and then look like a hero.
However, her body was found about a week later.
The issue of keeping kids safe online is not a new one, but one that is worth revisiting from time to time.
Here are some of the free and some of the paid options available to parents online about how they can keep their kids safe and keep track of what they are doing.
A good place to start is with Google’s own tips on how to keep your kids safe, from parents that work at Google. One of the ideas is keeping time limited and keeping the computer or devices in a central location in the home.
Google has also provided links to different websites and partners they work with to help give parents tips and tools.
One of the best websites I’ve found is called ‘The Door that’s not locked‘ and is run by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
It provides info for parents, teachers, and family members, and while it has brochures you can download, it also has age-specific tips depending on the age of your child. And they have a section in each age group called ‘411 for online activities’ to help you educate yourself.
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There’s also a website called MediaSmarts, which among other things, has some interactive games kids can play to help teach them about what kind of material is on the web and how to understand it all. The games are available for different ages as well.
There is also some software available, both free and paid for, that you can install on your computer at home to help you keep your kids safe.
One of the most popular free ones is K9 Web Protection, which you can download onto your device.
It will block websites in different categories, such as porn and violence / hate sites, and it will also set time restrictions on your browsers so that you can restrict access during designated times. It is free for home use, but only on one computer or device.
Another option that is a paid option but is really popular, is AVG Family Safety.
For an annual fee you can download the software on laptops, iPhones, iPads, and it will help you to do a number of things.
It uses keystroke technology to monitor what your kids are typing and if it spots certain words or phrases that could be identified to be dangerous it will send you an email or a text message.
It also monitors social media activity and will filter objectionable material from sites such as Facebook and restrict access to chat rooms.
Do you have any favourite sites you visit to help keep your family safe? Leave it in the comments below.
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