Safety on the Internet
I = There’s a lot of information online and not all of it is for children or young people. You might be surprised to hear that some things online are illegal! If you ever come across something you think you shouldn’t have seen make sure you tell someone about it.
N = Never arrange to meet someone you have met online.
T = Tell your parents right away if you read anything on the Internet that makes you feel uncomfortable.
E = Ensure you know about the safety settings, there are things you can do to improve the security before you start using it for example;
- Privacy settings
Select the strongest privacy setting available when you create your account. This will ensure that your personal information is only seen by people you want to share it with. However, be aware that some sites are totally open to the public. - Safety tools
Learn about the safety tools available to you on the service you’re using. This might include a block function to stop unwanted contact or the option of pre-approving comments posted onto their profile before they are made public.
R = Remember that people online may not be who they say they are. Get to know your "online friends" just as you get to know all of your other friends. Be sure that you are dealing with someone that you and your parents know.
N = Never give out personal information such as your name, home address, school name, or telephone number in a chat room. Also, never send a picture of yourself to someone you chat with on the computer.
E = make sure you are very careful about what images and messages you post, even among trusted friends – once they are online they can be shared widely and are extremely difficult to get removed.
T = The Internet is a real community of people who are connected by computers, so treat people that you don't know on the Internet as strangers that you might meet in a street.
Safe Social Networking
What is social networking?
Social networking should be fun. It allows people to stay in touch online, share fun moments and talk to your friends or family. There are a number of popular social networking websites including Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.
Risks
Social networking sites are rapidly becoming a huge target from preying cyber-criminals. They are able to abuse the nature of these sites and gather personal information about its users - information that users themselves are making publicly available. This is known as social engineering. Social engineering is one of the first stages of many cyber-attacks related to identity theft.
These sites are very popular with young people and adults alike. For young people in particular social networking sites can bring together many of the risks associated with being online; online bullying, giving out private information, cyber-stalking, access to age-inappropriate content and, at the most extreme, online grooming and child abuse.
Protect your privacy
You can avoid these risks and enjoy social networking sites by following a few sensible guidelines:
- Don’t let your friend’s pressure you into doing something you’re not comfortable with. Just because other people post their mobile phone number or birthday, doesn’t mean you have to.
- Be wary of what information you put online about yourself. In particular things like: phone numbers, pictures of your home, workplace or school, your address, birthday or full name.
- Pick a user name that doesn’t include any personal information. For example, “dave_wrexham” or “jane_chester” would be bad choices.
- Set up a separate email account that doesn’t use your real name and use that to register and receive mail from the site. That way if you want to shut down your connection, you can simply stop using that mail account. This is very simple and quick to do using such providers as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail.
- Keep your profile closed and only allow your friends to view your profile.
- What goes online stays online. Don’t say anything or put pictures on that might cause you embarrassment later. As a general rule, if you wouldn’t say it to your boss or your grandmother, don’t say it online.
- Learn how to use the site. Use the privacy features on the site you use to restrict strangers’ access to your profile. Be guarded about who you let join your network.
Help and Advice
http://www.ceop.police.uk/reportabuse/
Internet Acronyms Dictionary http://www.gaarde.org/Acronyms/