Parental Regulation

In 1998 the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was signed into law.  The following rules are part of the COPPA

Post their privacy policy.
Websites directed to children or that knowingly collect information from kids under 13 must post a notice of their information collection practices that includes:

·         types of personal information they collect from kids-for example, name, home address, email address or hobbies.

·         how the site will use the information-for example, to market to the child who supplied the information, to notify contest winners or to make the information available through a child's participation in a chat room.

·         whether personal information is forwarded to advertisers or other third parties.

·         a contact at the site.

Get parental consent.
In many cases, a site must obtain parental consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information about a child.

Consent is not required when a site is collecting an email address to:

·         respond to a one-time request from the child.

·         provide notice to the parent.

·         ensure the safety of the child or the site.

·         send a newsletter or other information on a regular basis as long as the site notifies a parent and gives them a chance to say no to the arrangement.

 Even though this law was made to protect the children, the parents are still responsible for their part in helping to regulate their child’s use of the computer.  The Kidz Privacy website suggests the following of what parents should look for.

Look for a privacy policy on any website directed to children.
The policy must be available through a link on the website's homepage and at each area where personal information is collected from kids. Websites for general audiences that have a children's section must post the notice on the homepages of the section for kids.

Read the policy closely to learn the kinds of personal information being collected, how it will be used, and whether it will be passed on to third parties. If you find a website that doesn't post basic protections for children's personal information, ask for details about their information collection practices.

• Decide whether to give consent.
  Giving consent authorizes the website to collect personal information from your child. You can give consent and still say no to having your child's information passed along to a third party.

Your consent isn't necessary if the website is collecting your child's email address simply to respond to a one-time request for information.

• Decide whether to approve information collection from your kids based on new uses for the information.
  Website operators will let you know about the need for new consent by sending you a new notice and request. They will do this when they are changing the terms-of-use of the information in a "material" or significant way.
• Ask to see the information your child has submitted.
  The site will ask you to verify your identity to ensure that your child's information isn't given out improperly.
• Understand that you may revoke your consent at any time and have your child's information deleted.
  To stop a website from collecting additional information from your child, you can revoke your consent. You also may ask a site to delete any personal information it has already collected from your child.

While it might be impossible to regulate what commercialism children experience on the Internet it is possible for parents to help regulate their child’s exposure.  The most effective method of regulation is education.  Parents need to learn about the potential risks for their child.  There are several good on-line resources where parents can start learning about the Internet.   A good place to start is Especially for Children
and Their Parents an on-line safety rules and suggestions.    Wired Patrol offers free classes for parents with classes of safe surfing. 

Setting rules for your child is another way to regulate your child’s Internet usage.  The Children’s Partnership suggest these following tips:

·  Keep computer in family area to better monitor your child's activity

·  Regularly spend time online with your child to learn about his or her interests and activities

·  Teach your child to end any experience online when he or she feels uncomfortable or scared by pressing the back key, logging off, and telling a trusted adult as soon as possible

·  Establish an atmosphere of trust and understanding with your child by not blaming him or her for uncomfortable online experiences

·  Discuss the difference between advertising and educational or entertaining content and show your child examples of each

·  Show your child the difference between sources of information that are credible and those that are not

·  Teach your child to never give out personal information unless he or she has your permission and you know how and by whom the information will be used

·  Establish strict rules for ordering products (and then monitor credit card bills)

·  "Talk back" to Internet Service Providers and content creators to let them know what you want and expect from them in keeping kids safe online. 

While parental control is still the best issue of monitoring a child’s use of the Internet, there are also other alternatives for parents who cannot be with their child twenty-four hours a day.  This form of protection comes in software.  There are several parental control software on the market today.  The following are two types of parental control software.  Cyberpatrol allows parents to restrict access to certain times of day, limit the total time spent on-line per day and per week, block access to specific Internet resources and sites by content, block or allow specific Internet resources and sites according to your own preferences, and control access to major on-line services and other local applications such as games and personal finance managers.

Net Nanny is a parental control tool that allows screening of World Wide Web sites, newsgroups, and text messages.  It is specifically parent configurable and screens material not only coming from the Internet but information your child sends back out to the Internet as well.  Net Nanny contains a log of all the child’s activities for later parental review.

These are just a few of the parental controls that are available for you.  For even more options you can look at parental controls provided by World Village.

As technology becomes a part of children's life hopefully parental regulation will be a part of that life too.

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