June is National Internet Safety Month — Police Safety Tips to Keep Kids Safe

(Ed Note: Safety tips and information are posted monthly on the city's website by Mercer Island Police Officer Rob Jira, and reproduced here in cooperation with the MIPD.)

June is Internet Safety Month and the perfect time for parents to sit down with their kids to have a discussion about their online habits and behaviors. Parents need to be engaged in their children’s online activity and ask about the sites they are visiting, who they are interacting with online, and what personal information they are sharing. Many parents might be surprised to find out how web-enabled their kids are. Many cell phones, devices like the iPad/iPod Touch, and gaming consoles have wireless capabilities.

With so many headlines in the media about cyberbullying, sexting and social networking, June is the perfect time to take a step back and think about the foundational layers we need to put in place to make the Internet safer for families and how we can teach our kids to be responsible when they are online so they don’t succumb to potential risks (Stephen Balkam – CEO, Family Online Safety Institute).

Tips for Adults:

• To guard against identity theft, never give out your Social Security number. Treat it as confidential information.
• Commit all passwords to memory. Never write them down or carry them with you.
• When using an ATM machine, make sure no one is hovering over you and can see you enter your password.
• When participating in an online auction, try to pay the seller directly with a credit card so you can dispute the charges if the merchandise does not arrive or was misrepresented. If possible, avoid paying by check or money order.
• Adopt an attitude of healthy skepticism toward websites that offer prizes or giveaways. Chances are, all that’s been “won” is the opportunity to buy something you didn’t want in the first place.
• Choose a commercial online service that offers parental control features.
• Tell your children never to give out their address telephone number password school name or any other personal information.
• Make sure your children know to never agree to meet face-to-face with someone they’ve met online without discussing it with you. Only if you decide that it’s okay to meet their “cyber-friend” should they arrange to meet this person, and then the meeting should be in a familiar public place in the presence of a trusted adult.
• Tell your children never to respond to messages that have bad words, are scary, or just seem weird.
• Tell your children never to enter an area that charges for services without asking you first.
• Tell children never send a picture of themselves to anyone without your permission.
• Make sure that access to the Internet at your children’s school is monitored by adults.
• Make sure that you know what social media platforms your children are using, know their passwords, and check them regularly.
• Protect yourself and your computer against Spam, Viruses, and Phishing with a good anti-virus and computer protection program.

• First, remember never to give out personal information such as your name, home address, school name, or telephone number in a chat room or bulletin boards. Also, never send a picture of yourself to someone you chat with on the computer without your parent’s permission.
• Never write to someone who has made you feel uncomfortable or scared. 
• Do not meet someone or have them visit you without the permission of your parents.
• Tell your parents right away if you read anything on the internet that makes you feel uncomfortable. 
• Remember that people online may not be who they say they are. Someone who says that “she” is a “12-year-old-girl” could really be an older man.
• Do not send inappropriate photographs or videos to your friends without your parent’s permission.