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Week of 24 April 1998 Vol. I, No. 29 Feature Article Making Life Work Safe surfing is every parent's responsibility By Amy E. Dean The headlines and news stories about the dangers to children that lurk in the depths of the vast ocean of Internet information and communication are enough to terrify any parent. Only recently, for example, the FBI warned parents that Internet pedophiles are a serious threat, a package bomb killed a 17-year-old boy over an Internet deal gone bad, and a teenager was charged with computer crime after knocking out communications to the tower at Worcester Regional Airport. But Internet-produced bombs are rare, and protecting your children from e-mail exchanges with pedophiles is easy (see sidebar). What is much harder is ensuring that your child surfs in clean, safe waters that use decent language, promote nonviolent themes, and are devoid of enticements unsuitable for children. Today the battle rages over Internet decency and how to keep the Web clean. When Congress passed the Internet censorship law known as the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in 1996, many companies, advocacy groups, and individuals with a stake in the Internet challenged the measure in court. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the CDA unconstitutional. Today a bitter battle is being raged over the White House-backed effort to develop a rating and labeling system for the Internet. On one side are the big mainstream Internet and computer companies, led by America Online (AOL) and Microsoft, which proclaim an eagerness to make cyberspace safe for families. Lined up against them are free-speech advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association, which see ratings systems as censorship tools. But no matter who is on what side of the issue, two critical factors dominate discussions of any online rating system. First, the debate over ratings begins with a technology called PICS (Platform for Internet Content), a mechanism for labeling Web pages according to their content. The labels can be read by a software program that in turn can block access to sites with specific types of content. PICS itself is not a ratings system, but rather a method for implementing a ratings system. The theory is that once PICS is in place throughout the Internet, a multiplicity of ratings systems would emerge. This is where the idea of ratings becomes arbitrary, inconsistent, and for parents, unreliable. For example, a Christian Coalition group might block access to anything that discusses homosexuality or abortion online; a news organization such as CNN, however, would not. The dilemma is that what is being sold as a voluntary system will include a multiplicity of ratings systems that are going to be quite complicated and may promote a bias not shared by a parent. Second, the Internet is simply too big, too diverse, and too fast-changing to be tamed by even a semivoluntary ratings mechanism. Although AOL Chairman Steve Case believes that "nothing is as important as making this medium family-friendly," AOL owes much of its success to its sex-chat rooms. Web sites that decline to rate their pages, major search services such as Yahoo! that would be asked not to index unrated or "undesirable" sites, and international Web services that would be faced with the choice of adopting a U.S. labeling system or forgoing access to U.S. users further complicate the issue of ratings. What all this means is that parents need to be more vigilant in ensuring their children's safe use of the Internet. The power to access information all over the world by a simple point and click exposes children to news groups, the World Wide Web, e-mail, and real-time conversational chat rooms known as IRCs (Inter-net Request Chat). Alternative news groups abound on the Internet, and although most offer adult content and are not moderated, there are beneficial groups among them. For example, there are "alt. sex" groups as well as "alt.algebra.help" groups. To filter every alternative group out means loss of beneficial ones. "I am proactive," says Ray Gasser about the Internet. Gasser, a graduate student working on his Ph.D. in the CAS computer science department, where he is the research lab manager, thinks the Internet is an incredible resource. "Instead of trying to stop, control, or censor this technology, people might try to take the initiative and focus their attention on improving the Internet, making it a better experience for everyone." This can happen when parents help their children on initial forays, or more commonly, when children take their parents along for an instructional ride. "I took my mother to the Louvre on the Internet," says Gasser. "We looked at paintings together, then printed out one she liked. When she went to France on a vacation, she found a print of the picture and purchased it. "I really feel that the Web is the future of education," says Gasser. "After watching an A&E [Arts & Entertainment cable TV channel] special on influenza, I spent over two hours surfing the A&E and other Web sites learning about influenza and then about other viruses. It is this freedom to explore and interact with the information that makes learning fun and powerful. I love the Web." There are always dangers with information -- it can be misused as well as used. But according to Gasser, there are several excellent software packages to help parents filter what can be seen from, as well as sent onto, the Internet. Keyword screening, for example, is one technique used by these packages to prevent access to sites containing certain restricted keywords, such as sex. It can also be used to prevent children from divulging personal information, such as name and address, onto the Internet. These software packages can be used to restrict young children's Web access to a list of parent-approved sites such as Sesame Street; for older children, access can be opened to all sites except certain restricted adult ones. In addition, the times when children can use the Internet can be restricted, such as when a parent is home. And finally, a logging of which sites have been accessed by their children can be used by parents to keep track of where their children go on the Internet. Begun in the 1960s, the Internet grew rapidly as it was used by more and more research and higher education institutions, leading to the formation of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. "The Web," says Gasser, "became the key to unlocking the doors to all the information on the Internet. And it doesn't matter if that key opens a door to a Paris museum computer or to a Russian fifth grade computer; if you can point and click with a mouse, you can use the Web for information. Everything is linked to everything else on this constantly expanding network of information. The Web is the perfect vehicle for parents and children to explore and learn together." Parental guidelines for safe Web use Children learn how to approach things from their parents. You teach your child from a very early age how to cross the street and set basic rules such as not talking to strangers. So, too, do you need to teach your child at an early age the correct ways to use the Internet for fun and educational benefit. Spend time together exploring the Web. Convey your values to your child and set basic guidelines to ensure safe use when alone. Investigate software that blocks X-rated Internet sites, such as SurfWatch, Cyberpatrol, and Netnanny. Although programs and prices vary, the purpose is to block access to chat rooms, newsgroups, FTP, Gopher, and Web sites that may contain sexual or indecent content. Once a program is installed, only you can deactivate it or remove it from the hard drive by entering a password. Optional subscriptions offer a monthly "patrol" of new sites to block access to those deemed unacceptable. Remember that by the time your child is in high school, he or she is probably pretty computer-savvy and is capable of accessing anything available on the Internet -- at home or on someone else's computer. That's why it's so important to instill at an early age the concept of safe, appropriate use of the Internet. Know what your child is doing on the computer. Take a Net surfing course through a community education program, or better still, spend time with your child on the computer. The experience together will be valuable, and you will discover many positive benefits offered by the Internet. Balance the ways your child uses the computer. Limit time spent playing solitary games. Encourage interactive computer games that allow your child to use his or her imagination and the use of tool-based software to express creativity -- by making posters for his or her room, for instance, or building personal Web pages. Make censorship decisions you believe are right for your child while your child is young. Be prepared, however, to handle questions he or she will raise about sensitive issues so that when the time is right to use the computer alone, your child knows how to distinguish between safe and unsafe sites. Foster independence by allowing your child some private computer time. But keep in mind that the "virtual socialization" afforded by computers can never replace actual socialization with other children. -- Bonnie Teitleman and Nikki Sibley The "Making Life Work" series is sponsored by the Faculty/Staff Assistance Program, directed by Bonnie Teitleman, and the Office of Family Resources and Boston University Children's Center, directed by Nikki Sibley. To propose topics for future articles or to express your opinion about this piece, please e-mail bteitlem@bu.edu or nsibley@bu.edu.