Graphic Photos – All a child has to do to see horrific pictures of crime scenes, automobile accidents or animal torture is to type a few keywords into a search engine. The only thing standing between your kid and graphics that would disturb most adults is a disclaimer.
Spam – Spam has become a massive issue – statistics reveal it constitutes around 95 percent of emails. Not only are spam mails a hassle, they clog up Internet bandwidth, cost millions of dollars annually to filter, and can be a threat to your child’s online safety.
Criminal Activity – Your child can come into contact with individuals whom he’d probably never meet under other conditions. Teens may participate in collaborative hacking, gaming, transporting of drugs, fraud, and illegal copying of software, music or other copyrighted material. A young child may meet another child or an adult, who gains their trust and recruits them to criminal activity in exchange for money or gifts. Children meet their partners in crime the same way they meet predators: in areas like chat rooms or while playing online games.
Demeaning Sites – Websites that mock other individuals have become immensely popular with kids. We might not think of a website which makes fun of overweight people as a threat to internet safety. However, visiting demeaning sites isn’t just harmless fun. These sites deliver the wrong message – that cruelty to other people based on their appearance is satisfactory and entertaining.
Online security goes far beyond protecting your children from predators and keeping them away from pornography websites.