Understand the Importance of E-Safety for Children and Young People

Understand the importance of e-safety for children and young people

7.1
|ISSUES |RISKS |POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES |
|Being online |Theft of personal data |Computer criminals can use the data to spy on or blackmail users, hijack their online accounts (including bank |
| | |accounts), spread rumours, or operate under the victim's identity. |
| | | |
| | |Children could witness websites that may contain violence, adult language or graphic sexuality. |
| |Exposure to inappropriate content | |
| | |Children can be lured, blackmailed, abused or kidnapped by the predator in the real world. |
| | | |
| |Adults pretending to be minors to establish a close relationship | |
| |with a young web user | |
|Mobile phone |Latest technology phones |Loss of mobile phone through theft (mugging or assault.) |
| | | |
| |Health risks |The Department of Health issues guidelines on the use of mobile phones by young people under 16. This is because the|
| | |head and nervous system are still developing in the teenage years and so children are more vulnerable than adults. |
| | |Children under 16 should be discouraged from non-essential calls. |
| | | |
| | |The UK Chief Medical Officer has advised parents not to let children use mobile phones. |
| | | |
| | |Abusive phone calls, text or picture messages, embarrassing or violent videos. |
| | | |
| | | |
| |Cyberbullying | |

|AREA |WAYS OF REDUCING RISKS |
| |Ensure children do not publish personal information like their location, email address, phone number or date of birth. By getting a child to select the strongest |
| |privacy setting available when they creating their account will minimise risk to their personal information. |
| |Keep a record of anything abusive or offensive children receive and report any trouble to the site management (most sites have a simple reporting procedure, normally |
|Social networking |activated by clicking on a link on the page.) |
| | |
| |Use a child-safe search engine. |
| |Child-oriented search engines work like regular search engines by helping kids locate information on the Internet, except they also provide special features to |
| |protect children from inappropriate material. |
|Internet use | |
| |Ensure that the computer is used in an area where parents are close-by. |
| |Children should be encouraged to explore the internet independently - without actually being alone. Ensure the computer is in a family room with the screen facing |
| |outward. Children are more likely to ask questions if the parents are near-by, rather than in the privacy of their bedroom. |
| |Reduce risks of identity theft by only shopping at secure websites. These can be identified by “https” at the start of the web address; an unsecured website address |
| |begins with “http”. An image of a padlock in the browser is also used to identify a secure website. |
| |Do not share personal information. Businesses may sometimes request personal information which is not required to complete the transaction. Get children to think |
| |about the information they are asked to provide and whether the business needs to know those details. |
|Buying online | |
| |The UK Department of Health recommends that children under 16 should use mobile phones for short, essential calls only to reduce the risk of harm from electromagnetic|
| |radiation which may lead to brain tumours and other cancers. Phones should be held slightly away from the head and text message should be sent instead of making |
|Using a mobile phone |calls. |
| |Ensure children use their phone in a safe place. Pedestrians using mobile devices are more likely to step into a crowded street and injure themselves by tripping or |
| |running into things because they are not paying attention to where they are walking. |
| | |
|Using a mobile phone (cont) | |