4. Online Safety for Chat and Instant Messages

What are the privacy and safety concerns for children regarding "chat" and instant message services?

Chat rooms. Chat rooms are enormously popular with children. They enable several individuals to interact with one another in real-time by typing messages onto their keyboards.

The commercial online services AOL, MSN, and Yahoo offer numerous chat rooms that cater to specific interests. Chat is also provided via Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. For more information, visit www.irchelp.org.

Many children report having problems with other users in chat rooms. The most common problems are: profanity; asking a participant for his/her password; asking for personal information such as name, address, phone number, and e-mail address; inappropriate advances; and adults visiting chat rooms set aside for children. (Source: Consumers Union's magazine for children, Zillions, 1996 survey. In 2000, Zillions became "Consumer Reports Online for Kids," www.zillions.org.)

Children can adopt several tactics for maximizing their privacy and safety in chat rooms.

• Participate only in monitored chat rooms.
• Choose a screen name that is used only for chatting and does not contain personal identification.
• Avoid names that attract inappropriate contact such as "sexyteen."
• Do not provide traceable personal information in the profile.
• Never give out personal information such as name, address, phone number, and school name.

Several filtering software programs provide features that they claim can prevent children from transmitting their name and other personal information. However, there is no foolproof way, other than blocking Internet chat room access entirely, to prevent a child from communicating a name and address in a chat room. That's because of the many ways such words and numbers can be spelled. A period can be inserted into a name, and numbers can be spelled out.

Instant messages. A popular form of one-to-one chat is provided by instant messaging (IM) services. Faster than e-mail and cheaper than the telephone, they are used to communicate in real time with friends and family. Many of the same strategies for safe chatting apply to instant messaging:

• Do not put identifying information in the profile.
• Don’t send personal identifying information via messages.
• Click on the option that requires others to get your permission before they can add you to their contact list.
• If participants use the instant message service to transfer files such as music and photos, take precautions to avoid viruses and worms.

Chat room behavior, instant messaging tips, and other Internet safety topics are discussed on the web site Cyber Angels at "Internet 101," www.cyberangels.org/101/index.html and at Wired Patrol's "Internet 101" tutorial, www.wiredpatrol.org/wiredhelp/internet101/index.html.

What can I do if my child is harassed while online, or is subject to inappropriate online behavior?

Instruct your child to tell you about any messages that make them feel uncomfortable or scared. Report harassment to the chat room monitor and the Internet Service Provider. Most services provide a special e-mail address to report problems, for example, abuse@aol.com.

Take advantage of the IM service’s blocking features. Users of AOL’s Instant Messenger service AIM, for example, can "warn" people who are sending them inappropriate messages. Those who get too many warnings are removed from the service. AIM users can also add harassers to their "block list" under the "privacy preference."

If your child receives physical threats or if you suspect that a pedophile is contacting children, contact:

• The local police department.
• The nearest field office of the FBI. Information about the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Program is found at www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/crimesmain.htm.
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 or its online Cyber Tip Line at www.cybertipline.org.

5. Online Privacy and Safety Resources

Several agencies and organizations provide brochures and other resources about Internet privacy and safety, both online and in paper form. To order paper copies, see the postal addresses and phone numbers in the directory at the end of this guide.

The Federal Trade Commission’s Kidz pages are found at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy. Its guide for parents, "Site Seeing on the Internet" is available in paper form too. Some FTC guides are available in Spanish. See the FTC’s mailing address in Section 6, below.

The FTC’s cyber-security web site features Dewie the e-Turtle, at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/infosecurity. Its Spanish language pages are at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/infosecurity/espanol.html.

The GetNetWise web site is a comprehensive resource for parents, sponsored by Internet industry companies and public interest organizations, www.getnetwise.org.

The TRUSTe online privacy guide for parents and teachers is available at www.truste.org/education/users_parents_teacher_guide.html. To order the paper version, see TRUSTe’s address at the end.

I-Safe is a non-profit foundation that teaches Internet safety in the school system. Contact your local principal to implement the I-Safe program in your school district. www.isafe.org.

The Canadian organization Media Awareness Network offers an interactive game for children on its web site and on CD-ROM, "The First Adventure of the Three Little Cyber Pigs: Safety Lessons for the Information Highway," at www.media-awareness.ca/eng/cpigs/cpigs.htm.

The National Consumers League’s brochure, "Essentials for Children Online," is found at www.natlconsumersleague.org/essentials/family.html.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers its guide in paper form and online: "Child Safety on the Information Highway," www.missingkids.org. Its "Child Safety" and "Teen Safety" guides are also available in Spanish.

The Safe Kids web site is a service of newspaper columnist Larry Magid, found at www.safekids.com.

The Wired Safety family of web sites, www.wiredsafety.org and www.wiredpatrol.org, offers a variety of resources for parents, children, and law enforcement. The Wired Kids web site provides tips and games for children at www.wiredkids.org/index2.html.

Are there any special resources for teens?

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA, discussed in Section 2) requires parental consent before web sites can collect data from children. But the law only protects those under age 13. The lives of many teens are closely intertwined with the electronic culture offered by commercial web sites and by Internet services like instant messaging and music sharing.

The Center for Media Education’s 2001 report, "TeenSites.com: A Field Guide to the New Digital Landscape," covers the teen experience from A to Z, www.cme.org. It explores how teens are both shaping and being shaped by their immersion in the digital culture. Marketing to teens is rampant on the Internet. It is common practice for Internet services aimed at teens to offer free products and services in exchange for personal information. As the report explains, there is no such thing as "free."

A growing number of teens are shopping online. While it is beyond the scope of this guide to cover online shopping and e-commerce, the world of online music deserves special attention because of its popularity with teens. The PrivacyActivism web site invites teens to join the character Carabella as she attempts to obtain music on the Internet. The interactive video game highlights the ways that consumers' privacy and fair use rights are being whittled away by digital rights management technologies, online spyware, and data profiling services, www.privacyactivism.org/carabella.

For general information about online shopping, see our Fact Sheet 23, www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs23-shopping.htm.

For a frank discussion of "cyber street smarts" for youth, visit the web site of Cyber Angels, www.cyberangels.org. Its tutorial, "Internet 101," offers no-nonsense tips on a variety of topics that are relevant to teens, including dating services, cyber stalking, e-mail privacy, and the dangers of file sharing.

The Wired Safety family of web sites offers resources for teens at www.wiredteens.org and www.wiredpatrol.org.

Newspaper columnist Larry Magid provides a special section of his SafeKids web site for teens and their parents, www.safeteens.com, including many of his articles on child and teen safety.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provides its brochure, "Teen Safety on the Information Highway" in English and Spanish, and in paper and online, www.missingkids.com.

6. Directory of Organizations

• American Civil Liberties Union. 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10004. DC office: 1400 20th St., NW, Suite 119, Washington, DC 20036. Phone: (202) 457-0800. Web: www.aclu.org

• American Library Association. 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Phone: (312) 944-6780 and (800) 545-2433. Web: www.ala.org

• Center for Democracy and Technology. 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006. Phone: (202) 637-9800. Web: www.cdt.org and www.consumerprivacyguide.org

• Center for Media Education. 2120 L St. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20037. Phone: (202) 331-7833. Web: www.cme.org

• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. P.O. Box 717, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Phone: (650) 322-3778. Web: www.cpsr.org

• Council of Better Business Bureaus. 4200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22203. Phone: (703) 276-0100. Web: www.bbb.org  and  www.bbbonline.org

• Electronic Frontier Foundation. 454 Shotwell St., San Francisco, CA 94110. Phone: (415) 436-9333. Web: www.eff.org

• Electronic Privacy Information Center. 1718 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009. Phone: (202) 483-1140. Web: www.epic.org

• Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection Bureau. 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20580. Phone: (202) 382-4357 and (877) FTC-HELP. Web: www.ftc.gov

• I-Safe America. 5963 La Place Court, Suite 104, Carlsbad, CA 92008. Phone: (760) 603-7911. Web: www.isafe.org.

• Junkbusters. P. O. Box 7034, Green Brook, NJ 08812. Web: www.junkbusters.com

• Media Awareness Network. 1500 Merivale Rd., 3^rd fl., Ottawa, ON K2E 6Z5, Canada. Phone: (613) 224-7721 or in Canada (800) 896-3342. Web: www.media-awareness.ca

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 699 Prince St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Phone: (703) 274-3900. Hotline: (800) 843-5678. Web: www.missingkids.org

• Privacy Activism. 452 Shotwell St., San Francisco, CA 94110. Phone: (415) 225-1730. Web: www.privacyactivism.org

• Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. 3100 5th Ave., Suite B, San Diego, CA 92103. Phone: (619) 298-3396. Web: www.privacyrights.org

• TRUSTe. 685 Market Street, Suite 560, San Francisco, CA 94105. Phone: (415) 618-3400. Web: www.truste.org