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Surfing the World Wide
Web opens the viewer to a world of possibilities:
information, entertainment, and communication. With
these possibilities comes a host of issues. The
following sites offer valuable information concerning
your privacy on the Internet, personal safety, the
filtering debate, cookies, spam, and other concerns
from a variety of perspectives.
Would you like a
child or young adult you know to realize the importance
of safety guidelines on the Internet? The Ocean
County Library has two new videos to help you.
In these short tapes,
children and young adults present dramatic scenarios
that emphasize important information and guidance
for their peer groups.
The
Internet: Behind the Scenes
is a five-minute video intended for grades 3-5.
The second video, The Internet:
A Lesson Learned runs
approximately 8 minutes and is targeted toward young
teenagers.
The videos are the result of a cooperative effort
among individuals from The Ocean County Commission
on Exploited and Missing Children, the Ocean County
Sheriff’s Department, the Ocean County Department
of Corrections, and the Lacey Township Board of
Education, the Jackson Township Board of Education,
the Ocean County Information System and the Ocean
County Library. The group worked with students and
educators from Ocean County College, the Lacey Township
schools and the Jackson Township schools.
Both of these videos
are now in the library’s collection and available
for viewing. Check
your local branch for copies and
availability.
If you are new to
the Internet, or have numerous questions on a variety
of topics, try these sites. They are excellent starting
points for those wanting more information about
the Internet.
 The
Living Internet
Have a question about the Internet? The Living
Internet can probably answer it! Topics include
the Internet, the WWW, E-mail, Chat, and Mailing
Lists, among others. Each section explains how it
was started, how it works, security issues, and
why you may wish to try it out.
Privacy
on the Internet
This long and informative essay posted by Delphi,
a site allowing Web users to create online forums
for discussion, delves into privacy issues related
to the Internet. This site attempts to shed light
on several of the more disconcerting aspects of
Internet privacy which have made headlines, including
credit card theft.
Internet
Fraud Complaint Center
“The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC)
is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center
(NW3C).” This web site allows you to register
complaints of Internet fraud and crime including
child pornography, internet auctions, and computer
intrusion.
Cybercrime.gov
This section of the Federal Justice Department
deals with the new frontier of cyber crime, such
as identity theft, electronic privacy, computer
search and seizure, hackers, and other computer
crimes. This is an excellent site to read about
current legislation and conduct of the Justice Department
in dealing with cyber crime. The site includes a
chart
of who to contact for assistance with different
types of cyber crime.
View Ocean
County Library’s policy
for public access to the Internet.
PEP:
Parental Controls/Internet Safety Products
Created by PEP, (Parents, Educators, and Software
Publishers) this site compiles comparisons of different
filtering/blocking software programs. A short overview
of features, pricing, platform, method, publisher
and links to the products’ Web pages are included.
Keep in mind that this site has not been updated
since May 1999!
Parental
Filtering Software- ZDNet
Presented in 1999 by ZDNet and PC Magazine,
each software product included is described in terms
of what it offers, its purpose, how it filters out
sites, what it blocks, how easy it is to set up,
how efficient it is, and how much control you have
over its settings.
Both Netscape
and Internet Explorer 5.0 allow the user to set
up password protected controls over the types of
sites that may be accessed at your home computer.
In addition, a number of search engines now allow
the user to filter their search results. Try one
of the following, or check out Safekids.com list
of child
safe search engines.
AltaVista
AltaVista has a family filter that allows you to
set guidelines for what to filter out of your search.
This link takes you directly to the AltaVista family
filter set up page. Their FAQ
describe in detail what they filter out.
Lycos
Lycos offers a "searchguard"
for those wishing to place parameters on what types
of sites will be returned.
CAUCE:
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail
This nonprofit volunteer organization of netizens
seeks to halt SPAM, unsolicited commercial e-mail,
through activism and legislation. Their FAQ
on Spam is helpful, as are their tips on avoiding
or halting spam.
DMA’s
E-mail Preference Service
The DMA, or Direct Marketing Association, is the
oldest and largest trade association for businesses
that use direct marketing and database marketing.
Simply register for this service, and you may limit
some of the spam you might receive. All members
of the DMA who wish to use unsolicited spam must
first purge their lists of any consumer who has
signed up for this service.
Cookie
Central
Exactly what is a "cookie?" Some Web sites
will put a cookie on your hard drive, so that they
can track how often you visit their site. Cookies
also remember any passwords you might need for the
site, so that you do not have to retype them. Sound
good? Check out this site for an overview of how
a cookie is written, where it is placed on your
computer, and how to delete it.
Internet
Safety...
The
Children’s Partnership: Parents’ Guide to
the Information Superhighway
Many parents may feel that their children know more
about the Internet than they do. This guide seeks
to narrow that information gap, with essays and
advice for learning how to use the Internet, and
helping your children to have a positive, informative
experience when surfing the Net.
The
Internet Detective
This
online tutorial contains overviews, exercises, examples,
and quizzes that provide an introduction to the
issues of information quality on the Internet and
teach critical evaluation skills. There's an excellent
module on URLs and deconstructing them. Free registration
is required to set a cookie that will allow users
to return to the site as necessary and work through
the tutorial at their own pace (straight through
takes 1 to 3 hours). Developed by staff at The Institute
for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT) at the
University of Bristol.
A
Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety
Posted by the FBI, this resource offers parents
advice on protecting their children from becoming
victims online. This resource lists signs that your
child might be at risk while using the Internet,
how to minimize your child’s risk while using
the Internet, and what to do if you suspect your
child is being contacted by a sexual predator online.
It is available in both English
and Spanish.
Safekids.com
Created for
parents, Safekids seeks to assist parents in every
facet of Internet use. Information about filtering
software and child safe search engines is included,
as well as Child
Safety on the Internet,
an essay on the benefits and risks of the Internet,
and how parents may become better informed about
both. Rounding out the page are links to numerous
articles
in the media about the Internet, as well as a Family
Contract for Internet Use
that parents and their children can pledge, sign
and post. A separate
section for parents of teenagers
is included.
CyberSavvy
This comprehensive page for families contains
three guides: one for parents,
one for children,
and one for educators.
Each guide offers a basic overview of how to navigate
the Web. The Guide
to Parenting Skills for the Digital Age
seeks to explain what the Internet is, and how parents
can use the Internet to their full advantage. Issues
such as filtering software, privacy, and cyber-stalking
are discussed. Links to other online resources round
out this helpful section. The section for children
discusses Internet safety, and offers a CyberSavvy
Family Pledge. The section for educators seeks to
assist educators in helping families learning about
the Internet. It also suggests reference resources
helpful for the classroom.
Get
NetWise
Get Netwise offers information for families wanting
to know more about what is on the Internet, and
how they can control it. It covers e-mail, chatting,
instant messages, filtering out pornography and
violence, and how to report trouble. Articles are
written for a variety of age groups.
Web
Wise Kids
The
mission of this Web site is to act as an Internet
safety resource center for parents, teachers and
children. It strives to encourage the entire family,
especially those new to the Internet, to discover
the wonderful opportunities in cyberspace. It is
also designed to help parents and teachers equip
themselves and their children for the possible dangers
that lurk in cyberspace, and to prepare them to
make good choices when confronted with difficult
or confusing situations online.
Surf
Monkey’s Parents’ Internet Resource Center
A great all around
site for parents. Beyond learning more about the
basic concepts of the Internet, this resource has
created a kids’ web browser and parental control
filtering free for downloading.
Family
Contract for Online Safety
There
are lots of "rules" on how kids (and parents)
can use the Internet. The most important rule is
that parents and kids agree to a set of criteria.
Here are two pledges that kids and parents can take.
Iggy
& Rasper’s Internet Safety Game
An interactive quiz designed for young
children that reinforces safety guidelines on using
the Internet.
Internet
Schoolbus Kids’ Corner
Created by the Internet Schoolbus, Kids’
Corner offers safety tips when surfing the ‘Net,
as well as links to some cool sites online.
PBS
Kids Tech Know
Learn Internet safety, and earn your Web license
at the same time from this site!
The Ocean County Library provides
customers with access to the information on the Internet
as part of its mission to provide a wide range of
resources which serve the current and future informational,
educational, and recreational needs of the county's
population.
The Internet is an unregulated medium.
As such, while it offers access to a wealth of material
that is personally, professionally, and culturally
enriching to individuals of all ages, it also enables
access to some material that may be offensive, disturbing,
inaccurate and/or illegal. It is not possible for
the library to provide the same selection criteria
as is used for other materials; therefore, the library
does not assume responsibility for the content of
material on the Internet. The viewing and use of
materials on the Internet is the responsibility
of each individual user, and the responsibility
of parents or guardians for their children.
Locations with separate children's
rooms or designated children's areas will provide
filtered access to any graphics-based Internet PCs
which are located in those areas. Categories which
are filtered include pornography, sexuality/lifestyles,
adult entertainment, and illegal activities. Filtering
does not guarantee that offensive sites will be
blocked, and children will not be denied access
to unfiltered PCs elsewhere in the library.
REVISED and APPROVED:
OCEAN COUNTY LIBRARY COMMISSION - October 16, 2001
Please Note:
The Ocean County Library
requires registration and a form of ID in order
to use the public internet computers.
Got
questions? We have answers!
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