Electronic access to online media is constantly changing. New technologies bring unique and unprecedented dangers and risks to children. The Holy Bible says: “Wisdom is for protection the same as money is for protection (Ecclesiastes 7:12) – “You can get anything with wisdom or with money, but being wise has many advantages.” Help Children to be wise as well as understand how to avoid the dangers of surfing online is imperative.
The Internet should not be a tool to threaten and endanger the safety of anyone, much less… children. Have a basic understanding of how the Internet works and the use of instant messaging, browsing web pages or participating in other online activities; do not certify that one is too old or uneducated to learn. Children with Internet access need adult supervision. Parents really need to keep up with internet trends and technology. Parents should remember: Many young people access the cloud through cell phones, game consoles, and other portable devices.
Young people are taught to drive a car safely. Parents can take a similar approach with the use of the Internet. You cannot forever restrict your children from operating a motor vehicle, but you can restrict their access to and use of the Internet. Although both activities are dangerous, monitoring a child’s use of the Web while letting them know that you are doing so is not an invasion of their space or an invasion of privacy: the World Wide Web is a public forum. In the United States, the FBI constantly reminds parents keeping or their children’s access to online accounts, contacts, and email on a random basis. A UK cloud study has revealed that “Nearly 1 in 7 young people between the ages of 8 and 20 have internet access in their bedroom. Many scholars and children’s advocates advise parents to keep the computer in a busy area of the home This practice can help control Internet activity and can encourage children to avoid unwanted websites.
Decisions involving children’s Internet use, the amount of time, and the sites they can and cannot visit could provide central guidance and a firm understanding of the risks and dangers of the cloud.
The IIOF (International Institute of Health) launched the tracking of the health of more than 100,000 American children from birth to 21 years of age in 2009. This study has been collecting data with a wide variety of tools. Some 8,000 tablets were used by and for study staff who profess to transmit data securely to the central coordination center via VPN (virtual private network). This data will be stored in Oracle and SQL Server silos. “The size of the core database is bound to be many terabytes,” Sarah Keim, the studio’s deputy director of operations and logistics, says in an interview with Information Week magazine, as reported by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee.
The values taught -and the examples set- will go much further in the protection of children with access to the Cloud. Monitoring and tracking will only go so far. An open line of communication with children is the best line of defense against the ravages of the Internet. Explaining the dangers of “bad” people and defining pornography are several reasons why you should never communicate with strangers.
Internet software and program controls are not foolproof. Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) may offer parental controls that act as “guardrails” (Ruby on Rails Abbreviated as RoR, Ruby on Rails (also known as Rails) is an open source web application framework, written in Ruby ( object-oriented programming language), for developing database-backed web applications. RoR closely follows the Model-View-Control (MVC) pattern, where models, views, and controllers are completely seamlessly integrated) attempts to block inappropriate “pop-ups” and access to harmful sites. Various other software programs also prevent children from divulging personal information, ie names and addresses.
“IIOF study teams collect and analyze genetic, biological, and environmental samples from children of all racial groups, income and education levels, and locations,” says McGee. “The IT architecture must support about 1,000 investigators and federal personnel at more than 100 locations. It must meet federal data security and management standards, but it must be reasonably easy to use,” Keim says.
VPN and .NET applications are being used for the study project. Westat’s Best-or-breed application modules serve as the focal point of the research, along with a variety of other vendors, ie Booz Allen Hamilton and IMS Integrator.
The reality, of course, is that you cannot monitor children when they are away from home. Therefore, it is important to instill proper values in children so that they make sound decisions when they are not in the presence of adult supervision, governing adults should clearly explain what the consequences will be if the rules regarding the Cloud are broken. If it is violated, the application of the rules, sanctions and restrictions will be implemented.
Until next time…