Keeping the Giblets safe on the Internet

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NIKON D70 - 1/250 sec, f4.5 at 40mm

Sarah has all of a sudden started to take a real interest in her PC and the Internet. She is emailing her friends in the USA most days and is spending lots of time on Trollz. In addition to the PC, she's also on the phone to her friends from school while they play Trollz together. I've already started thinking about another phoneline into the house. Which could also mean lots of other stuff is, like Asterisk. Oh yeah, a PABX in the house means more toys

Trollz in particular has meant we've had to start teaching her about the rules of Internet use because it requires registration, a login and password. She's had to learn what passwords and logins mean. Which means learning about security and privacy and everything that goes along with giving out personal information on the net.

I'm luckier than most parents as I understand the net. Teaching that stuff to a 9 year old girl though is proving tougher than I thought it would be. So far she just thinks the web is a cool place where you can play games. Just tonight one of her US friends sent her a chain email asking her to forward it to 10 of her other friends. It had all sorts of warnings about what might happen to her if she didn't do it.

All this has started to make me think about the future and the girls use of the internet. Having the email server at home means I can keep an eye on what they are doing with email. I can proxy their complete web access through the server and monitor the sites they are visiting. I know that IM log files exist and where to find them to make sure they are OK in IM land. I have 2 popup blockers installed and I weekly scan their PC for adware and scumware.

But when does "keeping an eye on them" turn to snooping? I guess at some point I have to let them do their thing hoping we've taught them enough and to not talk to dirty old men. It could be worse I guess. We could have had boys and be stressing about how much porn they are digesting every day.

The photo for tonight is a battered fence around a grave at the Symond Street Cemetery. God only knows how it got so bent. But the photo has had the full works done to it thanks to Seriocomic. Crop, Velvia, Shadow Recovery, Noise Reduction, Sharpen. They are sweet tools, thanks for the help Mike.

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Posted: Friday, 28 October, 2005 21:17

Captured: 2005:07:17 13:43:49

Add your own comment

  • no wucking forries...
    seriocomic - Saturday, 29 October, 2005 0:00
  • I hope you can remember back to the days when your mother used to ask you where you were going and what you were doing so when Sarah shrugs her shoulders and looks daggers at you you will understand.
    ma - Saturday, 29 October, 2005 0:19

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