You are here: Home / Archives for File Sharing

Protecting Your Children Online

May 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

When it comes to helping our children stay safe, a new place now exists that didn’t exist when you were a child: the Internet. Not only do you have to worry about children being bullied on the playground, but now you have to worry about your child getting harassed on social media websites, receiving sexts (i.e. sexual text messages) and being sent pictures on their phone that are inappropriate. So how can you protect your child online?

Filtering Programs

The first way to protect children while they’re surfing online is to use parental filtering programs. These programs are controlled by the parent, with a password protection so that the programs can’t be overridden by your children. This will protect kids from sites such as pornography. It will also protect them from engaging in activities that are for adults-only, such as poker online. These programs are often included in the web browser, though some are very basic. You can also purchase more advanced programs.

Monitoring Online Activity

No program can replace you as a parent. The best thing you can do is monitor your children’s activity online to see what they are up to. This would include viewing history of online activity after your children have been on the computer and if they’re on Facebook, checking to see what they’ve posted. It also helps to have the computer located in a living room or kitchen where activity can easily be monitored.

It may seem like an invasion of privacy to keep such tight tabs on your kids’ activities online, but it’s about protecting your children from predators and others who might hurt them.

 

Filed Under: Cyper-Bullying, File Sharing Tagged With: , ,

File Sharing Becomes Easier With Social Networking Websites

March 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

File sharing became faster and easier with the help of internet. Now with social networking websites, where there are no limit to file sizes it becomes even easier.  However, care should be taken while sharing personal and official files. Usually official files are sent through emails and are protected by firewalls and other security measures. Personal files such as photos, email id’s and phone numbers are shared through social networking websites. In such cases, file sharing should be done with people known to them. Sharing photographs or personal information with strangers is dangerous and can lead to problems.

There are many crimes reported recently where a person shares photographs and personal details with strangers. These details and photographs are then splashed across various websites causing embarrassment and problems for the person concerned. This is more so with children in western countries who share photographs and other personal details with strangers without the knowledge of their parents or guardians. Online users should be aware that once any personal information or photograph is posted in the internet it will be there forever and anyone can have access to it.

Though there are many filters and privacy settings which an individual can adopt, such crimes are on the rise as many of them accept strangers as their friends and this gives access to their personal information and other files.  File sharing should be done with known friends and family members only. In case of children, file sharing can be done after getting an approval on the content from their parents. Parents should also check whom their children are going to share these file with and on which websites before giving their approval.

Filed Under: File Sharing, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Dangers of Illegal File Sharing

February 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If your child or teenager uses the internet, there is one thing you may have failed to warn them about. File sharing is a common practice, especially among teenagers. In many cases, the files that they are sharing are being shared illegally. This can lead to serious criminal repercussions not only against them, but against you as well.

If you are caught sharing copyrighted files on the internet you could be charged with several different crimes. These charges could lead to thousands of dollars of fines or possibly even jail time.

So, how do you talk to your children about file sharing?  Simple, just tell them not to do it. It is not worth the risk of going to jail or losing thousands of dollars simply to get a free song or see a movie that hasn’t been released on DVD.

Children are very smart and many of them are using complicated file sharing systems or the torrent sites to obtain files for their personal use.

However, just because they are sharing files doesn’t mean it is necessarily illegal file sharing. If they are sharing things like pictures they took, or videos they made themselves, this is perfectly legal. This is only a worry if they are sharing photos or videos that you do not approve of them sharing with their friends and acquaintances.

The easiest way to keep up with what your children are doing on the internet is by not allowing them to get online unsupervised. If you keep the computer in a high traffic, high visibility area they will be less likely to be tempted to engage in risky online behaviors. This will keep them safer and reduce the chances that your family could end up in any danger due to illegal file sharing or other criminal activity online. This may seem complicated, but it is really quite simple to help your child stay out of trouble.

Filed Under: File Sharing, Protection Tagged With: , ,

Keeping Your Kids Safe While They’re Online

January 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Your children are your greatest responsibility. You must keep them safe and protected, and there are only so many ways you can do that. You don’t want to be too restrictive and stop them from having adventures, but you want to restrict them enough that they are kept safe from harm as much as possible. One area where kids can get in trouble easily is the Internet. They can find sites that they shouldn’t be on, and they can end up giving information to people who don’t need it. You don’t want that to happen, naturally, so you need to monitor them online. There are programs you can get that will only allow them to view specific sites, so that’s something to be aware of.

They may not like it, and they may also try to find ways to get around it, so watch out for those kinds of things. Many browsers come with settings that you can adjust to reduce the number of ‘dangerous’ or ‘questionable’ sites people can visit on your computer. Be sure to look into making that adjustment. You can get help with that through the company that makes your Internet browser or through an online tech forum if you’re not sure about the settings. That’s also a good thing to do if you have sites that you go to but that you don’t want your children going to, like those that offer online casino games.

It’s great for adults to play them, though, so you might want to spend some time gambling for fun when your kids are sleeping or doing something with their friends. As long as you play responsibly, you can get a lot of joy out of these kinds of games. It’s a good way to relax and find something quiet to do if you just want to unwind for a little while.

Filed Under: File Sharing, Internet Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Using Social Networks to Bully

December 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The modern day bully does not even have to raise a fist or utter a threatening word. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace make it possible to spread rumors and tease people without ever having to leave their computer. Smear campaigns have been well documented and in some cases have lead to teen suicides and criminal charges.

Internet bullying is tough to police because people can hide behind made up names or nicknames. Anyone can establish a MySpace account or get a Facebook Address and you do not have to use your own name. It is even hard to stop people who use their own names from spreading ugly rumors or disseminating incriminating photos that can be very embarrassing.

The most publicized cases of internet bullying have involved girls who sent a nude photo to a boyfriend only to later have that photo fall into the wrong hands. It may have been an angry boyfriend who sent the photo to his friends after a break up or a jealous girl who got her hands on the image and sent it out with the label slut.

There have even been cases where people used the social networking sites to play a cruel hoax on an unsuspecting person. One of these cases involved Megan Meier who killed herself after news of the prank pulled on her became public. A neighbor of the teen posed as a teenage boy who acted like he was attracted to Megan. Once the woman posing as the boy earned her confidence she began to attack her and make fun of her. The women pulling the cruel hoax was the mother of another girl Megan’s age and that girl and another person got involved in the smear campaign. While the case was investigated by police in Missouri, no criminal charges were ever filed against the people who made up the phony MySpace account.

Filed Under: File Sharing, Internet Tagged With: , , ,