With the ever-expanding role of the internet in children's lives, and younger and younger children gaining internet access, there is a need for control of their access to unsafe sites. Studies suggest nearly two-thirds of children now use the internet, which has presented some problems for both internet providers and lawmakers alike (Hertzel, 2000). Some form of control, either in the form of something akin to the television V-chip to limit children's access to certain sites, or some form of regulation on how much information about a child can be collected over the internet by the various websites is needed. Despite passage by Congress of the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and internet tools to restrict access to various sites, there is still concern over the issue of child safety on the internet.
There is also a strong need for more parental control of what sites their children visit on the internet. Unlike television, where the main problem is children=s exposure to unsuitable visual images, the internet exposes them to dangers of solicitations to meet with individuals they know nothing about, and to engage in cyberchat with them about very mature subjects and exposure to child pornography. On various websites which are readily accessible, children are exposed to pornography, hate groups, sites promoting crime and deviant behavior, and foul language (O=Leary, 2000). This paper will look at some of the dangers to children posed by use of the internet and how parents, teachers, librarians and anyone in charge of children using the internet can guard against them.
So widespread has the problem of child safety on the internet become that UNESCO held a conference last year on child pornography, pedophilia, and child sexual abuse on the internet which resulted in an action plan to be implemented by a World Citizen=s Committee on Protecting Innocence in Danger (Aftab, 1999). A North American Action Committee (NAAC...