I. Christianto, Contributor, Jakarta | Fri, 05/15/2009 1:10 PM
A friend of mine recently quarreled with her boyfriend when he objected to her deleting several messages he had posted on her Facebook wall.
She defended herself, saying she did not want her teenage nieces and nephews who were on her Facebook list of friends to read the messages, which she thought contained inappropriate words.
The couple may continue quarrelling or may reconcile soon, but I think there's a clear message in this: in this era of information technology that has provided the Internet as part of the cyberworld, people, including children, can access anything, intentionally or unintentionally.
Cyberthreats are so cruel as there are always people targeting children. Another cyberthreat is the possibility of children stumbling upon information or contents not intended for their consumption.
Prior to the recent general election in Indonesia, for example, there were a number of pages on Facebook, "attacking", "harassing" and "bullying" particular political parties and their leaders with every imaginable expression. Such pages are normally promoted among members of Facebook. So, you can decide whether to read the strongest and rudest available terms used on the pages with your children or let them discover the "cyberoffenses" or "cyberbullies" by themselves.
That's a simple example of cyberthreats found on popular social networking websites like Facebook. Similar websites also provide various applications, games and quizzes that sometimes have indecent content. Check the outdated Friendster, which is still used by many teens in Indonesia, MySpace, Multiply or other social networking sites. There are many testimonies or greets delivered in particular applications containing indecent material.
Moreover, such pages also provide instant messaging tools that allow users to chat globally in real time, which broaden opportunities for more serious cyberthreats: criminals and pedophiles.
In this information era, the world is rapidly changing. The Internet and telecommunications, for example laptops and mobile phones, present some major challenges, both good and bad of course. Cyberspace also has new risks following the emergence of new devices, such as mobile Internet access, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, chat rooms, multi-player interactive games and web cameras.
Dominiq Tulasi, a lecturer and deputy head of the Marketing Communication Department at Bina Nusantara University's School of Multimedia and Communication in Jakarta, said that the Internet was actually a good thing for children as it could act as an interactive source or library. In this day and age, he added, children or students could be more familiar with digital technology, which was another plus point for them.
Children and young people need to use the Internet for growth and development. Unfortunately, the same information and communications technology driven environment can be a source of worry and abuse, while not all content on the Internet is suitable for children. In the meantime, there are also online threats such as cyber predators, bullies and inappropriate online exchanges.
"Despite the cyberthreats, the Internet can be addictive, so children lose the human touch and social and cultural customs," Tulasi reminded, adding that the role of family was very important.
ICT expert Ario Suryo Kusumo said that schools were able to protect children from cybethreats as they could set various guidelines, regulations and monitoring.
"Families or parents have the greatest responsibility to protect their children. Parents should not be Internet-illiterate.
Children are usually ICT savvy and know their way around better than their parents, even at a pretty young age. So parents need to monitor social networking sites visited by their children, as well as Internet activity and cell phone usage. They also need to be aware of what's being said when children communicate through video game consoles," he said.
According to Ario, there is a way to see what sites are visited even if information in the history file has been deleted. Additionally, parents can also install a filter to block certain sites on their computers. There are also plenty of software programs to choose from that will send a daily email on what sites have been visited on a computer. These programs can even track key strokes, meaning parents can see what their child is typing in chat rooms or in emails.
"I always encourage parents to keep their computer in the family room so that their kids only look at sites that they are allowed visit," Ario said. The family room is where the computer is in the home of Sari Sudanti, mother of three children aged 13, four and three years old.
"I trust my oldest son, who uses the computer for online games and to search for material for school. But he always uses the computer when his father or myself are around. The younger ones use the Internet only with me, mostly to check entertaining and educating contents for kids or babies," she said, stressing that trust is important.
According to the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are over 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide, and more than 400 million of them have broadband access - vastly increasing the online dangers, especially for children. With over 600 million users in Asia, 130 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 50 million in Africa, the Internet is a growing common resource.
Late last year, the ITU launched a campaign called the Child Online Protection initiative to safeguard children, the most vulnerable users of the Internet.
The initiative brings together partners from all sectors of the international community with the aim of creating a safe and secure online experience for children everywhere. The role of schools and families, however, remain in the top rank to be proactive in protecting children from online predators and cyberbullies.
