Teach your children to treat strangers in a chat room just like they would treat them on the street. Since a chat room is open to everyone, it's not a good place for children or adults to provide their address, financial information, or other personal information that they wouldn't want strangers to see. Tell your children to let you know immediately if someone online makes them feel uncomfortable.

• See if the chat room is monitored by whomever operates it and whether any steps are taken to remove people for inappropriate behavior.
   
• Teach your children not to rely on what other people say or even who they claim to be since it may not be true.
   
• Make sure your kids know never to agree to a face-to-face meeting with someone they only know through a chat room.
   
• Be sure your children know never to give out personal information such as name, address, or telephone number while in a chat room.
   
• Teach your children not to use online aliases that reveal their real name, age, or address. For example, a 10 year-old girl named Jane Smith from Austin, Texas, should not choose an online identity like: "Jane10," or "JaneSmith," or "JaneAustin."
  

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Know your legal rights to protect your children's privacy.

Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, Web sites that are directed to kids under the age of 13 must post a notice about the types of information they collect from children, how the information is used, whether it is shared with others, and who to contact at the Web site about children's privacy. With a few exceptions, parents must be notified and agree before the Web site can collect, use, or share their children's personal information.

• Parents of kids under the age of 13 have the right to know what personal information their children are being asked for and how it will be used.
   
• Parents can review that information, determine who can have access to it, and have it deleted if they wish.
   
• To verify that it is the parent who is agreeing to having personal information about the child collected, Web sites must get that permission by mail, fax, or a phone call to a toll-free number.
   
• Web sites can collect a child's email address without a parent's consent in some situations, such as one-time requests for help with homework, as long as the information will then be deleted from their records.
   

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Teach your children to recognize advertising.

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a game or a contest and a sales offer. Children should understand that Web sites that provide entertainment also may want information about them for marketing purposes.

• Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, children under the age of 13 can't be required to give out more information than is reasonably necessary to play games, enter contests, or participate in other activities on Web sites.
   
• Teach your children to carefully read the information they see, and encourage them to show you anything they don't understand or question.
  

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Use software tools to protect your children.

You can get software to block children from accessing specific kinds of Web sites or certain subjects. Your Internet Service Provider also may be able to offer you filtering or blocking programs.

• Filtering software varies, so read the description carefully to determine if the program meets your needs. Information about the effectiveness of different filtering programs may be available from consumer rating services and other resources.
   
• Filtering isn't foolproof, so it's still important for you to talk to your children about the fact that not everything on the Internet meets the values that you set for yourselves.
  

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Check on your children when they're online.

Put the computer in your living room, den, or some other place where you can see what children are doing online. Spend time with children while they're surfing the Internet to see where they go and what they do. Explain to them that not all places on the Internet are designed for younger users. Help your children find appropriate sites to visit.

• Make going online a family activity in which everyone can have fun and learn together.
   
• Even if your children spend their time online without constant supervision, check on them periodically and encourage them to tell you about what they find.
   
• Direct children to safe areas of the Web. The Web is filled with content for kids. Help your children locate material that will educate and entertain them.
   
• Set family rules for Internet use. Talk with your children about your ground rules for use of the Internet. Explain to them that there are places online that you may not want them to visit.
  

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