The internet was once the domain of the super-geek, usually males of a certain age who were well versed in technology and embraced the new phenomenon. However, in recent years, the explosion in PC owners, and the availability of Broadband access around the world, has made the Internet a place for everybody, including potentially at risk youngsters.

There have been increasing fears in recent months over how much access kids have to the Internet, and what dangers could be lurking there. While the majority of us adult browsers are harmless individuals, there are obviously some people who you wouldn’t necessarily want your kids to have any kind of contact with.

Social networking sites can be the most risky, and so parents are becoming more wary about giving their kids around the clock access to sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. According to a new survey from online information firm Garlik, this hasn’t stopped 23% of youngsters aged between 8 and 12 from accessing such sites. This is despite most of the sites requiring minimum age restriction of 13 to 14.

26% of kids aged between 8 and 15 also admit to having complete strangers on their social networking friends list, while 20% have actually met up with people they only knew previously through the Web.

As well as asking kids about their Web browsing activity, over 1000 parents in the UK were quizzed about what they were doing to keep their kids safe online. The research shows that 72% of all parents openly admit to snooping on their kids online behaviour.

25% secretly log in to their children’s social networking accounts, while 26% have set up their own account on the same site to keep an eye on what is happening. 89% of parents polled have spoken to their kids about the dangers lurking online.

Tom Ilube, Garlik chief executive, said:

That parents feel compelled to monitor their children on this scale should send a powerful message to the big social networking sites.

With three quarters of a million under-age users in the UK, Facebook, MySpace and Bebo need to take their own age restriction policies far more seriously to help allay parents’ real fears.

I personally think the onus is all on the parents, to educate and keep an eye on their children. MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and other social networking sites really have only limited powers and resources when it comes to policing their communities. The fact that 9 out of 10 parents have at least warned their kids that not everyone online is a good person, is at least a start.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 7:39 pm under Internet, Opinion.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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