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There are many potential risks for minors when online. Often times while exploring a website or social media, children will be confronted with vulgar content, such as inappropriate language. Furthermore, the potential exists for children to be exposed to pornographic content. Listed below are some common online dangers.
Online Danger | Characteristics |
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Phishing | Scam in which a user is tricked into providing personal information. Usually involves an email, website, or online form that appears to be from a legitimate source (bank, government institution, etc.) soliciting a user for personal information. |
Cyberbullying | Online bullying that takes place via social media, message boards, forums, and email. Cyberbullying usually refers to online bullying of children and teenagers, but anyone can be a victim. Those who would bully others face-to-face are likely to bully others online as well. However, due to the distance/lack of physical connection between a cyberbully and their victims, some people, who might not bully someone otherwise, are emboldened to bully others online. |
Cyberstalking | Online harassment that usually involves the communication of threats online through social media, forums, email, and message boards. Cyberstalking is similar to cyberbullying, but the main difference is that cyberstalkers are unusually obsessed with their victims, and seek to collect any information about them. |
Malware | Malicious software used to launch attacks on a computer system. Some attacks include malicious software that is designed to steal personal information from users; examples of malware include Trojan horses, worms, and viruses. |
Inappropriate Content | Term used to describe posting text messages, videos, and photos that may be inappropriate for certain situations or age groups, i.e., children, professional situations. |
Web Sites and Chat Rooms |
As websites are the primary vehicle through which information is delivered online, children must be shown how important it is to protect their personal information and the information of their family and friends. Many child-oriented websites solicit information from kids in surveys and forms in exchange for prizes, and get them to register online for fan clubs. In chat rooms, sharing their gender, age, and favorite hangout could seem harmless, but predators can easily use this information to locate and harass the child. Predators may even masquerade as children in order to gather information, and ultimately meet their unsuspecting victims. With websites and chatrooms, the potential does exist for kids to pretend to be older than they actually are, not thinking about the potential results of such actions. Chatrooms and online forums are typically where children get into online fights or become the target of bullying via email, chat, and instant messaging. |
Blogs and Social Networking | Blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, and YouTube are places where children sometimes share too much information — not only names and addresses, but also personal photos that sometimes show illegal acts, such as underage drinking. Minors should be instructed to share their blogs or online profiles with a parent or guardian so content can be filtered for appropriateness. You can also use Google, along with the search tools on social networking sites, to search for profiles your child may have posted. Use your child’s full name, phone number, and other identifying information. |
Peer to Peer (P2P) File Sharing Software | Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing invites new privacy problems. These types of programs allow people to browse and download files from Internet-connected personal computers of anyone else who uses the same program. This makes it easy for cybercriminals to spread viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware. Children can also accidentally download inappropriate content, such as pornography, that is labeled misleadingly. |
As the popularity of PCs increased and the Internet evolved, the need to protect minors utilizing the Internet became increasingly evident. To do this, the U.S. government drafted legislation to address the access that children would have to inappropriate content, as well as legislation to address websites that collect information from children.
Source: Derived from Chapter 12 of “Information Systems for Business and Beyond” by David T. Bourgeois. Some sections removed for brevity. https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Information%20Systems%20for%20Business%20and%20Beyond/Textbook.html