How to limit child exposure to Internet vice

• Educate children on how to use the Internet positively and to never give personal information such as contact details, parents’ work details or the name and location of their school without parents’ consent.
• Check with your service provider for age-appropriate parental control devices.
• Bookmark websites that are child friendly and seek help from Internet providers on how to block other unfriendly sites.
• Know children’s friends and who they interact with while online.
• Teach children about the dangers of accepting someone they don’t know in social networks and chat rooms and never to reply to a suspicious looking email or click on a web link contained in one.

Entertainment for children has kept pace with the global technological revolution.

As more Kenyan children become exposed to the Internet, they run the risk of being exposed to vices such as pornography, sexual perversion and crime.

Google is the most visited site in Kenya, but there are other social sites that provide information and networking.

Alexa.com, a website information company, ranks Facebook as the fourth most popular site.

Even with the myriad of benefits that come with the Internet, children’s safety is not guaranteed even while they may surf the web from the comfort of their homes.

Contrary to parents’ expectations, most children do not use the internet widely as a learning tool.

“Child safety is a big concern in Kenya,” said Mr Alex Gakuru, the chairman of ICT Consumers Association of Kenya.

Globally, alarm over children’s safety while venturing into cyberspace is growing.

This year’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was dedicated to protecting children in cyberspace.

According to a recent global Internet survey, over 60 per cent of children and teenagers talk in chat rooms on a daily basis.

Three in four children online are willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.

The survey says that the largest consumer of Internet pornography is in the 35 to 49 age group, while the average age of the first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years.

Up to 90 per cent of eight to 16 year olds watch pornography online.

These findings prompted the International Telecommunications Union, the UN telecoms agency, to launch a blueprint for online child protection last month.

The agency advocates a blend of government-led enforcement, parental control, education and technical controls or filters to tackle issues such as online sexual predators, bullying and temptations of online commerce.

Last year, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) prepared a fact sheet on child safety and internet use, advising parents on steps they should take to protect their children while online.

CCK brought to the fore some of the risks that children may encounter while online such as striking a relationship with grown-ups, who they belief are their age mates.

“If your child tells you about an upsetting message, person, or website, do not blame the child but help him avoid problems in future. Remember, how you respond will determine whether they confide in you the next time they encounter a problem and how they learn to deal with problems on their own,” says the CCK fact sheet.

Downloads of pornographic material by young Kenyans seems to be increasing.

In 2004 an Internet café in Nairobi reported that 12 out of every 20 downloads from a particular server constituted pornography, with most of the computer users being children and young people.

In the US, nearly 50 per cent of all children have access to the Internet at home.

One in five children aged eight has a computer in their own bedroom.

This may be replicated in Kenya in the near future — what with the rapid Internet penetration into homes.

While it is estimated that over 24 million children are online globally, and the number is expected to grow especially in Africa, there are no official statistics in Kenya to show the kind of sites young people visit or the level of abuse encountered online.

“We do not have any statistics that can show the number of children online at any particular day yet, but the number is not big. We do not have to worry at the moment,” said Mr Bitange Ndemo, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication.

CCK says parents should ensure that their children are safe online.

CCK caution

They should also keep informed about what sites the children visit and the people they interact with.

However, CCK cautions that this should not lead parents to stop their children from accessing the internet.

“The fact that crimes are being committed online is not a reason to stop children from using the internet for it would be like telling them to forgo school because students are sometimes victimised or bullied there,” notes CCK in its consumer guide on internet safety of children.

Ms Dorcas Muthoni, the CEO Openworld, a software consulting company, says parents should guide their children and take keen interest in what they do.

“It is advisable to have the computer in an open room with the monitor facing out in order to monitor what your child is surfing,” says Ms Muthoni.

Schools, which rank high in Kenya as a platform for children to access the Internet, should put in place measures to filter unwelcome websites.

Parents too can seek advise from their Internet service providers on the various options available to them to ensure their children’s safety.

Services for rating website content are also available.