Q&A with TalkTalk about child internet safety

[RachelMumsnet]

This week TalkTalk, the phone, broadband and TV provider, are sponsoring a Q&A on internet safety. Expert Charlotte Aynsley will be answering your questions on anything from cyber bullying and social networking sites to parental controls and over use of the internet.

Charlotte has a broad range of experience in the field of internet safety, having worked with Government, local authorities and schools on keeping children safe online for over ten years. She also worked with Dr Tanya Byron on her review of Safer Children in a Digital World and has worked extensively with the cyberbullying charity Beatbullying and the online protection agency CEOP.

TalkTalk are sponsoring the Q&A and say "at TalkTalk we believe everyone should be able to enjoy the benefits of the internet without worrying about the safety of their family. But we also know that protecting your children online can be daunting, even as a Mumsnetter. Its why we work hard on educating our customers about internet safety to help them feel more confident protecting their families online, including collaborating with experts like Charlotte. It's also why we built our parental control service HomeSafe, which is built into our network and gives you control over what websites your household can access, across every single device that connects to the internet in your home. HomeSafe is easy to set up and is exclusively available to TalkTalk customers free of charge".

Send your questions to Charlotte before 5pm on Monday 22 October and we'll be linking from this thread to her answers on Wednesday 31 October.

This Q&A is sponsored by TalkTalk.

Hi Charlotte. I was wondering about blackberrys - mine are on theirs all the time. Are there any cyber controls that cover blackberry at all - I read that there weren't and I'm pretty worried now.

Interesting, you seem to keep losing the words 'Talk Talk', Rachel...

I have no questions. Just had to point that out.

My biggest problem is stopping them from just resetting to factory settings including the router , they are just so much more knowledgable than me on how to do these things.

I's like to know how to combat the 'but everyone else's mum lets them'. My dd is 9 and has friends on facebook and twitter as well as moshi monsters etc and they have some cyber-only friends - people they don't know from Adam and are taking on face value that they are kids too.

She knows the dangers (they watched what sounded like a very hard hitting film at school within the past few weeks) but it is so hard being the unfair mum!! The message is not getting through to un-netty parents and it needs to - it's seen as cool, but having a dead or traumatised kid is far from cool!!!

I'm amazed you let you 9 year old daughter have a Facebook account, my two elder daughters now at uni had to wait till they were teenagers before we let them go down that route. My 12 year old son will have to wait for a bit yet, 14 is the recommended/allowed age by facebook I gather.
You say how do I combat 'everyone elses mum', you are the parent, say no if as you say you know the dangers. It sounds as if you're blaming other mums for doing what you are doing, letting your kids do what they want though it can lead to trauma or worse.

Help AgaKhant - your 9 year old has cyber-only friends? I'm really shocked - don't you watch the news?? You need to be firm, stick to your guns and explain why you are limiting their access. My DS was allowed FB this year (just under 13) but only after a serious discussion about the perils of social networking etc.

But back to the OP - I find it very confusing setting up parental controls, and I'm afraid my kids will end up being smarter than me and turning it all off again...I long for a simple system which takes me through things step by step in plain language.

At what age do you allow privacy? I plan to let the dc use email etc on the understanding that I can and will check their emails. But what age should you allow them privacy?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1591597-Moviestar-Planet-automatic-renewal-BEWARE

Does Talk Talk regard Mumsnet as a website that should be accessible to children or not?

I am very concerned that too many parents are relying on parental controls and not sitting down and speaking to their children.

The best protection for children is knowledge, not software.

The home PC can be locked down, the child's iPod have child safety features enabled but once the child leaves the house, you cannot be sure what they are seeing. A friend's house, someone at school who has a mobile phone... kids as young as 11yo are being exposed to porn, some of it hardcore.

I'd like to see more emphasis on how to speak to the kids about these issues, in an age appropriate manner, such as explained on Think U Know website.

Aga
If I were you, I would reconsider your DD's online habits. My DD is 10yo and only allowed to chat to RL friends on Moshimonsters, or on Kik (iPod app). You have absolutely no idea who she is really chatting to.

I also get copies of mails that she receives, and regularly check her sent mails, look at Moshimonsters etc.

I have no idea where to start so some pointers in the right direction would be very much appreciated.

Our ds's are 6 and 4 and don't have any unsupervised Internet access yet, but a supposedly harmless googles images for "cool hot wheels cars" last weekend brought up some pictures that were far from appropriate.

I would like to know more about safety using Apple Mobile devices. I know about the restriction settings, but we share a famly Ipad and it is not practical to have to remember to switch Safari off every time you put it down, I would like a way to restrict what can be browsed in Safari and also in the Youtube app. I have looked into the alternative browser Mobicip, but it sounds as though it would severly restrict normal grownup browsing, which is the main use for our Ipad.

Could I revise my previous question? I realised it's not really appropriate for the way these Q&A pieces work. Here's what I would like to know:

How well does TalkTalk's HomeSafe and other ISP-level filtering services work considering that adults and children need different levels of filtering?

Eg, I want to access Mumsnet. I wouldn't want my pre-teen children to be able to access Mumsnet due to the adult language and explicit sex talk. If I had HomeSafe how could I achieve this?

Is it actually possible to make sure children are safe when more often than not, they know their way around technology better than we do?

I really like the idea of Homesafe and it's great to see Talk Talk doing it's part to help children keep safe while using the internet.
My question is... are there currently any social networking sites around that I should make sure to look out for when my children are browsing the web? I often hear about websites like omegle which seem harmless but I know are being misused by adults but it's so hard to keep track of them as they seem to be popping up everywhere!

Thanks!

Why is internet safety not taught at school?

Do you not think it should be part of the curriculum and an important part of teaching children how to keep themselves safe?

Lockitt, Internet safety is already part of the National Curriculum at both primary and secondary school ages. There's an overview of the topics covered here.

Mine are always on at me about having their own email addresses - when do you think a child should be allowed to have an email address?

Hi Charlotte, I'd like to know what your top tips are for keeping children safe online?

The Q&A is now closed. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion and we'll be sending the questions over to Charlotte and linking to her answers from this thread on November 1.

Hello! We've got the answers back now - you can find them here.

Thanks Nancy, and thanks to Charlotte!