Today’s moms need to defend their children against threats in two worlds: those outside the front door and those on the Internet. Although online resources such as Web logs (or “blogs”) and social-networking sites teach kids how to communicate and express their opinions, they can also expose kids to online predators and scam artists.
Like many moms, Triva Hamilton guided her children from Web site to Web site when they were taking their first steps online. But now that her kids are getting older, “I can’t be in the room every second that the kids are on the computer,” she said.
Instead, Hamilton and her husband have looked to friends and creditable sources, such as www.microsoft.com/athome, to learn more about online threats. They’ve also created strict rules – including no kids online until after dinner, when Mom and Dad are home.
“Keeping kids safe online is like teaching them how to avoid strangers and other potential threats in the physical world,” said Debby Fry Wilson, director of the Security Engineering and Communications Security Technology Unit at Microsoft Corp. Microsoft is one of the...