Parent and Child Talk About Web Safety

Child: Wait a minute... I thought you said it was my turn to go online.

Parent: It is your turn. Look, I've already logged onto your favorite website.

Child: Well, what are you looking for?

Parent: I already found it. It's the section here, that talks about protecting your privacy.

Child: Protecting my what?

Parent: Your privacy, honey. Your personal information. You know, things like your name, address and telephone number. Your password and your email address are private too. See, this part of the website says they can't ask you to give information about yourself without your parent's permission. This way, you can check with me before you give a website any information.

Child: I never saw this on my website before.

Parent: That's because there's a new law that protects children under age 13 while they're online.

Child: Wow! So if all these websites, like, protecting me, you'll just have to give me more time online for surfing, right?

Parent: Hmm... we'll have to see about that later.

Announcer: For information on protecting your child's privacy online, call the Federal Trade Commission toll-free at 1-877-FTC-HELP. Or visit www.ftc.gov.

January 2002