Internet

BRIEF SUMMARY

Almost all children today have access to the Internet through schools, libraries, community centers, or their home. And most 8 to 18-year-olds, 74 percent, have Internet access from their home computers (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation).  Many schools incorporate the Internet into their curricula and encourage online research for projects. A federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), was created to help protect kids younger than 13 when engaged in online activities. It’s designed to keep anyone from getting a child’s personal information without a parent knowing about it and agreeing to it first.  Congress in 2000 enacted the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The act provides three different types of funding: 1) aid to elementary and secondary schools; 2) Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants to states for support of public libraries; and 3) the E-rate program that provides technology discounts to schools and public libraries.

KEY POINTS

• Bullet 1
• Bullet 2

SHARED WISDOM

• The transfer of handling strangers in “real life” to those in virtual environments is not automatic. It needs to be taught.

RESOURCES

• How To Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students
• FBI Safe Online Searching (SOS)
• NetSmartz (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

CONTACT TOPIC MANAGER

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