Webpage Safety Guidelines, ©TTN 2006

Webpage Safety Guidelines

Texas Teacher Network

Help your child set up their website. Know where they are setting it up, as well as the guidelines set up by the webserver, etc. to keep your child safe. Most reputable sites will not allow a child to set up a site without an adult.
Know what material is going on your child's page. For older children, this means monitoring the text and their links periodically (The internet is constantly changing, and what was a kid-friendly url last month may not be next month). For younger children, make sure there are no references to school names, phone numbers, etc.
Set up a screen name for your child. This can be the name used to set up an email account, etc. This helps you avoid using your child's real name on their website.
Keep personal information general. The name of your child's school and classroom teacher, your home phone number, address, etc. make it all too easy for someone to track down your child and learn their daily routines.
Keep pictures of your children off of their website. Many of us have scanners, digital cameras, phones, etc. We love showing off those cute pics of our little ones. However, the safest way to transfer pictures of your children is via personal email with known friends and family. That way, you know who is getting your child's picture. Many families have unlinked family photo albums that they give the urls out to trusted friends and family. It is not linked from their website.
Make sure that the guestbook you set up has an approval option on it. This way, you can preview and screen all guestbook entries before they are shown to the public. This will save you from having to delete porno banners, links, messages, etc. from your child's guestbook after they have already been viewed by everyone visiting your child's website.
Be aware of blogs, journals, MYSPACE, etc.. Periodically check them to make sure that content is appropriate. Remember, keep personal information private, your real-life friends already know where you go to school. Don't put ANYTHING out on the Word Wide Web that you would NOT want your friendly, neighborhood pedophile to read.
Always check your web pages to make sure that your child's full name isn't included under 'author'. If you want to be acknowledged as being the author of the site, use a nickname or first name only. If you don't care about the acknowledgement, remove the 'author' lines all together.