Danger #4: Pornography and pedophiles

Pornography, known simply as "porn", is rife on the Internet. You’ll often get junk email (SPAM) containing invitations to look at porn sites. Simply ignore it.

And if you accidentally visit a site containing porn, simply close your browser (or restart your PC if you find you can't seem to close all the windows before another one seems to pop up). You may be shocked and sickened by what you’ve seen, but that’s it. Or at least it is normally. You see some sites containing pornography will try to trick you into installing various types of software on your PC (for example you may see a link that says something along the lines of "click here to download a special program that will let you see much more", or in some cases the software will be installed behind your back or without your permission. The two main types of software that get installed are zombie (or trojan) diallers and malware toolbars.

Zombie or trojan diallers make your computer connect to premium rate numbers, often international ones, rather than your normal local rate or freephone number when you connect to the Internet. Often you won't be aware that this is happening until you get your phone bill - which will be much larger than you expected - because they hide their activities by simply hijacking your Internet connection so that when you think you are dialling your usual 0808, 0844 or 0845 dial-up Internet access number to connect to the Internet, you are in fact being forced, without realising it, to dial a premium rate number to do so instead.

Malware toolbars will install in your browser and will often try to force your computer connect to various porn sites when you are browsing the Internet. Some may change your homepage too.

Under certain circumstances porn sites may also try to install other types of malware on your PC, such as backdoor entryways into your PC for hackers, spyware and adware.

The solution to all these dangers is simply not to visit sites containing pornography. In fact we strongly advise you not to. We have no intention of lecturing you on morality, but be warned that the content of many sites is shocking beyond belief, and that downloading or just viewing pornography is also against the terms and conditions of use of most ISPs and indeed may also be a criminal offense depending on where in the world you live.

In addition you should actively protect your PC against trojan or zombie dalliers and other threats. To do so you need to install a good quality anti-virus program, a Firewall, and a malware/adware/spyware removal utility. For more information, and what to do to remove any dangerous diallers or toolbars if they are already installed, please see Danger #1 (Viruses), Danger #6 (AdWare) and Danger #5 (Hackers)

If you believe you have been infected by a Zombie/Trojan dialler and have received a huge phone bill with many calls to premium rate numbers you know nothing about, please contact your telephone service provider. If they don't want to help then you should contact an organisation called ICSTIS, which has a page describing diallers at www.icstis.org.uk/icstis2002/default.asp?node=11#18

ICSTIS also has a form you can use to complain about companies that use trojan/zombie dialler technology at www.icstis.org.uk/icstis2002/default.asp?node=33

 

The danger to kids

Of course the real danger of porn is to children. Kids like to explore the Internet just like they like to explore the real world, and if they are not supervised in some way, they will inevitably come across pornography of some sort. If you cannot be with your kids at all times when they are surfing, we suggest you invest in a product like Net Nanny or Cyber Patrol. These are software products that try to eliminate the possibility of your kids being exposed to pornography by allowing only certain “known to be safe” sites to be viewed in your web browser. Alternatively, Zone Lab's ZoneAlarm Pro with Web Filtering combines a great personal firewall with a facility that allows you to block access to certain types of site. None of these products are complete solutions though - nothing can replace direct parental supervision when it comes to protecting children from the dangers present on the Internet.

Chatrooms can also be dangerous to kids. Chatrooms are basically online areas where everybody connected can hold virtual conversations by sending and receiving text messages (and in some cases sound and video images too). Something like this:

[Timmy] Hi! I’m Timmy. I’m nine. I’m from Alaska. Does anybody want to talk to me?

[LilBeth] Hi Timmy!

[JoBoog] Hey Timmy.

[LooLoo] Hi Timmy. I’m Lucy. I’m nine too! I live in Alaska too! Wanna meet up?

Sounds innocent, doesn’t it? But another danger to kids is the ever present pedophile threat. Timmy and LooLoo could both be innocent little kids living in Alaska. But there’s a good chance that one of them is actually an adult posing as a kid…and you can imagine what could happen if….

So don’t allow your kids to use chatrooms unsupervised. Warn them of the dangers, and make sure they NEVER give out their addresses, telephone number or even their EMAIL addresses in such a place.

Some chatrooms are reasonable safe to use, however. These will be SUPERVISED (also known as moderated) at all times by an employee of the company offering the chatroom service.

Similar technologies to chatrooms but with different aims include IRC and ICQ and various types of Instant Messenger services, and your kids use of these should also be closely supervised.

Less of a danger are online forums or BBS systems. These are basically an electronic version of a cork and push-pin (tin-tack) bulletin board hung on a wall. Users type messages and post them into the forum, and other users can then respond or not as they see fit. Since users will only drop in and read messages that are of interest to them, and since any inappropriate message can be deleted by a moderator once they’ve seen it or been told about it, there is relatively little risk of pedophiles using such areas for their evil purposes. It can still happen though.

So overall we would simply recommend that you try to supervise your kid's use of the Internet at all times, and warn them never to give out their telephone number, postal address or email address to anyone. Also warn them that people may not be who they say they are.

For more information on keeping your kids safe on the Internet, two excellent website to visit are : www.thinkuknow.co.uk and www.parentsonline.gov.uk/safety

On the next page we will talk about Hackers, and the dangers they pose to ordinary Internet users. Click on the Go on to next page link below to read about this, or click on the View Internet Security Index link to go back to the index page

NOTE: What we describe on these pages is merely our opinion of what the most important things you need to know and do in order to keep your Internet experience as safe as possible. You should therefore not treat it as a definitive text on Internet security, nor as being necessarily 100% accurate, but instead simply as a general guide