Protecting Australian Families Online or Confessions of an Internet Predator. Part 1

The Government has launched a new initiative promoting online safety for children and families.

NetAlert - Protecting Australian Families Online.

Safety on the Internet has now become an issue for our progressive Government and it’s net-savvy leader. Should have seen it coming really. The issue has all the elements that Howard salivates over. It provokes fear in middle Australia, involves an ambiguous threat and is mainly committed by foreigners.

Apparently the pamphlets have arrived in letterboxes around the country. I did not receive one personally, but they are available for download here.

Now while I usually present an air of false confidence when discussing topics wide and varied, the Internet is one where I can truly say I am an authority. I’ve been lurking unsupervised on the net for 14 years or so now. Ever since my friends and I would sneak into the University computer labs and post graphic genital piercing pics into wholesome chatroom discussions about horses. When reviewing material for this post I couldn’t help wondering if I am the kind of person the Government is trying to protect our children from.

So while I was initially very sceptical about NetAlert I can honestly say that I think it is a great initiative. The guide here is a well-written introduction for parents about what exactly lies out there in the big bad interweb. The pamphlet stresses the importance of education and supervision for children and encourages parents to educate themselves about the tools their children are using. I have often thought about how dangerous the web can be for the ignorant user and this is an important first step.

I also applaud them for including mobiles in the discussion. It has been a pet hate of mine how unregulated and exploitative the mobile phone industry has been in this country. From the late night sexy chat adverts on TV to the crazy frog ringtone offers during Saturday morning Video Hits. While not taking the regulatory steps I have been whinging about for years, the Government has at least started talking about the dangers of giving a 12 year old a mobile phone.

The website also stresses the importance of Internet filters, but it does it in a sensible way, in that it is not touted as a silver bullet of Internet safety. I tried out one of these filters, but I’ve decided to separate the review of it into it’s own post, to avoid lumping my criticism of it with the NetAlert program itself. As long as supervision is intrinsically linked to the use of filters I have no problem with them being promoted in the way they are.

But what good is a blog post if you have nothing to complain about? So lets get on to part two where I try to get around the Internet filter.