1. Establish guidelines for Internet use
with your parents or another adult.
Before you go online, decide how much time
is okay for you to spend on the Internet each day and figure out what you can
and cannot do. After you get more familiar with the Internet, you and your
parents can talk again and change the guidelines.
Post them next to the computer for easy
reference.
2. Don't share your password with anyone
else.
3. Before you share any information about
yourself on the Internet, get your parents' permission.
4. Double-check the URL (the address of the
Web site) before hitting the Enter key. Make sure the spelling is right.
This will help ensure you go to the site
you want, and not some other place.
5. Check with your parents or another adult
you trust before going into a chat room. Different chat rooms have different
rules and different types of people going to them. You and your parents want to
make sure it is an appropriate place for you before you enter.
6. If something you see or read online
makes you uncomfortable, leave the site. Tell a parent or a teacher right away.
7. Never send a picture of yourself (or
anything else) to someone in e-mail unless your parents say it is okay.
8. If you receive unwanted, offensive,
mean, threatening, or harassing e- mail, do not respond to it. Tell your
parents or another adult right away.
9. Remember: not everything you read on the
Internet is true.
10. Don't give out your age without
checking with your parents first.
11. Never give out your full name (first
and last). Don't give out your first name without checking with your parents or
another adult first.
12. Never give out your home address over
the Internet.
13. Ask your parents or an adult before
signing up for anything online.
14. Don't give out your credit card number
(or anyone else's) without permission from a parent.
15. Remember, when you are online, what you
do is up to you. Don't do anything you don't want to do.
16. Don't open files or e-mail from someone
you don't know. You don't know what might be inside—the files could contain a
computer virus or offensive material.
17. Keep the computer in a common space,
like the family room, den, or living room.
18. Never agree to meet someone you met on
the Internet in person without your parents' permission. You should never meet
someone you met online alone. If you do set up a meeting with an online friend,
meet in a public place and go with your parent or guardian.
19. Remember that any information you share
about yourself can be seen by anyone who is online.
20. Don't give out your phone number.
21. Talk to your parents (or your teacher
or another adult) about the kinds of places you go and things you do and see
when you are online.
22. Pick a name—different from your real
name—to use online.
23. Before you go into a public area, like
a chat room or discussion forum, decide with your parents if it is okay to give
out your e-mail address.
24. If someone online asks you too many
personal questions, be suspicious.
Stop talking with them.
25. Don't give out the name of your school.
26. Always remember that people online may
not be who they say they are. It is very easy for people to pretend to be
someone they are not.
27. Don't do things online that you
wouldn't do in real life.
28. Be careful when someone offers you
something for free, like gifts or money. You don't know what their motives are.
Decline the offer and tell your parents.
29. Treat other people as you'd like to be
treated. Never use bad language or send mean messages online.
30. The "off" button is always
there. Use it if you need to. You don't have to stay online if you don't want
to.
Source: Microsoft Corporation
