The Internet can be a very scary place for parents and children. I agree with the following sentiment, but there is a lot to hope for:

“From my perspective as a parent, I’m horrified by what comes in” to her three children’s e-mail accounts, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said during a news conference Thursday. “This will put an end, we hope, to inappropriate e-mail getting to our children.”

I like the intent of this effort, but I don’t see it making much of a dent in the problem.
My thoughts on what they’re saying:

• “The new law bans sending messages to children related to such things as pornography, illegal or prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, firearms or fireworks.” But what about the rest of the SPAM? What about the unsolicited emails trying to sell them products, getting them to give up other information, getting them to click on links and install spyware or viruses?
• Signing up for the registry is free, and parents soon will be able to add their children’s instant message IDs, mobile phone numbers, fax numbers and pager numbers. Why limit it to just children? I wonder if adults could also benefit by entering their own ID’s and numbers, by claiming that those ID’s and numbers belong to their children?
• E-mail senders must comply with the new law by Aug. 1. Violators face up to three years in jail or fines up to $30,000 if convicted of breaking the law, and could face civil penalties of up to $5,000 per message sent. The Internet is a global network; these laws are state laws. Not sure how they’re going to be able to enforce this with emails sent from Russia, China, etc. I think that the effort is well-meaning and headed in the right direction, but I think we’re a long way off from an effective implementation.

I would suggest the following to parents if they want to protect what’s coming into their children’s inboxes.

• Use a service that has decent antivirus and bulk mail sorting features. I’m using Yahoo! Mail and it seems to work well.
• Use a service that let’s you throw away emails if they start getting too much SPAM and if the filter isn’t doing it’s job effectively. If things get out of hand, create a new email address for your child.
• Create email addresses that are unique and not likely to be previously owned. Don’t use DannyM. Use DannyM5671 or DannyDog2.
• Talk to your kids and try to explain that giving out their emails out can be dangerous and will result in problems where they get lots of misleading emails trying to rip them off. Inevitably, your child will want to sign up for things like Lego’s game site or American Girl doll things. Have your kids involve you in those signups so that you can ensure that they are legitimate

What other things do you do to protect your children online? Leave a comment below.

Links

Protect MI Child

Utah Child Protection Registry

Michigan Aims to Block Spam Sent to Kids, AP News