Your Child and the Internet

The Internet is not a safe place for children, and the library uses both Internet filtering software and staff supervision to protect them.

Pornography

The public computers in Madera County Libraries use software that filters out pornographic and other sites inappropriate for children, but this does not mean that we can guarantee that your children will not encounter pornographic images. No software is 100% reliable.

If your child has an email account, it greatly increases the risk that they will encounter pornography.

Internet Pornography Statistics

Children Internet Pornography Statistics
Average age of first Internet exposure to pornography 11 years old
15-17 year olds having multiple hard-core exposures 80%
8-16 year olds having viewed porn online 90% (most while doing homework)
7-17 year olds who would freely give out home address 29%
7-17 year olds who would freely give out email address 14%
Children's character names linked to thousands of porn links 26 (Including Pokemon and Action Man)

There are 4.2 million pornographic websites (12% of total websites)
There are 372 million separate pornographic web pages.
There are 2.5 billion pornographic emails sent each day (8% of total emails)

Chat rooms

Chat rooms are anonymous, and your children do not know who they are chatting to. Child molesters use chat rooms to meet and prey on your children.

ABC News
WASHINGTON, MAY 17, 2006 – There are as many as 50,000 predators online trolling for child sex victims at any give time,
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they “meet” on the Internet without parental supervision.

Never give out identifying information – name, home address, school name, or telephone number.

Useful Links

ProtectKids

Internet Safety (FBI)

Parents Guide to Internet Safety (FBI)

SafeTeens

CyberAngels

Enough is Enough (Statistics)