You've seen it, we've seen it, cyber-bullying is around the corner.
Facebook and Twitter, as any other communication platforms, are as many ways to find yourself the lucky owner of an official stalker.
While it's worthy of all your concern as parents or siblings, it's sadly not the only thing you should worry about.
Here are some of the negative aspects of the Internet and how to prevent your little ones from bumping into them.

What is seen cannot be unseen.

The most disturbing event I've had to face so far is friend being tagged in a photo depicting a beheaded corpse.
These pictures are unfortunately very common, and very easy to find.
What to do then?

• Set up search filters
  They are available for Google, Yahoo and Bing

• Be informed. 
  4chan (really [nNumber]Chan), Encyclopedia Dramatica and a load of Shock Sites are already sources of major freak out for many grown ups, you don't wanna know what they can do to a 10 years-old.

• Don't be fooled
  Even Wikipedia has some pretty graphic explanations about sex-related topics (that's the fun side, don't go near the dermatology section).
  

But you can monitor all you want, you know kids are pretty smart, they'll do anything to access the kind of pictures/videos that will make them stop believing in Santa. So talk to them, be open and be with them when they access the web.

This crazy little thing called P2P

I'll be brief: Either do it yourself, or ban it. You know this pre-release of the latest blockbuster you just downloaded? You know you feel stupid when you discover that, really, it's a porn flick. Your little one will come back with a lot of question about Iron Man if you don't take care.

We're all friends, right?

Well, no. Remember, Internet was created by the people, for the people. It's been created by geeks, who are known to have, sometimes, a pretty sick humor (I should know). And even if yes, it's for the people, as far as I know it still includes the percentage that's nuts enough to come out with the 47 original rules of the internet. I invite you to read it with your sarcasm detector fully charged, it's pretty informative.

So now you know what kind of crackpot you can stumble upon, and since you already know we're only six levels away from pretty much anybody on this planet, you'll find that the following advices make sense.

• No chatroulette. Ever.
  Nuf' said.

• On social networking sites, only let your kids befriend people they (you) already know in real life.
  Taking a look at their profiles (of course you know their password yes?)

• Never let them meet face to face someone they met online.
  Just in case they did meet someone online

• Their data are theirs.
  So, no darling, you can't give the nice man/website your phone number.
  The same goes for pictures and videos.

• Anonymous Coward is a Coward
  If your little one gets unfriendly messages from an unknown persona, don't let her take it seriously, anonymity combined to aggressiveness is just plain cowardice. Let them laugh at the scaredy haters.

• Block the undesirable.
  Facebook, Twitter, IM, Chatrooms, Forums... they all have at least a blacklist feature, don't hesitate to use it. I cant explain step by step here, but tutorials are widely available through a simple Google search

• Social is not just Facebook and Twitter.
  Forums and chat rooms are still active, and if they are not under the spotlight right now, you still should be careful about their content, especially the chatrooms.

• Privacy is the new black. Learn and teach!
  I've written a piece about it some weeks ago, and you can scour the web for many other useful tips. Being informed yourself is the best way to teach online safety to the apple of your eyes.
  

Hoping it's been useful. And remember, the more you know about the web, the safest your kids are. Be open, talk and experience, that's the ultimate key!

Posted via email from @Danny_Fr