While lawmakers in Washington ask questions about online safety, one local mother says parents should take matters into their own hands.
Keeping a close eye on your kids is key when it comes to online predators. Gina Kaufman said, "Get the computers out of the bedrooms. If they're in the bedrooms, get them out of the bedrooms."
That's just one of the tips Kaufman learned from a workshop at her kids' school. Her 14-year-old already surfs sites like MySpace.com.
"We can't just sit back and say it's in big cities, it's not here," she said. "It's very clearly happening to our kids, too."
Kaufman said new security measures on the nation's second most popular Web site should help. Just this week, MySpace began restricting adult access to the information teenagers post about themselves.
But MySpace has no way to verify a user's true age. Many child protection groups say the best safeguard is to directly warn kids about the dangers online.
Kaufman said, "I mean, yeah, she gets annoyed, but I'm the mom, I'm supposed to annoy her."
This week, representatives from MySpace, Facebook and Xanga will face questioning from the U.S. House about their work to stop online predators. (AP)
For more information, visit Interactive Internet Safety Presentations
