Oct. 11--Broward Sheriff's Sgt. Giuseppe Weller, a supervisor with the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children task force, offers these tips for parents:
"Don't allow a child to have a password-protected computer or phone. Get on there and look."
"If you respect your child's privacy, one day law enforcement may be knocking on your door. If the child is upstairs in the bedroom with their phone, some adult male could be online with your child while you're downstairs cooking dinner."
"Postpone giving a young child a smartphone that has apps and can make photos or videos."
"Know who the child is chatting or texting with by reviewing the texts. Look at each of their photos."
Google "key logger" to find software that can cost about $100. "With such programs, whatever is being done on the child's device, the parent can see. If they get up in the middle of the night and go online, you'll find out what they're doing."
With online video game consoles like PlayStation or Xbox or with Facebook or MySpace, "Double-check to see that their friends are in the same class or age, are known to the family and not from another state or country. If your kid has 400 friends, are they all from the high school or elementary school? I don't have 400 friends. I've got 40 that I personally know."
Federal prosecutor Barbara Martinez says parents can monitor kids' cellphone text messages, calls and pictures with software such as My Mobile Watchdog and Mobile Spy. Some phone companies also have parental controls.
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