How To Make The Internet A Safe Place For Children In The Computer Lab

The internet is a powerful tool, designed to educate and inform. It is a treasure trove of data and information, on every topic imaginable. At the same time, objectionable information, too, is easily accessible to students. It's important to take some measures in school to keep students from accessing such information. ^[1]

Here's how you do it:

1. Block access to websites with adult content

There are a plethora of gambling sites and websites with graphic content, which promote drugs, guns or anything children probably shouldn't be looking at. Young kids might stumble upon an adult website by accident (usually by clicking on photos or links without understanding what they're doing) while older teens might actively seek such content. For this reason, access to adult websites must be blocked on computers in school.

2. Prevent downloads by blocking VPNs— Third party file sharing

A VPN (Virtual Private Network), allows people to bypass security restrictions put in place by creating a tunnel. Use software like Net Nanny, Norton Family or K9 Web Protection to prevent students from accessing objectionable sections of the internet or downloading illicit content.

3. Use of access filters to control access to file

The Access Control List (ACL) decides what users can or cannot do on the system. To prevent students from downloading material off the internet, the ACL needs to be modified to prevent them from downloading files. This can be achieved using various online services, which have file access filters. These filters would apply to the files that you choose while keeping other files available.^[2]

The most important factor is that teachers and the school administration must decide which websites are relevant for students to access within the school walls and take steps accordingly. Added care must be taken to ensure that while filtering internet access, students are still able to access any relevant or pertinent information. To serve this purpose, there are many AIO Desktops ^[3] that come with McAfee integrated safety services, which can ensure that safety measures are taken properly. Using this framework, let's make the Internet a safe place for students in school.