A study by Microsoft Australia found that many parents are not protecting their children while navigating the sometimes dangerous Internet. In fact, the study found that about 30% of kids talk with strangers while online. For safety's sake: That's not good!



The Microsoft Australia study, performed on a sample of the Australian population, found that, generally, parents are doing a poor job of making sure their children are safe and protected while surfing the Internet and doing all of the other Web activities that kids do these days.



The survey, called 'For Safety's Sake' was released on March 17, 2010, found this major problem with children being on the Internet without parental support:



'¢ 65% of Australian parents do not take any type of precautions'”at all'”to protect their children online while they are surfing the Web at home

'¢ 60% of Australian parents allow their children to use the Internet at home without any type of supervision or restrictions'”none what so ever.



The survey also found these other potential problems with allowing children to use the Web without adult supervision:



'¢ Only 60% of parents knew that parental controls were located on their computers used by their children

'¢ About 30% of parents used parental locks to control their children's activities on the computer.

Hey there is more disturbing statistics from this Microsoft survey. Please read on.

The Microsoft Australia survey also included with these statistics:



'¢ About 30% of children talk with strangers while online

'¢ 20% of parents have caught their children looking at "inappropriate material" on the Internet



'¢ 36% of parents reported that they had discovered, after the fact and without permission, that their children had downloaded software from off the Web.



'¢ 20% of parents have not discussed safety with their children when it comes to using the Internet.

'¢ 12% of parents reported that they had caught their children giving out personal information on the Internet.



'¢ Around 65% of parents knew of some of their children's online friends for social networking websites

'¢ About 11% of parents did not know of any online friends of their children.



'¢ 58% of households had the family computer in a public area, such as the family room; which means that 42% of homes had computers in non-public areas, such as a child's bedroom.

Page three concludes with some comments and advise from the chief security advisor from Microsoft Australia.





In part, the article adds this bit of information: "Despite two thirds of parents surveyed allowing their children free reign to the web at home, most believe that online danger is more likely to occur at a friend's house (52 percent)."

No doubt, the parents at the friend's house are saying exactly the same thing about you.