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CNN Live Saturday

Interview with Tim Lordan

Aired May 25, 2002 - 22:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Internet offers a wealth of valuable information at rapid pace, of course. But there is a dark side that continues to lure children into dangerous chatrooms and deadly situations. And in the most recent case, a 13-year old Connecticut girl was killed by a man that she met on the Internet. Now even the government is stepping in and creating a child friendly Internet space called dotkids.

And joining us now to talk about child Internet safety is Tim Lordan. He is staff director for the Internet Education Foundation. Thanks for being with us, Tim.

TIM LORDAN, INTERNET EDUCATION FDN.: Thank you, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: There are so many vulnerable places for children on the Internet. And the story this week only brings that home to everyone I think. Do you think enough is being done right now by the government, by people in general to educate people on how to protect your children when they use the Internet? I mean, my seven-year old little girl uses her computer everyday.

LORDAN: That's right. I think there's not enough being done. But there's an awful lot being done. Let me say that. We had a hearing the other day on just this issue. And I think the bottom line conclusion was that government has to do more, parents have to do more, the Internet industry has to do more, everybody needs to do more. So there really isn't enough being done right now.

CALLAWAY: Tell us about the hearings that you moderated on Capitol Hill, and what exactly took place there. You -- are you feeling positive about what could be done?

LORDAN: No, frankly. It's a daunting task. The main option for parents is not ripping the computer out of the wall as the Internet's crucial for the future success of their kids.

CALLAWAY: Right.

LORDAN: They'll need it for research in school. They'll need it for the workplace. As far as the options go for parents, there's not substitute for good parenting. If parents are looking for Congress to solve this with a silver bullet piece of legislation...

CALLAWAY: Right. LORDAN: From one filter, to strip out all content on the Internet, that's not going to happen. A lot of people have to be involved.

CALLAWAY: Even if they do create a safe haven, that's just one of thousands that are out there for the kids, that are not safe, that they can travel to on the Internet. It is all about the parents being responsible, isn't it?

LORDAN: That's right. And there's a lot of things that Congress can do. I think the dotkids.us proposal is actually an interesting one, making a safe playground, just like a children's section of the library, making a safe playground on the Internet for kids is for green spaces, they will not have a lot of instant messaging and contact by would-be predators. I think that's important, but it's a really small -- one aspect of a larger problem.

CALLAWAY: But don't you think a lot of people that maybe their kids are more computer savvy than they are. They're a little bit intimidated and don't even know where to begin. I mean, I know you have this getnetwise.org. And I took a look at that tonight. It has some great suggestions on there on what parents can do, but it struck me as I was reading through there, that a lot of parents wouldn't even know how to get to getnetwise.org or do some of the things that are on there?

LORDAN: Right. It's important that your program is highlighting it. And parents do feel that their kids are one click away -- one click ahead of them when it comes to this technology. I certainly feel that my eight-year old nephew is certainly farther along when it comes to understanding these technologies than I am. And parents really need to get up to speed. There's no substitute for them not getting up to speed on these technologies.

CALLAWAY: Give me suggestions that are on getnetwise.org on some of the things that parents can do. And I know, we don't want to inundate people with suggestions, but there are things that you can place on your personal computer, that can limit where your child can go?

LORDAN: Right, there's about -- over 100 different technology tools. Filtering tools that will block out inappropriate content, technology tools that will keep a child from disclosing personal information to would-be predators that could meet them off line. In the case of the 13-year old girl, there's even tools out there that'll monitor what the child is doing on the computer. If that fits in with your family values about "spying on your children," then by all means, do so.

CALLAWAY: You also mention having sort of a contract with your children on using the computer.

LORDAN: That's right. And interestingly, when it comes to technologies, contracts with kids seem to be downloaded product off that particular page. And it seems that there's no substitute for parental involvement. What you do is download a contract with your child that says I will not get all my personal information on line. It's really kind of a way to talk about Internet safety with your child. That is probably the most important thing you can do as a parent.

Talk to your kids. Teach them not to disclose personal information about themselves to other people. And for the love of Pete, do not meet anyone offline that you met online.

CALLAWAY: Right. Tim, you know, I find that a lot of mothers and fathers are more apt to put limitations -- place limitations on children for what television shows that they can watch, or how much television they can watch, but they don't do it with computer as much?

LORDAN: Right, the technology allows for these kind of latchkey type technologies to limit either the amount of time they spend online or that they can't spend time between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. before the parent gets home from work. There's all sorts of different technologies out there, but that has to fit into a parental strategy when it comes to Internet use for their children.

CALLAWAY: What about the playground that you were talking about, the Internet playground that the Congress is looking at? How likely is it to pass? And do you think it will receive the president's signature?

LORDAN: Well, it passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives. Now it goes to the Senate. Congressman Markey and Congressman Shimkus (ph) sponsored it in the House. I think it's passage in the Senate is -- if passed with only a few names, I think it has a good chance. I think the question also is that once it becomes enacted in law, there's always the First Amendment question whether the ACLU will oppose it in court, and whether it'll suffer the fate of many of the Internet related bills that have been put forward by Congress and get struck down by the Supreme Court.

CALLAWAY: You know, the Christina Long story that we were talking about earlier is just so tragic. Are you hearing more of these type stories?

LORDAN: We're hearing with them frequency. They happen like once every month or once every other month. And it's -- frankly, it's too much. But parents need to know that they can't ignore this problem. They can't throw their computer out the window. They really have to sit down, get up to speed on the technology, and talk to their kids about what they're doing online.

They have to know the online -- their child's online playgrounds, as well as they know the playgrounds around the corner.

CALLAWAY: And find out how to look on our computer and see where they've been as well. I want to remind everyone about getnetwise.org, getnetwise.org. You can hop on that web site and it'll give you some -- the ABC's of how you can limit where and what your child is -- where your child is going and what your child is seeing on the Internet.

And Tim Lordan, thank you very much for being with us tonight and talk about this.

LORDAN: Catherine, thank you.

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