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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Regina Lewis

Aired August 11, 2002 - 07:38   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The Internet can bring a world of danger into your home. The question is how do you protect your children?
Regina Lewis joins us from Washington to talk about monitoring the sites that your kids visit.

Hey, good morning, Regina.

REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good morning.

COOPER: So I mean, technology is obviously the problem here. But it can also be part of the solution.

LEWIS: Oh, absolutely. Technology is on your side. I think what we have here is the first generation of children who are growing up online. And the parents, every parent, I think, wants their children to be able to take advantage of everything the medium has to offer. Do they want it to be safe? Of course, they do. I talked to so many parents, good parents, who say, "I have no idea what Jennifer and Johnny are doing on that computer."

That is a risk you do not want to take. So we've got a couple of things in the technology realm, but you can't automate that. And we want to say that right up front, because you really do have to be involved.

COOPER: So when you say you can't automate that, you mean, it gets down to the basics. You have to talk to your kids. You have to find out what -- who they're talking to online. That sort of thing?

LEWIS: Absolutely. I mean, it's part of modern day parenting. On the technology side, there are things called parental controls. On American Online, they're right on the front screen. You can get blocking software online, and at computer stores, different means to the same end. Essentially what you're doing is child proofing your computer.

They have different levels of control, based on children's ages. And they use an outside rating industry, much like the motion picture industry when they decide what movie's PG, and what movie's PG-13. And essentially what you do that is preclude them from ever getting anywhere that might not be age appropriate. Now that takes care of, you know, going -- not going to Playboy.com. But what about the incoming? You have a lot of control there, as well. There's something called mail controls. So for instance, I have those in place for my six-year old daughter. I never have to worry about who she's getting e-mail from, because if it's not from me, my husband, her grandparents or my sister, she's not going to get it. Those are the only people authorized to send her e-mail. So that takes care of the incoming.

COOPER: But -- so she can't received e-mail from friends, then?

LEWIS: Well it's -- for teenagers, you could say who would you like to get e-mail from? Let's go over their names. OK, fine, you know, that's from your best friend from class. And then you enter those addresses. Those were the only people who would then be able to send e-mails. So what that prevents is the fear of I don't know who's talking to my kids.

COOPER: Right.

LEWIS: What about the incoming e-mail? Some of them might have just guessed their screen name.

COOPER: What about chat rooms? I mean, people that kids might meet in their chat room, can you filter that out? I mean, that seems more difficult.

LEWIS: Well, you can actually tailor things. And in chat in the kids' area, for instance on American Online, it's monitored 24/7. And usually, they're message board postings instead of chat with children. That seems to be a better way to go. Also the rules of not giving out personal information are really critical to go over with children. Also put it in context. Why shouldn't I give out my name or address or where I go to school? And the reason, of course, is you never want someone that you're talking with online to be able to track you down offline because, of course, as you saw on the setup piece, you don't always know who you're speaking with?

COOPER: What about snooping software for parents?

LEWIS: Well, I think this is interesting. It's actually most effective in terms of being a deterrent. If the kids think you're watching, then they're might be less apt to do things. I talked to some engineers this week who are working on AOL 8.0, which will come out this fall. And they're actually going to have a report card feature, that if you opt in, every time your child logs on with their screen name, after that session, you will be sent an e-mail that will tell you the sites they went to...

COOPER: Wow.

LEWIS: The sites they tried to go to, the number of e-mails they sent, who's in their address book, and you'll get an update. Here's what they just did in the last hour.

COOPER: That's pretty amazing. When it is that coming out?

LEWIS: That's coming out this fall in conjunction with AOL 8.0. And of course, it's based on consumer demand. Parents want more control, but it's got to be easy. So on the technology side, are there a lot of things you can do to go and backtrack what happened online? Yes, but a lot of parents say, "Ah, what button is that? And how can make this easy?"

So a report card feature, I think, will go a long way.

COOPER: All right, Regina Lewis, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

LEWIS: Thanks.

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