Last week I attended the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where I had the opportunity to roam the exhibits and view the latest gizmos and online technology. I also attended a special program, the "Sandbox Summit," which explored the ways children are using the latest digital technology.
 

No session about kids and the internet would be complete without some information regarding online safety and the "Sandbox Summit" conference raised a few interesting and insightful thoughts that help inform parents' concern about online safety. 
 

First, a Summit speaker with Nickelodeon pointed to the fact that homes with kids have more high tech items and today even the youngest kids are going online. In today's digital world, children have become the experts and parents often go to their kids for advice on technology purchases.
 

Although children have become the chief technology officers in many households and play an important role in determining the selection and purchase of technology items in the home, parents still need to maintain the primary role of gatekeepers for online safety.
 

According to one of the speakers at the Summit, one in four kids have a computer in their bedroom, which can make it very difficult for parents to monitor their children's online usage. One simple online safety first-step is to place the computer in a more public place in the home, so parents can have more oversight of their kids' use of the Internet. 
 

Parental guidelines for Internet use and safety in the home, as well as online tools such as AT&T's Smart Limits, provide the best "shovels and pails" to use in a family's "online sandbox."

Just wanted to give a heads up - Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) has posted all of the information from their December conference on their website. Extensive coverage of the event is available, including photos, videos of speeches and breakout sessions, and reports published at the conference.

Check it out here.

Who should assume greater responsibility for keeping kids safe online? Law enforcement? Government?  Parents?

Each of these groups has a critical role- government, for example, is certainly an important contributor to promoting online safety, but regulations can only extend so far. Ultimately, parents remain the greatest influence in affecting their children's behavior online.

At last month's FOSI conference, Roger Cochetti  from the Computing Technology Industry Association shared a similar viewpoint. Cochetti compared perceptions of online safety vs. offline safety, asserting that it is common sense that parents should be the ultimate protectors of children in both worlds.

But what exactly can parents do to protect their children in the world of Web 2.0?  AT&T's  Dorothy Atwood shared insights about the tools available to aide parents, such as AT&T's Smart Limits, which allows parents to filter content and monitor online use.  You can learn more about Smart Limits here.