Internet Safety

Yes, I quite agree, and we will certainly stress that.

The reason he doesn't have a credit card at present is because, when we tried him with one as an experiment several years ago, someone took it off him, asked for his PIN (which he willingly gave) and proceeded to empty his account!

By the time we realised it, over £200 lost, but a lesson learned...

As you say, some people are devoid of personal ethics etc.

Ok.

Back to the matter of net security...he needs to be made to understand that he must not give out personaly identifying information, or buy anyone anything. Lots of voices out their seem utterly devoid of personal ethics and are quite prepared to exploit others online. 

Thanks for your concerns but, as per my original post, we hope to get him into a supported flat, ie a block of flats for similar individuals, closely monitored by an on-site team.

Unfortunately, such vacancies are few and far between, hence he's still with us at 42!

Those are not inappropriate guidelines, but I have to ask: if his executive function is sufficiently compromised that your concerns are valid, then will he be able to live independantly? 

Our grateful thanks to those who've responded.

My wife and I are OAP's and have quite enough to worry about supporting our son, without the further worry of him accidentally getting on the wrong side of the law.

The workings of the internet are a complete mystery to us, except that it does seem to be a bit of a minefield, and with live mines!

So, to be quite clear, if our son:

(1) Uses BT Broadband (which he will, because we'll arrange it for him)

(2) Always goes through Google (because he can't type in web addresses directly)

(3) Never downloads anything (because we don't know how and so can't show him)

(4) Never sends off any payments (because he doesn't have a credit card)

then can we safely leave him to click on anything and everything to his heart's content,

without having to worry about getting our collars felt?

Noone is watching the log. Too much data to monitor. Internet usage only becomes non-private if you are already suspected of criminal activity and your records are ordered released by a judge.

I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted for visiting websites. The only exception is when it has been during work hours from work premises.

For illegal things, such as child p0rn, I think it is a problem only if someone downloads it onto their hard drive (keeps a permanent copy).

I think the police and internet service providers are simply too busy to check each user's browsing history. They usually do it only when people are suspected of other crimes.

Many thanks to both of you for (largely) putting my mind at rest.

My son is certainly no computer genius, in fact I think he'll have trouble just using the mouse, so there's no question of the dark net, etc.

Laddo, my computer knowledge is only slightly better than my son's (well, I am nearly 70!) so perhaps I can ask one final question.

I've read in the newspaper that the ISP (in my case BT) keeps a record of every website we visit.

This could prove very embarrassing if my son goes mouse walkabout!

As you know about these things, can you confirm/deny, please?

Or, perhaps I read the wrong newspaper... (LOL)

I think categorically criminal material can only be found by "word of mouth"...it seems likely that this stuff is hidden on "black" sites/servers only identified by an IP...google is (presumably) required to check sites legality certification before transmitting material?

But this Cleanfeed thing sounds like a useful safety net

They won't link to illegal sites though. You said it yourself - you assume they contain illegal content. Truth is, they won't - assumption is not enough to go on. Do you really think someone setting up illegal porn sites would make it that easy for people to find them and therefore blow the whistle on them? They would be found out in minutes if they did. Trust me, I've been using computers my entire life and am very familiar with the workings of the internet.

Regardless of this, the police can only take action against someone if they already suspect them of browsing illegal websites. Millions of internet users make use of pirate video sites every day and they never get in trouble for using them.

Many thanks for your reply Laddo, but I'm afraid I can't agree that these illegal porn sites are difficult to find.

In fact they are apparently just 3 mouse clicks away from this forum!

Just search for "Adult Movies" or something similar on Google and you'll be presented with several dozen choices.

Although these sites themselves are legal (I believe Google has its own filter), several contain links to other more dubious sites which, I assume, contain exactly the sort of illegal content which I wish my son to avoid.

Hence my question of whether BT Cleanfeed will keep him on the right side of the law without restricting his natural desire to explore the (virtual) world.

(Mods: I hope the subject matter of my query is within Forum rules and does not cause offence to anyone, but it's a serious dillema for any parent, especially for those who's off-spring has learning difficulties.)

Hmm, not sure how likely it is that your son will accidentally end up on an illegal porn site. They are designed to be difficult to find - if any old Tom, *** or Harry could accidentally click a link and access these sites, ISPs would not have so much trouble in taking them down. So I wouldn't worry too much about this.

I think the most important lesson you can teach your son about the harsh realities of the internet is this - the internet is full of very messed-up people. He will undoubtedly encounter them at some point. He needs to be aware of these people are prepared for their general nastiness, and he needs to be aware of methods to report such people