Internet Safety Laws.....Do They Even Help?

Who has been on the internet before and typed in a simple word or phrase and come across something completely different or even inappropriate from what they intended to find?  I am sure that is has happened to each and everyone of us; probably even more than once.  You might be thinking, "I am an adult, so what if that happens to me?"  Well, think about if it did indeed happened to you, often, how easy could it happen to children who are searching the internet without being monitored? 

A federal law, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), was developed and put into place to help protect children online. It's designed to keep anyone from obtaining a child's personal information without a parent knowing about it and agreeing to it first. 

COPPA requires websites to explain their privacy policies on the site and get parental consent before collecting or using a child's personal information, such as a name, address, phone number, or Social Security number. The law also prohibits a site from requiring a child to provide more personal information than necessary to play a game or participate in a contest.


In all honesty, the number one thing that is going to prevent a child from encountering danger while using the internet is through preparing children.  This primarily should be the responsibility of the adults within the child's life.  I know many children who are very "internet savvy" and could probably find certain things on the internet faster than I could.  The sites that ask you to enter your date of birth before you can view their material can easily be surpassed by a child that can figure out the year they would need to be born to get through the access blocker.  These children might not be ready for what they will encounter when on the site they are trying to get onto.  They might think it is the "cool" place to go, but have no idea of the danger they may encounter. So, are these laws really helping protect? Who should be held responsible for monitoring children while they are online? Teachers? Parents? Adults in their lives?