I think educating kids about Internet safety is a continuous on-going process that begins or should begin the first time they go on-line and should continue throughout their school career. The reading from Microsoft Security, Tips to Protect Children On-Line offers some great pointers and some links to age appropriate guidelines for 2-18 year olds.
I help to supervise an after school computer lab for kindergarteners through 4th graders. I'm amazed at the on-line social networking sites for even the youngest kids. They can buy dolls or stuffed animals that come with codes that allow them to log onto a website and engage in virtual play. My lab rules require a parent to attend with kindergarteners. That helps take some of the pressure off me to be aware of what every child is doing at all times. I do think it's best to have a parent sitting beside the youngest children when they go on-line. I try to circulate and remind children not to give out any personal information when they are visiting a website that requires a login.
Our 6th graders have a chance to create a "personal" web page as part of a class project. We don't publish the pages until they've been checked by an adult to be sure they only include first names, no addresses, and no inappropriate comments. We have them include pictures of themselves, but since they have to draw the pictures, they're not really recognizable:-) It's not failsafe, but it does give us a chance to talk about internet security while the kids get some experience in a structured environment.
Our internet filter does block most social networking sites. Before we started blocking them we got to the point where many of our students were being distracted by them during class time. In other words, they were spending time reading and reacting to MySpace sites when they should have been doing school work. Unfortunately, we sacrificed the positive aspects in order to eliminate the negative aspects. This is definitely a debate that will continue.
