Your daughter’s safety is extremely important to RPCS. Her computer is a useful tool but at the same time it can be a distraction and a gateway to information and people she can not fully understand or be prepared for. RPCS makes every attempt to protect students from inappropriate content while on campus; however, the protections do not extend as fully to home or other off campus environments. Many homes now have broadband (Cable or DSL) connections and wireless functionality.   With these enhanced connections to the internet comes a need to better monitor students. Also be mindful that the wireless connection in the laptop enables it to get on the internet in public access locations such as Starbucks or other wi-fi hotspots.

          The easiest way to monitor your daughter’s computer usage is to be involved with it. Ask to see your daughter’s computer and the sites and programs she has opened. When you click on the Start button, it will show the most commonly used programs. If none of these are school related, it might be cause for concern, or at least a question. Internet Explorer also has a history file that can be accessed by opening Internet Explorer. Click on View, Explorer Bar, and History. This will show daily, weekly and monthly usage.

            Be mindful of her actual use of the machine. If she is making quick key strokes when you enter the room, she may be closing or minimizing a program, emptying the history or quickly switching to another program.   If your daughter is on her laptop an exorbitant amount of time, it is likely she is doing things other than school work.
                
            It is important to discuss with your daughter what personal or family
infor-mation is safe to share and with whom.   We recommend that she not share personal information such as phone numbers, addresses and full names on public forums and web sites.   Some common sites include blogging sites and social sites such as myspace.com, friendster.com and facebook.com. You can use the technique mentioned earlier to look in the history log for sites. Ask your daughter if she has a profile or a blog on any of these sites or ones like them and ask to see it if she does. You may be surprised what information she has shared publicly on-line and what she has said about herself and others.   Checking these sites once is often not enough since they are constantly updated and should be monitored on an ongoing basis. Once you know a site that your daughter uses, you can check the site from any internet-connected computer; it isn’t necessary to use her laptop and thus have her know that you are checking the site.

         Monitoring activity or preventing access to unwanted sites and forums on laptops in the home environment is a technical challenge as well.   The simplest way to prevent unwanted activity is to have your daughter use the computer in a communal space or turn off the connection to the internet. Another alternative is to disable wireless and use the wired ports available on the router to force your daughter into a more public area.   Your daughter doesn’t need to sleep with her laptop and thus there is no need for it to be in her bedroom all night.   Technology can help to a degree in limiting and monitoring activity; however, it is often not a simple task.   After researching the most popular software monitoring tools, NetNanny and CyberPatrol, it has been found that a motivated student will be able to circumvent them.   Most Internet Service Providers such as Verizon and Comcast do not provide easily implemented and reliable methods to block access.   ISPs like AOL have monitoring software that rely upon the parent to configure their features. Hence, if your daughter manages the family account or knows your password she can easily change her level of access.