IMing ??

[Adamdc]

I've got a 10 year old son who claims he's the 'only kid in the WORLD who is not allowed to IM'. He says that his friends use AIM and AIM express. I know very little about IMing but I do know that the IM applications are sometimes used as an entry for spyware and, I guess, viral attacks. I just wanted to know if this is true and if there are some safeguards that I should take (other than the usual anti-spyware and virus scans) while the IM application is in use. Also, is one application better than another.

<<<I'm not concerned about my son's 'well-being' while online. My wife and I are very cautious and our 'family' computer is in the middle of our living room. Also, he's going to be limited to about 10 minutes a day.>>>>

I'm really just concerned about our 'family' computer's well-being!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

thanks

adam

[ImaNihilist]

I don't know about the "only kid in the WORLD," but he probably is the only kid in the developed world.

Also, just use Meebo. http://www.meebo.com
It's an AJAX IM client that runs from within a browser. Very nifty.

Else, use GAIM on Windows/Linux and Adium on OS X.

[Ashpool]

Adium on OS X.

Or iChat with Chax installed.

Shameless advertising for my friend...

[ImaNihilist]

Or iChat with Chax installed.

Shameless advertising for my friend...

Doesn't that still limit you to AOL, AIM, .Mac and Jabber?

[Adamdc]

Dumb question----if I use iChat or Meebo, can he communicate with others who are using AIM or some other AOL variant? Also, why are the ones you mention better than AIM?

[wh666-666]

Because its aol software ... truly awful provider

I wouldnt worry about attacks for IM convos ... if someone wants to target your computer they will and malware will be picked up more commonly through web browsing

Why not try virtulisation? You can set up the computer as you want and then have one or two applications such as IM software and browsers using virtualisation which means that even if you went on a site crawling with viruses/malicious scripts it wouldnt affect your system or infect it .. works with p2p and IM as well .. have a read of the concept as it may prove beneficial to you ... there are several different programs that do the job but the one below is a good program which is very easy to use
http://www.trustware.com

[ImaNihilist]

Dumb question----if I use iChat or Meebo, can he communicate with others who are using AIM or some other AOL variant? Also, why are the ones you mention better than AIM?

Yes. The "official" AIM client is one of the worst clients ever. It comes with spyware AND adware bundled in for your convenience.

If you want something simple, just use Meebo. If you want more advanced functions like file transfer and such, use GAIM or iChat/Adium(OS X only).

[Recon]

my 10 year old isnt allowed to IM......watch dateline

[ImaNihilist]

my 10 year old isnt allowed to IM......watch dateline

That Dateline stuff is a scam. What a ****ing waste of money.

[Adamdc]

What did they talk about on Dateline--computer issues or personal (safety) issues? I'm not concerned about the latter. I'm pretty hands-on as a parent.

[ImaNihilist]

What did they talk about on Dateline--computer issues or personal (safety) issues? I'm not concerned about the latter. I'm pretty hands-on as a parent.

They have this group of perverts that sit around ALL DAY and pretend to be little boys and girls in order to lure other perverts into coming over to their house so they can get them on "intent".

As long as you've taught your children that it might be a bad idea to talk to a 32 year old man who's sending you pictures of his genitals and asking you if you want to have sex with a cat, I'd say you're fine.

I ****ing hate that Dateline ****. It's not that I'm a fan of the sick people they trap on the show, far from it. It's how they go about doing it, and the fact that they try to take some kind of moral high ground when the entire thing revolves around TWO people playing into a fantasy. It really bothers me that holds up in court and isn't considered entrapment. Putting it on TV is even worse.

I'd like to think that at any time a person can realize their actions are wrong, and turn away from a situation. A lot of these people are first time offenders. If anything, they are probably more curious than anything else that someone was actually playing into their sexual fantasy. IMO, curiosity should not be the same thing as intent.

If they want to REALLY do something about the problem, they need to teach kids not to be so ****ing stupid. I've always wanted to maybe sit in a chat room and see if I can find one of their dectectives, play into it, and then end up on Datelines How To Catch a Predator, only with a different twist. In my bag of tricks, instead of condoms or some crap like that, I'd show up with a dictionary to beat the **** out of the person for talking like an e-idiot. "how r u? want to haev teh sex?" NO. NOT ACCEPTABLE. Then, when what's his face shows up with my chat log and asks me what I'm doing there, I'd say that I bought a dictionary along with me to beat some sense into this retarded 14yr old girl who's talking like a retard and is dumb enough to invite over someone who claims to be a 32yr old guy. Maybe show up with a fake gun too in the hopes that I can scare her into not being so ****ing stupid.

/end rant

[wh666-666]

Wasnt there a police detective who eventually enlisted microsofts help in a very similar scheme a while back for child protection .. im sure i remember reading an article about it in readers digest
http://www.readersdigest.com.sg/rd/r...t.jsp?cid=1007


Il try and find the full article ... it was an interesting read

[ImaNihilist]

Ugh. It's entrapment. Putting pedophiles in prison does not solve the problem. That money would be better allocated to educating children. For every pedophile you put in prison, another one still exists, and if your child doesn't know any better he/she isn't any safer.

You can try to put 50% of all *potential* sexual predators in jail through entrapment, or you can try to educate kids into not being so stupid and probably have a much higher rate of success of stopping what you are actually trying to stop.

The problem is that there is this stigma in the US that prevents a lot of parents from talking to their children about ANYTHING sexual. Getting a program that addresses the issue of sexual predators and the internet in a public school is probably damn near impossible in the US. Hell, you can probably get fired just for saying the word sex in some parts of the country.

[wh666-666]

I can see where you coming from ... in the UK we have quite a bad problem with teenage pregnancies as parents seem to be timid talking to their children about their sexuality ... i believe that in holland i think its embraced and they talk about issues openly so children/teenagers have more education on certain subjects in hand

Its not a nice issue but your right and children should be educated better but ultimately the family needs to instill this from a young age instead of the educational system being responsible

[ImaNihilist]

I can see where you coming from ... in the UK we have quite a bad problem with teenage pregnancies as parents seem to be timid talking to their children about their sexuality ... i believe that in holland i think its embraced and they talk about issues openly so children/teenagers have more education on certain subjects in hand

Its not a nice issue but your right and children should be educated better but ultimately the family needs to instill this from a young age instead of the educational system being responsible

True, but I think that there are some things that are better discussed amongst peers than family (in some households), simply because they eventually WILL be discussed amongst peers. Sexuality is one of those very issues. With the internet, even more so.

Biggest mistake in the history of the US: Not letting the South secede. (I kid, I kid. But no, really, I don't. :-\)