Internet Safety News

4 of 5 Kids Receive Inappropriate Spam

by Christine Loftus

Parents — if you aren't already concerned about your children's e-mail activities, this might make you pay attention. Four out of every five children receive inappropriate spam e-mail touting get-rich-quick schemes, loan programs, and pornographic materials, according to a study released by Internet security provider Symantec Corporation.¹ In addition a majority of the kids surveyed reported feeling uncomfortable and offended when seeing improper e-mail content.²

Some other findings are

• 80 percent of children in the study said they are bombarded by sweepstakes messages
• 62 percent received relationship-related spam such as "meeting singles online"
• 47 percent received e-mails containing links to X-rated web sites
• 1 out of every 5 kids opened and read spam e-mails, especially when the subject line interests them
• 51 percent felt annoyed when receiving improper e-mail content, 34 percent felt uncomfortable, 23 percent felt offended, and 13 percent felt curious. Thirty-eight percent do not tell their parents when having these reactions³

The survey also disclosed that most of the youth surveyed have personal e-mail accounts and more than half of them check their e-mail without a parent's guidance.⁴ When asked how important it is to always have a parent or guardian check e-mails with them, nearly one in three said it is not important, 21 percent said they don't care, and 16 percent said they don't want their parents to check their e-mail with them.⁵

Parents might want to start paying more attention now since the survey results confirm that kids spend more time online during the summer months compared to a regular school season.⁶ In addition to providing the results of the study, Symantec also offers tips for parents to help protect their children online. They are

• communicate with your children and encourage them to confide in you when they see improper text or graphics
• teach your children to never give out personal information on the Internet since malicious E-marketers target kids for this kind of information
• maintain trust with your children, and make sure they understand your intentions for watching over them so that they can discuss spam issues with you openly
• since your children may be accessing the Internet from places where you can't monitor them, know your children's friends; talk to the parents of your children's friends and work with them to provide a safe surfing environment for children
• check e-mails with your children and consider installing spam-filtering devices that will detect and filter spam messages to protect your children from receiving offensive e-mails⁷

¹"Study: 4 of 5 kids get inappropriate spam." CNN.com. June 9, 2003, http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/Internet/06/09/spam.children.reut/index.html.
²Ibid.
³"Symantec Survey Reveals More Than 80 Percent of Children Using Email Receive Inappropriate Spam Daily." Symantec.com. June 9, 2003, http://www.symantec.com/press/2003/n030609a.html.
⁴Ibid.
⁵Ibid.
⁶Ibid.
⁷Ibid.

Christine Loftus is a research assistant/editor for the Parents & Educators component of the NetSmartz Workshop^® at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children^®.