The internet is a wonderful place, full of endless amounts of information and resources. However, some people have used the internet to promote things we do not want our children to be exposed to. Some people use the internet in inappropriate ways and expose children to sites and information that are unacceptable. NCC, like you, is aware of and concerned about the risks that the internet presents, including as it relates to the safety of campers.

Should children avoid using the internet? No, but children need to be informed and need to be protected.

What Parents Need to Know:

• Children should never give out any personal information.
• Children should never accept files or downloads and URLs from people they don't know and trust.
• Children should choose non identifiable screen names, user id and password.
• Children should never arrange to meet someone offline that they met online.
• Children should be told to report frightening, unwanted, offensive or unusual internet experiences.

• Learn about the internet, and keep informed about parental control tools that can help your child be safe online.
• Spend time online with your child and stay actively involved in their internet activity.
• Share your child's email account and password.
• Talk with your child about the people he or she is interacting with online (regardless of whether that online activity takes place at home, at school, at camp, or elsewhere), and set appropriate rules (including for example that your child never arranges an in-person meeting without you present).
• Complain to the sender of unsolicited email and to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) about unwanted email.
• Reject email from specific email addresses.
• Prevent email with offensive language from being received.
• Regularly monitor and supervise the child's online activities.
• Discuss with your child each of the items listed above in “What Parents Need to Know.”

• The camp rules regarding internet access at camp are reviewed with all campers at the campers' meeting on opening day. The consequences of breaking these rules are also clearly spelled out. These rules are updated each summer, but, for example, they prohibit access to inappropriate URLs.
• At the campers’ meeting, the items listed above in “What Parents Need to Know” are also reviewed in detail.
• Campers’ internet access is supervised.
• The significance of passwords is discussed in detail. For example, the difference in strength between a 9 character and a 10 character password is huge as hackers can guess passwords at the rate of one hundred billion guesses a second. It is imperative that passwords be stored in encrypted form.

• NCC expects that parents be responsible for their children’s conduct while at camp and hopes that the information above will help parents in the exercise of such responsibility.