Internet Safety for Children : Stranger danger, misbehaviour and problems when online

The Internet has evolved and continues to evolve rapidly and as adults we understand the need to be careful with various issues including our privacy, scams, bullying and as adults we stumble across unwanted material that might be considered inappropriate. Children also need to be protected and this thesis will research what children do when they are online, and what protection is currently given to children. The research will also include input from teachers and parents and find out what experiences they have and what they are doing to protect children. The thesis will involve software testing to evaluate how effective parental control software is, and possibilities of it being hacked. This research will concentrate on smartphones, and in particular the Android operating system, the reason is that Android phones can be purchased cheaper than an iPhone, and therefore are more likely to be used by a child. A developer’s version of Android can also be configured to run it in a virtual machine running on a PC which makes various testing possible. The thesis will also involve reviewing other organisation’s research and findings and how it compares to my own research. The thesis will give advice on how to move forward in relation to keeping children safe online