Before we get into the heavyweight elements of this subject, I have to point out to you that my views here do not reflect the views of The Royal Gazette or Bermuda Microsystems Group, and are purely based out of my personal experiences and knowledge.

Last time we embarked on an examination of our children's Internet usage and how we can best accommodate it to ensure the enrichment of their childhood but protect them from the dangerous elements.

We closed by taking a few moments to look at how many parents do not talk about their young persons use of the Internet because (1) they are not aware enough of it themselves and/or (2) They do not want to be considered as "prying" into their child's online relationships.

It is important to strike a balance between prying and being vigilant. Before you can do either, however, you need to "get with the programme": Take the time to learn enough about the Internet - in case you have not already - so that you know what chatrooms are, what Instant-Messaging is all about, what your child means when they talk about "Facebook" or "Myspace" - all of these things are the day-to-day lingo of the web, and whilst it might be funny to you and your kids that you do not know what they are, it can soon become an issue if there are things going on you need to know about and cannot comment due to lack of knowledge.

As for prying into your child's lives, well, you need to get passed that too - that's what parent's are supposed to do: For most young people the issue is not THAT their parents want to know about their lives, its HOW they go about it that gets irritating and frustrating.

Emotive, explosive and demanding exchanges with young people about their online relationships and activities never work, and more often than not will send the activity underground - an outcome NO parents want: underground Internet activity is definitely where unwanted attention from disturbed adults lurks.

My first suggestion would be to ensure that any computer used in the home by any young person, regardless of age, is only ever used in a common room of the house, with the screen backed against a wall in such a way as to allow general passers-by in the room to see what is going on.

This will do several things - it will ease parents minds that nothing sinister is going on, and it will ensure that the young person sticks with legitimate, general use, and won't be tempted to use it for other means. This alone will settle much of any uneasiness brought about by internet access by young people.

Next, I would suggest that timeframes be set, with pre-conditions - for example: "Internet access is only available between four o'clock and six o'clock provided all homework has been done and the breakfast pots have been washed, dried and put away." Simple.

Easy to understand. Effective. Make them inviolable - do not bend. This way it will become an ingrained part of society in the household, just like the cleaning of teeth or showering daily - necessary, consistent, routine.

Next it is time to evaluate appropriate parental control mechanisms. Parental control mechanisms allow you to block sites by web-address, by included words, by the expanse of flesh visible, etc etc, etc.

Each year these packages get more and more effective, with increased intelligence to make your blocking algorithms easier to implement and enforce.

They work by basically allowing a parent to manage and restrict individual users of the Internet.

Thus, you can severely lock-down six-year-old Sophie's account so she can only visit cartoon sites and childrens games sites, be a little more relaxed with twelve year old Dave's access, as he has search requirements for homework, and virtually unfetter eighteen year-old Sarah's access so she can communicate privately with her friends overseas at college. All controlled from one simply interface.

There are many, many packages out there, and next time I will do a brief run-down of those that I consider to be the best most effective and of most value. Next time, then, Digital Kids: Big brother for the greater good.

Bob Mellor is a senior business technologist with over twenty years experience in the IT industry. He is accredited by the British Computer Society as a chartered IT professional, and currently Technology Consulting Manager at Bermuda Microsystems Group. He can be contacted on bob@bmg.bm