The net is a great resource, an essential part of your learning. It's a powerful way to get information and it is fun to interact with people and share stories and plans. You can keep boredom away by adding bits to your social network sites or listening to music or putting your ideas down in a blog. You can meet new people and writing things is sometimes easier than talking face to face. Unfortunately not everyone who uses the net is honest and trustworthy. People lie online. Because of this it can be an unsafe place unless you follow some sensible rules. You might think that the risks are blown out of proportion but the problem is very real and likely to grow. You need some rules that you stick to and it is better if you make these up for yourself or with your family and maybe then post them by the computer.

Keep your information to yourself
Don't let people know your home address, phone number or that you attend William Brookes School. It puts you at risk. If you're using a webcam or uploading video content then think about someone gruesome watching it - it's safer to have a webcam in a room that others use. If you want to subscribe to an internet service, check this out with your parents and use a family email address rather than providing your own personal information.

If you join a social networking site (like 'Bebo', MySpace or FaceBook) you are advised to have a private profile until you leave school. If you change this, to have a public profile, neither the company nor you have any control over who views it. You should not put any contact details on your profile. If you do have a public profile you can edit your photo albums so that you control who sees particular albums and you can stop others copying photos. What you write and the content you upload can be spread around really quickly so it is best to imagine that whatever you write or put onto your space goes out to a very large crowd. You can block other members from contacting you if you wish to. What information do you feel comfortable to share with any mixed-bag of strangers? As a stranger can be dangerous, you need to be careful who you allow as contacts. Adults with horrible intentions and people who like to make others miserable are regular users of the net because they can hide easily. It can be a lot easier to use a made up name and a graphic, a neat pic or an avatar instead of your photo.

Don't be a cyber bully
Posting abusive messages online is a major concern for young people. You will be aware of this growing phenomenon, using instant messaging services, social networking sites and text messages to intimidate and threaten other students or teachers by putting hateful or inappropriate messages online. It's very easy to just let rip on the net, maybe having a go at someone you don't like or spreading information that you know isn't true, picking on them to make their life unpleasant. Harassing another person is a pretty vile way to behave and can be illegal. Don't get caught up in group bullying on message boards either - if you cannot say something to someone's face then you shouldn't be writing it. Cyber bullying can be particularly damaging because of its anonymity; you do not know where an offensive message has come from on some sites and that can make you more worried, possibly losing trust in your friends and classmates. Everyone has a right to privacy and e-bullying can harm someone's emotional safety and make them feel fearful, wretched and even suicidal.

The fact that this form of threat happens online also means that there is no escape from it, with it able to happen around the clock. Uploading video content onto Google video or YouTube etc. can seem like fun but it's not if the sole intention is to harass or persecute a person.

Don't share your password with your mates
Maybe you don't have too much private stuff in your files but even your best friend can be silly sometimes, maybe passing on your password to people that you would not wish to have access to your things. A password makes sure that you control that part of e-space that is yours. It can be tempting to be nice and give someone your password if theirs doesn't work but then you are open to all sorts of messages and people messing about with your work.

Being careful about what you open
Uploaded and downloaded content may not be all it seems. Opening attachments to dodgy emails can put spyware or viruses on your computer. Not reading, just quickly clicking on, agreements can lead to a company having access to your computer and contaminating it so that you can no longer use it. Some sites have innocent enough front pages but then contain sexual material. You should click off the site or shut down your computer if you feel uncomfortable about a site. It is best not to forward chain messages. There are cases of people who have obtained information they needed to hack into another's site and delete all their personal information and work files.

What is 'grooming'?
You need to be careful about chat room contacts, keeping online friends online and only making contact with someone if an adult is with you. In chat-rooms it is safer to stay public and not go into a private room or exchange one-to-one messages.

According to the Sexual Offences Act, 2003, online grooming is 'A course of conduct enacted by a suspected paedophile, which would give a reasonable person cause for concern that any meeting with a child arising from the conduct would be for unlawful purposes.'

Some men pose as people your age, developing a relationship over the net for weeks or even months. It is an offence for someone to meet or travel to meet a child with the intention of committing a sexual act, if he has communicated with that child on at least two previous occasions. You should let someone know if you become uncomfortable chatting to someone online, maybe because they are asking personal questions. Sometimes people will encourage you to communicate with them by saying that you look good and that you would make a good model. They might encourage you to send them pictures of yourself in your underwear and could then use these to blackmail you. Grooming can happen with boys as well as girls. Certainly do not pass on a friend's contact details to get rid of someone you feel uncomfortable chatting to.

What is plagiarism?
Directly copying large amounts of information from the net into your school assignments or homework may be easy and convenient but it is cheating if you try to pass this off as your own work. You need to acknowledge any sources that you use. The exam boards now use software checks to ensure that coursework has not been obtained without individual effort.

Proxy sites
The school network is set up with safety filters (county and school) to limit net access, preventing students accidentally or deliberately accessing sites that are not educational. You will understand that the main purpose and responsibility of the school is to enable students to raise their educational standards and be safe. Due to the open nature of the net there is much material that is unsuitable for students. It may seem like good fun to get around the school security systems by using proxy sites but this is not acting responsibly. Access to the net is an entitlement for those who use it responsibly and sensibly. If you try to use proxy sites or even search for them this is an abuse of your right to use the system and will result in you being banned from the net for a period of time.

Site sense
You will be able and encouraged to make your own critical judgments about the accuracy content of websites. It is usual to validate information from at least one other source before you accept it as accurate.

Security and Maintenance
It is foolish to remain online for any length of time without decent security being installed. You are open to various products that can disrupt your computer use. You not only need to install software but ensure that it upgrades routinely and that you activate it every now and then to search for and manage 'nasties'. For a review of products see:
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,4829,00.asp
Your computer benefits from a clear out of cookies, trackers and other things you don't really need. Go into Internet Properties in Control Panel and have a clear out every now and then. It also benefits from the hard drive being defragmented every now and then. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defragmentation
for information on how to do this.

Please also read the school policy section on e-safety.

The following website is very helpful and powerful. Please try to look through it, at least once:
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/