Your best defense against the perils of the Internet is simple trust. Start by establishing the following ground rules with your kids and encouraging everybody to stick to them (you might even tape them on the wall next to your computer).

1. I WON'T GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFO
I will never reveal my real name, where I live, my phone number, computer passwords or any other personal information to anyone on the Internet under any circumstances, no matter how nicely they ask or who they say they are. If someone does ask, or if anything else suspicious happens to me on the Internet, I will immediately stop what I'm doing and get an adult.

2. I WILL SHOW E-MAILS TO MY PARENTS
I promise to never open e-mail from anybody I don't know. Instead, I'll save it and show it to my parents.

3. I WILL BE CAREFUL IN CHAT ROOMS
I will never visit an unmoderated chat room without a parent's permission. In any chat room, I will remember that there is no way to tell if somebody chatting with me is really a friend or just pretending to be a friend. And just to be safe, I'll use a gender-neutral screen name.

4. MY PARENTS AND I ARE A TEAM
Since my parents trust me enough to abide by these rules, I promise that when they ask me for help performing even the simplest of computer tasks, I will not laugh at them or act overly condescending.

The above rules are only the basics, and you should modify or add to them as you wish. (If your family has a digital camera, for example, you might add a clause forbidding the transmission of family photos without permission.)

Happy surfing and stay safe!