= Ofcom has revealed that just 43 per cent of parents with children between the ages of five and 15 have filters in place on their family computer
= A total of 13 per cent of parents polled said they do not know how to install controls to stop their children stumbling across unsuitable material online
= However, of the 2,374 parents surveyed, 64 per cent believed their online safety measures were effective

Almost 60 per cent of parents do not have any internet security in place on their children’s computers, despite a report released yesterday that claims young children have never been more at risk online.
Ofcom has revealed that just 43 per cent of parents with children between the ages of five and 15 have filters in place on their family computer.
A total of 13 per cent of parents polled said they do not know how to install controls to stop their children stumbling across unsuitable material online, or even that such filters exist.

Around half of the parents with children aged below 15 also admitted to the regulator that they think their children are more web savvy than they are.
Furthermore, 14 per cent of parents believe their three to four-year-old has a better grasp of how to use the internet than they do.
But still Ofcom’s report, CHILDREN AND PARENTS: MEDIA USE AND ATTITUDES, which surveyed 2,374 parents, found 64 per cent believed their online safety measures were effective.
The report also found that only a small minority of parents have installed online filters on their children’s internet-enabled smartphone and games consoles.

Almost ten per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds admitted they know someone who has accessed sexual content on their smartphones.
The statistics support the Daily Mail’s campaign for internet service providers to be forced to block unsafe material, with over-18s able to access adult material only following a strict age check.

The Government has agreed a compromise solution, under which all new broadband contracts will have filters turned on and existing customers will be prompted to make a decision about their service.
Miranda Suit, co-chairman of Safermedia, said: ‘Ofcom’s figures show the problem of dealing with the internet is still growing.
‘Parents have still not been able to catch up with their children’s technology skills and protect them adequately.
‘Children who use tablets are more easily able to use public wi-fi. Instead of sitting at the family PC they can just go to the local park or café. And lots of public wi-fi is unfiltered, meaning they can access whatever they want.’
She said she recognised the problems faced by parents. ‘The way children access the internet is getting more complex, and more difficult to monitor,’ said Miss Suit.
Siobhan Freegard, founder of the Netmums website, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘You wouldn’t leave your house front door open to strangers, but not setting parental controls means the door is wide open for strangers to contact your kids online.
‘It’s staggering to think over half of families don’t have safety software in place, it means the message isn’t getting out there about how to counteract the dangers.’

One of the key findings of the report, was that 30 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds are ‘friends’ on a social network with a person they have never met in real life and have sent pictures and videos to them.
On average, teenagers said they had 272 online friends, but had never met 78 of them. A third allowed their pages to be viewed by strangers, up from 22 per cent last year.

The Ofcom report warned: ‘Children with a social networking site profile that may be visible to people not known to them are more likely to have undertaken some kind of potentially risky online behaviour, such as adding people to their contacts they don’t know in person, or sending them photos or personal details.’

By Sarah Griffiths
PUBLISHED: 17:50 GMT, 4 October 2013 | UPDATED: 20:13 GMT, 4 October 2013

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2444171/Nearly-60-parents-online-protection-filters-family-computer.html#ixzz2hDsRQfuS
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook