Customer Reviews

Look Both Ways: Help Protect Your Family on the Internet

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I was impressed by this common-sense approach to online safety. Through a lot of the problems out there involve kids and teens, the authors really drive home the point that everybody is at some risk and everybody can be safer if they use their heads. Then the book tells you how to do just that. A must for parents or anybody who uses the internet.

Linda Criddle has written the definitive parents' guide to Internet safety. As the executive at Microsoft who is responsible for idenitfying emerging online risks to children, she looks at the situation through the eyes of an expert and a parent--and then re-examines the landscape from the perspective of a potential predator, exposing hidden vulnerabilities that put us at risk for exploitation.

Criddle's book is comprehensive and specific. She alerts us to the ways that we are exposing our personal information to the general public, including instances in which parents inadvertently give away identifying information about their children. She is knowledgeable about the way predators use the Internet to identify potential victims and groom them, keeping in mind that online as in "real life" a predator is most likely to be someone known to a child.

"Look Both Ways" is almost overwhelming in its comprehensive scope. The book covers the latest developments in blogging, instant messaging, and online dating safety, as well as fraud scenarios including financial scams and phishing. Linda Criddle has written an essential guide that will help families develop skills and sensible limits that will ensure that parents and kids have positive Internet experiences. This book is an eye-opener and a vital addition to every parent's library.

This book offers a no-nonsense, simple to follow and understand, approach to protecting your family online. I have kids that loves browsing, playing games and searching for content online and I am always worried that they might expose themselves to risks and harm. The book helped me understand how to protect them without having to bar them from using online services... a must have for anyone who has a PC at home.

Just as everyone needs to learn to cross the street without getting hit by a car, everyone needs to learn to use the Internet safely - and this applies even if you think you are a technophobe. Linda Criddle explains that installing protective software is not enough. Antivirus, antispyware and firewall programs won't do you any good if you don't know how to protect your personal information and avoid exploitation; you can damage yourself more than any virus can. Criddle organizes her advice into 13 steps, and she provides helpful "think about it" and "find out more" boxes as well as real-life examples, images of Web pages, diagrams and sample forms. getAbstract recommends Criddle's advice if you blog, browse, send e-mail or instant messages, or play Internet games, either at home or at work - in other words, to just about anyone who'd rather be safe than sorry.

The book is full of common sense and was written by an expert in the field.
A mother of four is the perfect author.
I'd love to see this book translated into Spanish.