Responsible parenting and internet use

Parental Controls    Privacy    Terms of service

This area is meant to be an explanation of our policies on children and their use of our system. It is also intended to enlighten you to the possible hazards of allowing your children to use any internet  communications program, including but not limited to, voice chat, e-mail, instant messaging, IRC, message boards, or news groups.  This area is NOT intended to modify our terms of service in any way.  It is intended to explain things in common language, nothing more.

Age limits and why we have them:

To download and install Paltalk you must be at least 18 years of age and agree to the terms of service as defined HERE.  Anyone under the age of 13 (thirteen) is forbidden to use the program. Any minors between the ages of 13 and 18 must be under parental supervision and you as a parent must assume all liability and responsibility for the use of your account. This includes supervising your child and being sure that minor children NEVER enter Adult or R rated areas!

If you have minor children in your home you should use the parental controls feature to be sure your children never access adult content on Paltalk.  For more information about parental controls click HERE.

Paltalk is a global community of people that are expected to be over the age of 18, or under parental supervision. Paltalk allows users to create and administrate their own rooms and cannot be held responsible or liable for the content in these user created rooms.

It is not Paltalk's responsibility to supervise your child while they are on our system, YOU must assume that responsibility as a parent. Any child under the age of 13 is absolutely forbidden to use this program.

Users that are determined to be under the age of 13 will be promptly removed from the program and their accounts suspended. This means that if your child is using your machine and is found to be under the age of 13, that YOUR account may also be restricted in the process. To avoid being banned because a child uses your computer be sure not to allow your underage child to use Paltalk. We also suggest that you do not save your password to avoid having your child log in under your account.

We suggest that you regularly check Paltalk to see if any new accounts are being created by your children in your absence. If any new accounts have been created without your consent you must delete them from your machine immediately and restrict your child's access to Paltalk or to your computer.

To delete unauthorized accounts check the login screen of Paltalk. When you start Paltalk you will see a pull-down menu on the sign on screen. Your present nickname is displayed. Select the down arrow to the right of your name and check to see if any unauthorized nicknames are present. If you find an unauthorized nickname you may delete it from the 'account management' section under 'setup preferences' located in the 'file' menu of the main pal list window once you are logged in on your own nickname.

Language and content:

We provide ratings as a guideline for the type of content that you may encounter in any given room. These are guidelines that are enforced by the administrators of each chat room, and are not to be regarded as an assurance that the content will be safe or acceptable to you or your children. Paltalk  cannot be held liable for any assumptions that you make when entering any given chat room.

Room ratings:
 

note:  there is no age restriction on G rated rooms meaning that rooms may contain people of all ages
Never assume that a G rated room is populated by people of a certain age group simply by virtue of the G rating.

The unfortunate truth about child predators:

Always be aware of the fact that any personal contact with a person on the internet can have it's hazards for people of any age. Children are especially vulnerable. Children may feel safe at the computer  in their own home and give out personal information without thinking about the possible consequences. Child predators lurk in the dark corners of virtually all walks of life and the internet is no different.

Child predators take the time to refine the art of gaining trust with children.  Even if a room has age limits imposed in their titles you cannot be assured of the age of the person your child may be chatting with.

As a responsible parent you must realize that a program with such a huge population is bound to have a certain amount of 'unsavory' or even dangerous people on the system.  Until a user becomes an apparent problem we have no way of knowing who they are or what they are doing.  Even though Paltalk makes a genuine effort to expel users who prey on children, there can be no absolute assurance that any personal communication is totally safe.  Be sure that your child is educated to NEVER give out any personal information to anyone on ANY form of communication on the internet.

Be responsible when you allow your child to use ANY internet communication.  Your best assurance of your child's safety is your close and constant supervision.

Paltalk does, and will cooperate with law enforcement agencies when dealing with inappropriate transfers of sexual or adult material to children.

References to laws concerning the internet and children:

Since Paltalk refuses service to anyone under the age of 13, and requires that a person be 18 years of age to register an account, Paltalk will never knowingly divulge, sell, transmit or otherwise communicate any personal account information of a minor unless requested by law enforcement in accordance with our terms of service and privacy policy.

Check our terms of service HERE.

Check our privacy policy HERE.
 

Reference sites:

Get net wise!  Common sense guidelines.
http://www.getnetwise.org/

10 golden rules of online safety. (not just for kids)
http://www.worldkids.net/school/safety/internet/internet.htm

Learn about parenting and keep your kids safe on the net.
http://www.safekids.com/

Anti-Child porn information.
http://www.antichildporn.org/
 

Legal issues:

Child Online Privacy Protection Act. (coppa)
note:  this act has expired
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm
 

Child safety information sites:

FBI child safety information
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguide.htm

Operation Blue Ridge Thunder
http://www.blueridgethunder.com/

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
http://www.missingkids.com/