New, free Miss America browser aims to keep children safe on the Internet

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Seven years ago, 13-year-old Lauren Nelson and a few friends entered an Internet chat room during a sleepover. Within a week, an online predator was e-mailing one of them lurid photos.

"We were chatting with people we didn't know, which was our first mistake, and someone asked for our personal information," she said. "A week later, he sent some inappropriate pictures to one of my friends. We were all scared, and told our parents, who contacted the authorities."

Now Nelson, who is the reigning Miss America, is the centerpiece of a new child-friendly Internet browser designed to keep children away from dangerous online sites and contacts.

The Miss America Kid-Safe Web Browser debuts today. The free download includes blocking mechanisms that have existed for years. But it also features an animated Nelson who walks children through their online experience, advising them about Internet safety and spouting random trivia: "There are twice as many kangaroos as people in Australia!"

She'll read their e-mail out loud and can be programmed to remind children to do their homework, feed the fish or clean their room.

Nelson, a 20-year-old from Oklahoma, made children's Internet security her main issue during the most recent pageant because of the disturbing online encounter she and her friends had as 13-year-olds.

"That was definitely an eye-opening experience," she said. "We never knew the Internet or chatting could get to that point."

The browser permits access to 10,318 Web sites that were determined to be child-friendly by the Miss America Organization and the Children's Educational Network. The browser allows parents to lock the computer and prohibit Internet access with any other browser, and it lets parents add sites to the approved list.

Greg Writer, chief executive officer of the Escondido, Calif.-based Children's Educational Network, started the child-friendly software company after his 7-year-old daughter typed her name into a search engine and clicked on a link to a porn site.

"She was sitting right next to my wife at the computer, and she said, 'Mommy, why are all these people showing off their naked butts?'" Writer said.

Like most Internet safety experts, Nelson opposes children or teens having computers in their bedrooms.

"Keep it in a high-traffic area of the house where people are constantly going past," she recommended.

She says parents don't need to be Internet-savvy to keep their children safe online, just involved.

"Just by asking questions and monitoring what your kids are doing, you can keep them safe," she said.

On the Net

Miss America Kid-Safe Browser: www.missamericakids.com

Children's Educational Network: www.childrenseducationalnetwork.com