It’s always a good time to discuss computer security issues with your children. Here’s some thoughts to start:

1) Generally, don’t talk to strangers. Unfortunately, children are not going to abide by this, as part of the fun of online games is to meet and play with other people.

2) Don’t tell anyone your real full name. A first name should be good enough.

3) Don’t tell anyone your age.

4) Don’t tell anyone where you live. For purposes of playing with new-found friends on-line, just tell them the state, or the time zone and when it would be possible to play together again.

5) To register online for games, don’t give out your birthday! As a general rule, always use January 1st. If the site has a requirement to verify the user’s age, then the year of birth could be used. But all online birthdays should be January 1st. (All horses have a birthday of January 1.)

6) Many sites now ask only for your zip code. But even there, if you’ve ever lived at a different address than you do now, use that old zip code. In fact, if the site is not going to be actually sending you anything via US Mail, use that old address for all registrations.

7) Establish an online email account for the purpose of using it as the registration email address for any online registration.

8) Establish an answer to the online “security” questions, like “Name of favorite pet” or “Mother’s maiden name”. Especially for something like “Mother’s maiden name” which is actually used for identity purposes later in life, make up an answer. If your children have a school mascot, what’s its name? And just use that same answer for all the *online game* registrations.

9) And if there’s going to be money involved, always require that a parent be involved.