Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 7/5/2008

Question
I have a 8 yr old daughter who want's to join hotmail. I don't know much about it. Is it safe please let me know

Answer
Thank you for caring enough about your daughter to ask this question. I'm astonished at how many parents let children use the Internet inside their bedrooms with the door closed or when parents are not home.

Hotmail is safe if and only if you can monitor her use of it. I see three main dangers: cyber bullying by other children; sexual predators; and organized crime, which is responsible for the amazingly pervasive pornographic spam that you've probably encountered yourself.

My suggestion is, if you do decide to let her use Hotmail, that you would open all her email for her before letting her see it, just in case it some kid tries to bully her, the bad guys send her porn or sexual predators try to get her to reveal her age and where she lives. Keep all your computer(s) in parts of your home where you can always tell when she's online as she can access her Hotmail email from any computer.