Virtual ID Card Designed For Children

A veteran in the online security industry has launched a virtual ID card designed to keep children safe while surfing the Internet.

NetIDme is an electronic identity card that displays the user's first name, age, gender, and general location. Children can use it to swap online when in chat rooms and social networks or exchanging instant messages.

Several schools in the United Kingdom have trialed the application. Now the Glasgow-based Internet ID verification company NetIDme Ltd is making the application available in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States at www.netidme.com.

The card is the brainchild of NetIDme managing director Alex Hewitt, who had the idea after finding that his daughter could only verify the age and identity one third of her 150 online friends. "I needed to come up with a way to protect her, so I created software that works on a secure public- and private-key system," he said. "If you want to give me your ID, the system creates a virtual ID card and sends it to me. Only I can view and lock that information, so I can't pass on the card to someone else and pretend to be you."

Children are encouraged to check the identity of people they communicate with online by being awarded points for each ID they check or issue. The points are exchanged for prizes like music. Parents and children can apply for the card online. Members are verified and sent paperwork through the mail for parents to sign.

Research firm eMarketer says 75 percent of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. Only one-third of the households with Internet access protect their children with filters or blocking software, according to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Hewitt admits nothing is full proof. "The only way to guarantee the system is 100 percent safety is to unplug the Internet," he said, explaining it's a bit like installing a burglar alarm in a home. A predator might walk by because they wouldn't want to risk getting caught.

"Children are too willing to give up personal information to people they don't know and it's become a major problem," said Joe Carrizzo, president at SearchHelp Inc. "When it comes down to monitoring sex offenders online, how can law enforcement arrest and prosecute someone if they can't prove who the person is on the other side of the instant message."

SearchHelp, a Bethpage, N.Y., software and services company geared toward protecting kids online, is looking at other ways to verify the person's identity but declined to go into details.

SearchHelp on Friday launched a Web site to help track registered sex offenders nationwide. The site, Sentry Predator Locator, supports an accompanying application launched by the company last month. Information on the site includes the person's name, offence and where they live.