‘Sex, videos and games hot with kids online’

Childrenare searching online for videos, social networks, games and, yes, porn as theygrow up in an Internet Age, according to computer security firm Symantec.
Symantec on Tuesday released a list of the Top 100 searchesconducted by children whose computers are tied to an OnlineFamily.Norton servicethat lets parents track their offspring's' Internet activities.
Themost popular search term was Google-owned video-sharing hotspot YouTube, wherechildren go for snippets ranging from Japanese anime and silly viral videos todance routines and help with math homework.
"Seeing YouTube on topis no surprise," said Symantec Internet Safety Advocate Marian Merritt.
"Kids use YouTube as a starting place for entertainment as well asfor education purposes."
Something unexpected was the tendency ofchildren to rely on search engines to find websites such as Google, Facebook,MySpace and Yahoo! in what could be a sign that they don't fully grasp theInternet address system.
Google and wildly popular social-networkingservice Facebook were the second and third top search terms respectively.
"Sex" came in fourth, just ahead of social-networking serviceMySpace and "porn," which was the sixth most common query.
"Any ofus who have been teenagers are not surprised kids look for information aboutsex," Merritt said. "I think we have all gotten over our shock that the Internethas porn."
Symantec studied 3.5 million searches made byOnlineFamily.Norton service users worldwide between February and July of thisyear.
Late king of pop Michael Jackson was among the top ten searchqueries, along with online auction pioneer eBay and a fictional "Fred" characterthat is a children's favorite at YouTube.
A homemade "Swimming withFred" video starring a pre-teen boy had logged more than 30.5 million views atYouTube as of Tuesday.
"I watch them; I don't get it," said Merritt,who has three teenagers of her own. "Perhaps that is one of the definitionsseparating parents from kids."
The online activity monitoringservice does not secretly snoop; it announces its presence onscreen anddispatches animated dog characters to warn children when they are heading forterritory set as off-limits by parents.
Merritt sees the service ashelping parents stay in tune with children as their lives move increasingonline.
She maintains that real-time online monitoring providescasual chances for parents and children to have "The Talk" about porn, sex,trusting strangers and other delicate topics.
"You can see what theyare searching; who they are instant messaging with, and what social networksthey are on," Merritt said of OnlineFamily.
Since its launch inApril 2009, OnlineFamily.Norton has provided parents using the service with morethan 90 million "teachable moments" with their kids, according to Symantec.
"We've found through the Norton Online Living Family Survey thatboth parents and kids want to speak with each other more frequently about theirday-to-day lives, not just the big issues," Merritt said.
OnlineFamily.Norton service is offered as a service online and isavailable only in English.
It is being offered free through theremainder of the year and Symantec has yet to determine what it will charge forthe service.