• See to it that young children never disclose personal information. Commercial websites go to great lengths to obtain as much information from children as possible, often in the context of games and contests. Young people are naive and would give all the required data, not only about themselves but also about their friends and their parents. These data can then be used to send unwanted publicity, to make money (by selling them), to even better direct products and the website to the target group, to link them to other available information and thus composing consumer profiles, etc. For all these reasons it is better to emphasise to children that they must never fill in their personal data on a website, not even for a game or in exchange for presents or points. Explain to the children why they are not allowed to do that. Older children must also learn to be careful with information about themselves and about others. That reflex is crucial in order to avoid all kinds of other risks online also. Speak to the older children and teens and advise them to always ask an adult first before disclosing information. Teach them about privacy and the legislation on that matter. Check with them the privacy statement on a website and explain to them what should be written in such a statement before it is to be considered safe to give personal data, etc. In brief: give them a lesson in privacy rights for beginners.
  
• Talk to children about advergames and the commercial purpose of many websites. Teach them what the difference is between publicity and independent information. Make it clear to them that everything that is written on the internet is not necessarily true. Try to develop a kind of third sense for attempts to influence them and teach them to verify the reliability of information they find on the internet. All of this is coherent with a critical attitude when dealing with (personal) information and the internet in general and informs them about what to do when their parents are not around to advise them. It is actually not so clever to simply forbid children aged 9 to 13 to do something. Older children must be encouraged (further) to be critical and to make a distinction between fact and fiction on the internet (and elsewhere). Facts, prejudices, opinions, etc.: the internet gives it all miscellaneously and without a manual. A critical view on publicity in games is also part of good media training. The computer generation is very fixed on images, and that is why it is useful to develop a conscious relation with images and figurative speech.
  
• In any case parents should ponder, together with their children, why commercial websites of today make so ample use of games, how viral marketing and viral games work, how games can be (part of) a real strategy to link the player to a brand of products, etcetera. In the past some educators already pleaded for a publicity code for games. Since then the safety code of PEGI online was launched, which states a 'responsible advertising policy' among other things. But we leave it to every educator personally to evaluate whether this is a step in the right direction and whether the evaluation of an online game by PEGI, in particular with regard to publicity, is sufficient.
  

Because there are hardly any rules that deal with internet publicity and in order to limit the freedom in commercial practices, educators must themselves be critical and notify any practices they consider to be doubtful or unacceptable. That also is a good way to further develop regulation on new forms of misleading publicity and not to lose touch with new developments. In Belgium such notifications can always be addressed to infonl(at)saferinternet.be (in Dutch) or to infofr(at)saferinternet.be (in French).