CUPERTINO, CA — Children do not just “stumble upon” pornography online, according to a new study of kids themselves. Instead, they actively seek explicit adult content, entertaining videos and contact with friends.Between February and July 2009, cybersecurity firm Symantec studied 3.5 million searches submitted via its OnlineFamily.Norton.com “safe surfing” product and discovered the words “sex” and “porn” ranked fourth and sixth among the top 100 search terms used by minors. The top three search terms were YouTube, Google and Facebook. MySpace ranked fifth.

Number nine on the list was “fred,” for Fred Figglehorn, a popular fictional character whose YouTube channel has become a hit among kids. Other popular search terms included Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and the Black Eyed Peas’ song “Boom Boom Pow.” (The complete Top 100 list is available here: TinyURL.com/klkozm.)

“Any of us who have been teenagers are not surprised kids look for information about sex,” said Marian Merritt, Symantec’s internet safety advocate. “I think we have all gotten over our shock that the Internet has porn.”

Since its official hard launch in April, OnlineFamily.Norton has uncovered 90 million “teachable moments” parents can use to ensure their children to stay safe online, Merritt said. “Teachable moments” occur when OnlineFamily.Norton discovers (and alerts parents about) a child’s inappropriate online behavior, including visiting restricted websites, entering false ages on social networking sites, engaging in inappropriate chat conversations or exceeding online time limits parents impose. The software does not rat out children to their parents on the sly. Instead, it presents animated onscreen warnings when kids approach parentally imposed boundaries.

OnlineFamily.Norton helps parents block attempts to visit “bad” websites, chat with unknown others via instant-messaging clients, prevents distribution of personal information and alerts parents to unapproved activities in real-time.

“We’ve found through the Norton Online Living Family Survey that both parents and kids want to speak with each other more frequently about their day-to-day lives, not just the “big issues,” Merritt said. “This can seem like a daunting task, but with a tool like OnlineFamily.Norton, which is built on a philosophy of dialogue, parents can stay in the loop on what their kids are doing online. It also helps identify ‘teachable moments’ when parents should be talking with their kids about appropriate online behavior and other issues in their kids’ online lives.”

The service will be offered free through the remainder of the year. Symantec has not yet decided what, if anything, it will charge after that.