Holly Hawkins
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The Internet in Our Child's Backpack
The arrival and rapid adoption of portable, connected devices has, literally and figuratively, lifted the computer from our homes and dropped it into our child's backpack. These portable, connected devices pose a greater risk to our children than the home computer because they can be pulled out and used anywhere and at anytime on impulse, and most importantly, without supervision.
You can read my entire article on iKeepSafe's Internet Safety News and Information blog: The Internet in Our Child's Backpack.
Teaching Digital Citizenship
How do we teach our children about digital citizenship when they are the digital natives and are often too young to even grasp the concept? The answer is to start with simple messages that they can understand and build on those as they grow and their use of the Internet becomes more complex. I recently wrote an article for iKeepSafe's Internet Safety News and Information blog that explores these messages: Teaching Our Children to be Digital Citizens.
Privacy vs. Safety? Open Monitoring vs. Spying?
Internet Safety Tips, Internet Dangers, Social Networking, Technology, Parental Controls
In the following Today Show segment, Donna Rice Hughes, President of Enough is Enough, and Michelle Borba, Educational Psychologist, discuss Internet safety with Matt Lauer. The question posed is, "Should parents snoop on their children with spyware or use an open monitoring/filtering solution?" Parents have mixed reactions to the use of spyware with some believing that it is a necessary tool to help keep their child safe online, while others believe it's a violation of privacy and there are other alternatives to keep tabs on their child such as "friending" them on social networking sites. There isn't a wrong answer - it really comes down to parenting style and family norms as to what protective measure parents put in place. The most important point is for parents to put measures in place - it takes, as Donna says during the segment, "rules and tools." Parents need to set the rules regarding expectations of online behavior, including consequences of violating those rules, and use tools to help monitor their child's online activities.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Safer Internet Day 2011: "It's more than a game, it's your life"
Social Networking, Video Gaming
Safer Internet is today – it is organized by INSAFE in February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people across the world.
This year, the focus is on virtual lives. Today young people spend a good part of their lives on activities ranging from online gaming to social networking. In doing so they face multiple challenges related to their privacy, reputation and health.
Key facts:*
• Gamers spend on average 8 hours weekly playing online.
• Young people sleep 2 to 3 hours less per night than 10 years ago.
• In January 2010, 18 million accounts were registered on Second Life.
• Facebook reports more than 500 million active users.
• Users spend 700 billion minutes on Facebook each month.
• 13 million players in World of Warcraft (WoW), world's largest massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).
• MMORPGs generated $1.5 billion in subscription revenues worldwide in 2008,
forecast to reach $2.5 billion by 2012.
• Up to 250,000 players are simultaneously online on WoW.
• Transactions and sales of virtual goods in virtual worlds were estimated at $18 billion in 2009.
*Sources: Facebook, Second Life, TDG, Strategy Analytics
Here are some key messages to consider:
• Hiding behind your avatar, pseudo or profile page will not shield you.
• Your actions in your virtual life can impact on your real life.
• Monitor your playing activities: a balance between online and offline is important.
• Look for virtual worlds that don't encourage consumerism.
To learn more about INSAFE and their online safety initiatives see: http://www.saferinternet.org/.
First-Ever Online Safety & Security Education App Available on Smartphone Platform
Internet Safety Tips, Articles of Interest
The Internet Education Foundation (IEF) today announced the launch of "Net Safety Tips On The Go" (Net Safety Tips OTG), the first-ever digital safety and security advice app for wireless users. Developed with the support of Google and Verizon, this innovative app makes it easy for consumers and families to keep up with mobile and online privacy, safety, and security issues using their Android smartphone or tablet.
The app dispenses quick, practical, friendly advice in easy-to-digest portions - one tip at a time - to help users use the Internet and smartphones safely. These tips offer information on mobile privacy and security, searching and surfing the Web safely, safeguarding your sensitive financial online information and more. The premier online safety education organizations in the world including Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely.org, OnGuardOnline.gov, and GetNetWise.org produce content to feed the app. Other leading online safety, security and privacy organizations are expected to contribute soon.
"Mobile broadband technology provides limitless opportunities for fun, education and entertainment for everyone," said Rose Kirk, Verizon Foundation president. "To make the most of these opportunities, families need to feel comfortable online. Tools such as Net Safety Tips On The Go help provide families peace of mind, knowing they have the knowledge needed to be safe and secure in the digital world."
Mobile app-based education allows busy people to be more personally productive during their hectic days making Net Safety OTG the perfect tool to educate them. "This app is a terrific idea, especially for people whose lives revolve around their phones," noted Larry Magid, Internet safety pioneer and co-director of ConnectSafely.org. "Everything is going mobile, and now we have put crucial online safety and security education in the hands of anyone with an Android phone or tablet," said Tim Lordan, IEF Executive Director.
Net Safety Tips OTG is available as a free download from the Android Market™ and is featured in the Verizon tab of the Android Market™ on Verizon Wireless smartphones. Visit http://netsafetyapp.org for more information, sample tips and download information.
When Private Equals Public: Take Caution
In reading a recent news story about a nursing student who was expelled for posting photos of herself posing with a human placenta taken during an off-site lab course, I'm reminded of how easy it is to share information on the Internet without fully considering all the possible ramifications, even if we have the best intentions in mind. This is true for both young people as well as us adults.
Those of us who use social networking services should be using the accompanying privacy preferences to help protect our information. But, that is not always enough. What does the term 'privacy' actually mean in the social networking realm? How do we both protect and share information at the same time?
Realistically, there is no true privacy on the social web. Social networks are based on the concept of sharing; therefore, privacy preferences within those environments are designed to protect our content from mass distribution by limiting who has immediate access to view it. By sharing content – picture, video, or any other material - with just one person online, we have moved it from a private to a public forum. It is at the point of sharing content, no matter how limited, that we relinquish control over its future use – we can no longer control who it is shared with or how it may be used. This may lead to unforeseen consequences.
Use this as a reminder to always utilize privacy preferences and view the Internet, not as private, but a public forum. Remember to take caution before posting - the question to ask ourselves is not just who we should share with, but should the content be shared at all.
"If You Wouldn't Wear It, Don't Share It: Beware What You Share"
In an effort to educate teens about safe online and digital practices, AOL has joined the Ad Council and some of our nation's leading corporate marketers, media, non-profit organizations and foundations to form the Internet Safety Coalition.
This unprecedented effort unites more than 40 industry leaders in helping to keep teens safer online. Members include AT&T, Google, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Microsoft, Symantec and the Wireless Foundation (for a complete list, visit www.internetsafetypartners.org).
Our Coalition's message offers teens a simple digital safety guideline to live by: "If you wouldn't wear it, don't share it. Beware what you share." New videos and Web banners show teens the consequences of sharing personal information online.
This unique collaboration will help educate and empower teens to be smart about what they post and share online. We know that targeted and consistent communications programs have the power to change attitudes and behaviors regarding a multitude of social issues. I am confident that this effort will significantly broaden the reach and impact of our messages and ultimately help keep our children safer.
For more information about the coalition, visit www.internetsafetypartners.org.
This unprecedented effort unites more than 40 industry leaders in helping to keep teens safer online. Members include AT&T, Google, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Microsoft, Symantec and the Wireless Foundation (for a complete list, visit www.internetsafetypartners.org).
Our Coalition's message offers teens a simple digital safety guideline to live by: "If you wouldn't wear it, don't share it. Beware what you share." New videos and Web banners show teens the consequences of sharing personal information online.
This unique collaboration will help educate and empower teens to be smart about what they post and share online. We know that targeted and consistent communications programs have the power to change attitudes and behaviors regarding a multitude of social issues. I am confident that this effort will significantly broaden the reach and impact of our messages and ultimately help keep our children safer.
For more information about the coalition, visit www.internetsafetypartners.org.
Our World Recorded & Revealed
Sharing Info Online, Social Networking
Can you imagine a world where everything we say and share - thoughts, opinions, images - is 'recorded' for others to snag and use at will? Can you imagine your mistakes captured and played back over and over again for you to relive and anyone else to see?
Most of us would probably say that we couldn't imagine it and certainly wouldn't want to live in a world like that, but we do and so do our kids. The Internet is that world and our kids are growing up there. They are exploring, pushing limits, and taking risks on the Internet – all behaviors associated with gaining independence.
This road to independence gets complicated and often results in devastating consequences when teens use the Internet to explore sexual experiences. Today's teens are increasingly using the Internet to share sexually suggestive text messages and/or risqué photos and videos of themselves. This activity is occurring more and more over cell phones (known as 'sexting') – cell phones are mobile and can be used spontaneously.
The consequences of this behavior have been played out in recent headlines and range from child pornography charges, to registering as a sex offender, to taunting by peers and to suicide (see below for recent news stories).
The Facebook Takeaway
The media blitz and ensuing consumer outcry over Facebook's recent attempt to change their Terms of Service indicating complete ownership of anything its users post even after they are long gone has, if nothing else, raised awareness of the privacy (or perceived privacy) of content we post on the Internet.
Whether you believe that Facebook really wanted to own and use everything that you ever posted at any time in the foreseeable future or if they were attempting to legally capture what actually happens to the content we post, or if you're somewhere in between, you should realize the potential consequences of posting and sharing content online.
As a social media user or a parent of a child who use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, here is the takeaway:
Be cautious of what you post and share with others. Once you share content - pictures, videos, stories, artwork or any other originally created work - with just one person online, you relinquish control over its potential distribution and use.
This is not a new phenomenon brought about by social networks, it has been around since the advent of e-mail, however, the volume of content has grown and become much more personal today. Social networks have become an extension of our lives – they're our family photo albums, our high school reunions, our workplace meeting ground, our venting platform and much more. So, the thought of this information circulating and used in a manner that we didn't intend can be disconcerting.
