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Dear Subscribers:

It's good to be back (from our vacation)! So much has happened, cyberspatially speaking. A hearty welcome to all the subscribers who've joined us in the past two weeks. Here's our lineup for this third week of August:

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Web News Briefs

  1. Filtering in libraries: the debate continues

    Citing a new Michigan state law about Internet filtering in public libraries, the only public library in Georgetown Township, Mich., has decided to put filtering software on all eight of its Net-connected computers. According to the New York Times, the Georgetown library is fairly unusual: "Only about 14% of public libraries offering Internet access employ filters, and most of those install the devices only on some of their terminals." Which puts this particular library right in the middle of a nationwide debate between free-speech advocates and people seeking to protect kids by keeping sexually explicit material off Net-connected computers in public places. Adding fuel to the debate in the Georgetown area is the fact that Michigan's new library filtering law is worded a bit ambiguously, leaving plenty of room for interpretation.

    This story would make great source material for a debate at your dinnertable or in classrooms when school's back in session. It's also fodder for family discussions on the best ways to keep kids' at-home Internet use constructive - helping them see that family decisionmaking is part of an important national debate, and that individual families actually have it a lot easier than public institutions in working out acceptable-use policies! If any of you do have a discussion like this with kids, we'd love to hear the results. Just email us at feedback@netfamilynews.org.

  2. Teens have internalized tech

    Some stats: About 12.5 million of 16-22-year-olds in the United States are online, and they have $37 billion in spending power, according to Forrester Research via Nua Internet Surveys. The most interesting thing Forrester found was that Net users under 22 have "internalized" the technology - it's a natural part of all their behaviors and "points toward a reshaping of the economy. (Adult users, on the other hand, "consciously decide to adopt the Internet" into consumption patterns they had already established.) Forrester says surfers under 22: "spend an average of nine hours a week surfing the Internet (about 38% longer than the average wired adult spends), are more likely than adults to visit a wider variety of places on the Web, take part in more Web activities such as listening to music and reading Web 'zines,' and demand high-speed Internet access." For a little more depth, read WebTrend Watch (this week the URL is http://www.mediainfo.com/ephome/news/newshtm/webnews/webtrend.htm#3; next week the report will be archived).

    Meanwhile, Net usage by teenagers this summer jumped 24%, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. While summer traditionally *slows* TV viewing, the report said, average time spent online by 12-17-year-olds went from 5 hours, 42 minutes in May to 7 hours, 4 minutes in July. For kids 2-11 online time increased 21%.

  3. E-rate update

    The e-rate is here to stay but so is the controversy surrounding it, reportedly. It's just that the complaints are now coming from beneficiaries more than from critics. According to the New York Times, even its harshest critics are now saying that the federal subsidy for Internet connectivity in schools and libraries is so popular that further complaints are "futile." The Times says that, because of the e-rate, 80,000 schools and libraries will have new or improved Net access and more than 1 million individual classrooms nationwide will be wired this coming year. The e-rate budget for this year has been increased by a third to $2.25 billion, making it one of the US government's biggest education programs. However, Wired News recently sent out "The E-Rate's First Report Card", reporting complaints from some beneficiaries about red tape and poor organization.

  4. The latest on low-cost PCs

    Macintosh has now jumped into the free-PC fray. According to Reuters via Wired News, a company called FreeMac.com will be giving away a million free Apple iMacs, following the free-PC pattern whereby consumers sign up for three years of dialup Internet access to get their free computers. FreeMac's two partners in the offer are Earthlink the Internet service provider and First Visa USA, which requires users to get their Visa card and use it to pay the standard $19.95 a month for Internet service. Analysts aren't sure how anybody's going to make any money on these deals, but that's not really the concern of us consumers. Here's CNNfn's version of the story. And according to News.com, FreeMac's offering users a little "value add": "Those who submit demographic information will receive a poster designed by pop artist Peter Max. Max serves as Freemac's spokesperson and chief creativity officer."

    And implications of all these free-PC offers (for us as well as PC makers): "PC Makers At Your Service." According to SiliconValley.com, for us consumers, the process of researching and buying PCs will become easier. As for PC manufacturers, they're morphing from being product companies into being service companies. An interesting Internet impact on business! Meanwhile, are free PCs too good to be true? Computer Currents says the FTC is eyeing this trend with just that question in mind.

  5. Entertaining day trading?

    Think twice, we've all heard. Now there's a report out that highlights the risks. According to Wired News, the reports says 70% of people who trade stocks on the Internet "will not only lose, but will almost certainly lose everything they invest," and only about 1 in 10 day traders actually makes a profit. Independent consultant Ronald L. Johnson got that data by analyzing a sample of day-trading accounts for the North American Securities Administrators Association. Here's how Wired defines this category of investor: "Day traders typically buy and sell shares several times a day, trying to capitalize on small fluctuations in stock prices." One way to think of it might be "day trading" as opposed to "day job." For balance, Wired includes the perspective of a real-live day trader.

    Then there's "after-hours trading." Read the latest development (concerning ETrade) at the Red Herring. The news represents yet more risks for the individual investor and, as the Herring puts it, "another small step amid the swirl of big shifts that are currently shaking up the global securities markets."

  6. Listing sex offenders online

    According to ZDNet, 15 US states and many more counties and communities have posted the names and whereabouts of sex offenders on the Internet. Four more states have passed laws requiring that sex offender registries be put online. The Web's great for the law enforcement agencies that have to comply with these laws and get the information out: It's cheap and convenient. They don't have to buy expensive space in newspapers, for example, and they can update any time. And ZDNet reports that the agencies say they're getting overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents.

    But the practice certainly has its detractors in the civil liberties community. The most interesting point critics make is the very accessibility of information on the Web - a quantum leap in public accessibility from having to go to a police station and sign paperwork to be able to get lists of sex offenders' places of residence.

    There is a lot of user feedback at the bottom of the ZDNet article. It's probably more interesting than the article itself. If you have an opinion on the subject, send it to us too. With your permission, we'll share it with your fellow subscribers.

  7. And just for fun: An attractive (slightly egocentric?) IPO

    Let the New York Times's Steve Lohr show you how he too plans to become a "gazillionaire" overnight by filing for an (Internet) IPO as me.com. He offers you a unique opportunity to invest. :-)

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Girls in digital media

Our focus this week is on what the Web does for girls of the teenage persuasion. We're just as keen on presenting sites for boys, but we've noticed an interesting phenomenon on the Web: Searches in Yahoo!, HotBot, Excite, etc. yield more sites consciously and specifically designed for girls than for boys. You can happen upon categories that statistically tend to draw more boys (such as games sites), but very few that explicitly target boys the way sites like GrrlGamer and Indygirl target girls.

Take Yahooligans!, for example. Go into "Arts and Entertainment" (next level after the home page), and nestled among "Chat," "Games@," "Movies," and "Toys," you'll find "Girls' Sites." Is there a "Boys' Sites" listing? Nope.

One explanation may be that girls, and sites publishing for them, are playing "catchup" in this electronic medium. The Internet started out as mainly "a guy thing" because it was originally a project of the military and defense research. The gender gap has gradually narrowed to the point where just last month a CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Survey found that 46% of North American Internet users are women.

Not that employment in the Internet industry or high tech in general are matching that demographic. According to GirlGeeks, a site and program that promotes women in computing, "Today, more than 50 million women use the Internet. They go to MIT, invent new technologies, and create cool e-zines. But still," GirlGeeks says, citing a National Science Foundation study, "the percentage of young women - particularly girls - getting into computing is shrinking by 50%." Another great resource on this topic is the Center for Women and Information Technology at the University of Maryland.

To gain some insight into the gender issue, we've interviewed someone who's been following digital-media resources for girls since 1984. Genevieve (Gen) Katz's Web site, Games4Girls, is part of the Internet "gift economy." She's an architect by profession, but she publishes Games4Girls in her "free time" (whatever that is) because 1) "I'm interested in what's out there for girls," she told us, and 2) hardly anybody's publishing information on digital entertainment for girls. Gen says the games magazines sold on newsstands these days are almost entirely boy-centric. They don't cover girls' games. "Girls and women are multitaskers," Gen said. "They like to do lots of things and usually at the same time, probably a biological survival trait. The game industry deprecates this by saying that, while boys get totally involved with playing games, girls use computers to do things. Duh! I think the Web provides this active mix."

We asked Gen to expand on what the Web offers girls. "Girls like to talk," she said. "They like the community of the Web. Remember the old story, teenage girls are always on the phone? Well, the telephone is now the Web. Communication and interaction are a girls thing. Boys are interacting with the computer screen. Girls are looking through the computer screen to their friends - to the outside world." We have definitely noticed that most of the girls' sites we've been to prominently feature community - chat, discussion boards, greeting cards, a certain "clubiness."

We asked Gen which Web sites for teen girls are stand-outs for her, positively or negatively. Here are her three favorites:

Talk City's The InSite: "My favorite among sites. Grownup information, addresses the concerns teenagers have (does address both male and female issues), doesn't talk down to teens. Straight information on sex, health, describes and discusses effects of drugs. Good section on 'Justice Now,' which is an area to sound off about injustices."

ChickClick - "Cool with an attitude. Forums and short topics relevant to teen female interest."

About-Face - "A sophisticated put down of those ads with skinny, spaced out models sending demeaning messages about women."

We asked Gen what criteria she'd use (and encourage girls to use) in spending time in a Web site?

"It has to be fun and provide you with an opportunity to explore things you can't find in real life. A good use of the Web is to read the magazines in areas of your interest. For example, I'm interested in dance and go to Dance Magazine for articles on dancers, advice on dancers' health, chats with famous performers, etc. While it's not as comprehensive as the print publication, it provides lots of online content."

Finally, we asked her to tell us a bit more about entertainment products for girls.

"The game industry has really short-changed both teens and women. There is product out there for young girls (the five-year range) - 'Mia - The Search for Grandma's Remedy,' 'Orley's Draw-A-Story,' the Madeleine series, 'Smarty,' and 'Sheila Ray the Brave.' (Note: Only the last one is a new release.) All of these had smart, adventurous girls, and none of them even mentioned clothes. The stuff for teens is done by the formula that says girls like clothes, boys, horoscopes, collecting things, and talking to other girls. Except for the last, this is a mindless image to be serving and reinforcing. On the other hand, products like You Can Be a Woman Architect, Astronomer, Marine Biologist, Engineer, etc. lack excitement and don't capture the excitement of those professions. These products would work in a school library but not for a Christmas gift.

"So, what's left?" Gen continues. "Products that surreptitiously do more than CBH (clothes, boys, horoscopes). 'Barbie Photo Designer' has a digital camera for $70 (regular ones cost from $400 to $600). Besides putting a relatively new technology in a girl's hands, the product exposes to 9-pin computer hook-up, uploads, and does special effects. She'll be encouraged to handle scanned images, and she'll be exposed to acronyms like BMP and JPEG. 'Teen Digital Diva,' although dealing with CBH [clothes, boys, horoscopes] at least has you doing a magazine layout. Slim pickin's. The potential that the game genre has of allowing us to explore different personalities and even try out new and dangerous situations in safe ways are not exploited in products for teens. The Cosmopolitan game, with experimentation with hairstyles and eventually clothes, at least lets a teen try out other visual personalities.

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Other site-seeing for girls

Besides the Web sites Gen mentioned above, here are some other interesting sites specifically targeting girls which we've run across:

A Girl's World Online Clubhouse - A Web "clubhouse" for preteens and teens run by a staff of volunteers who are mostly girls themselves.

SmartGirl.com - An online community and collection of Web reviews written by girls who visit SmartGirl.com, the site grew out of a survey about girls on the Web that was part of a Master's thesis by its founder.

GirlSite.org - A nonprofit "community of girls on the Net" that promotes the power of self, voice, technology, opportunity, and community for girls.

Planet Girl.com - The flagship site of GirlGames, Inc., in Austin, TX, Planet Girl has quizzes, chat, bulletin boards, games, e-cards, horoscopes, advice ("Ask a Guy"), and Web reviews just for girls. Expect changes: They recently hired the creator of Mattel's Barbie.com, the No. 1 site on the Web for girls 6-12.

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Going back in time

Our thanks to Homework Central for pointing us to a site about an important pioneer in women's emancipation: Mary Lyon. In the economically depressed mid-1830s, when girls were lucky to get much education at all, this courageous young educator founded a college (Mt. Holyoke College, then Mt. Holyoke Seminary) that was to become a model for women's higher learning. The site does a great job of showing readers both the enormous constraints Lyon faced and the innovations her college represented in the early 19th century. Some perspective for pioneering work in cyberspace, perhaps.

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A PC called Barbie?

Yes, but not to leave any stones unturned, Mattel will also be offering a Hot Wheels PC for boys. It's a creative marketing ploy: Next month Mattel will start selling full-featured, gender-specific desk-top computers just for kids, according to Reuters via the New York Times. In addition to the silver-colored Barbie computer, 15-inch monitor, and speakers, girls get the already-popular Barbie digital camera and a Barbie flowered mouse. Boys get a blue-and-yellow Hot Wheels computer and peripherals plus a Hot Wheels steering wheel, mouse, mousepad, and CD holder. And for parting with their $599 all buyers get a snappy 333 megahertz Intel Celeron processor, 56K modem, and the Windows 98 operating system, as well as about $500 worth of Mattel software (like Kid Pix Studio, Myst, and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing). Just in time for Christmas!

In its Backtalk Poll on the subject, Women's Wire asked two good questions: Is the Barbie tie-in a surefire way to get more girls comfortable with computers at a young age? Or does the boy-girl delineation smack of continued stereotyping? Tell us what you think - via feedback@netfamilynews.org. (When you email us, pls always tell us what item or question you're referring to in the newsletter.)

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From a subscriber: Kids' privacy first-hand

Subscriber Bob in Washington, D.C., has done us all a real service. Having read here at NFN about the FTC's kids' online privacy efforts, he'd been wondering how commercial sites really were going about obtaining kids' personal information and why. So he randomly picked one, posed as a kid, and registered. Then he decided to take us through the process, via email (look for his conclusion further down):

"Wow, I just went to the Disney kids' site. They may be talking a lot about kid safety, but they encourage children, strongly, to register (you have to register to join the chats and other activities) and give them personal info.

"The registration has buttons for various age ranges. First off, there's nothing to stop kids from registering as adults, thereby bypassing all the safeguards intended for kids. Second, even if kids click on 'Under 12' they're then asked to fill out their first AND LAST names, their email addresses, and their zip codes. Essentially, that's enough info to know everything about the kid, including his home address. There is no message about how this information will or won't be used.

"They also ask for the parent's name and email address, which I presume is to ask for parents' consent. But, of course, kids can just put the same email address in (families often do share email addresses) and give consent themselves. Even if the children do give their parent's email address and the parent decides to decline, it's unclear that the information the child filled in will be permanently destroyed. I suspect there is no one at Disney in charge of deleting user information.

"There is no obvious privacy statement, except in fine print at the bottom. Click on it, and you get nearly 3,000 words of fine print legalese that no child or adult could wade through.

"Worse, there's a button on their home page that says 'FREE DAILY BLAST! CLICK HERE!" When you click on it, it asks for full personal information, including street address. Only when you finish giving it to them do you see that you are subscribing for trial membership in a $39.95 per year service.

"Then there's a line for them to fill in credit card information, assuming they want to keep their membership after the 30 days. While that particular set of fields has text that speaks to parents, every other field on the page speaks to children. So clearly they are assuming kids are looking at this page and filling things in, not parents.

"And these are the folks who say they're CONCERNED about kids' privacy. I'd hate to see the sites of the folks who DON'T care."

--Bob

Given that experience, we asked Bob what conclusion he drew from it, and here's what he kindly emailed back:

"I think they should just stop soliciting email and zip code info from kids, PERIOD - unless the kids are buying something or asking for an email response. Is that too much to ask? Kids should be able to enjoy the site without being asked for that info. And in cases where that info IS needed, all Disney has to do is put a big, clear statement there, saying, 'Hey! We're asking for info here that your parents may not want you to give out. Clear it with them before you tell us. Also, click on this box __ if you want us to delete all your information once we've sent you your (prize, special message, whatever). If you don't click it, we'll keep you on file in case you want more stuff, or in case we want to tell/send you something later. Either way, we promise not to let anyone else have your info.'

"If they DO want to sell the info, they should say so (I'm not saying that Disney does, but if any company does they should disclose this and say something like): 'We'd like to sell this information to companies who want to tell you about their wonderful products. Do you mind?' This seems like common sense. Either you want to fool kids into giving you info unwittingly (bad) or you want to be a responsible company and make sure kids understand what they're doing (good). I don't see why this is a difficult choice for companies to make. But, then again, I have a history of missing the point."

--Bob

Do you agree with Bob? What does his experience say to you? For one thing, do you see fresh reasons for parents to help avoid temptation and keep credit card numbers away from kids? What do you think about all-family email boxes vs. kids' own private ones? What do you think about companies gathering information from children? Do email us your thoughts or experiences.

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That does it for this week. Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Net Family News


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