The Consumer Reports headline reads, "That Facebook friend might be 10 years old, and other troubling news," but – interestingly – fewer and fewer parents find it troubling. Most of today's headlines about under-13 social networkers are about the Consumer Reports survey, which found that 20 million, or about 13% of Facebook's 150 million active US users are under 18 and 7.5 million, or about 5%, … [Read more...] about Under-age on Facebook: New study
Privacy
A parent/author/tech pundit’s view on how to teach kids privacy
By blocking social media in schools and monitoring our kids at home, we've been falling down on the job – our job of educating them about how to protect their own privacy in an increasingly networked world. Blocking and monitoring has taught them to develop workarounds, not good privacy practices. "We want our kids to fight isolation with networks," said father and pundit Cory Doctorow in this … [Read more...] about A parent/author/tech pundit’s view on how to teach kids privacy
The need to teach kids privacy self-protection
If recent news – about the iPhone, the PlayStation Network, and the privacy breach du jour – says nothing else, it says no digital media user can rely on companies to protect our privacy. No huge surprise, but an important reminder. And in this user-driven media environment, this reality will not change, no matter how many calls there are for more regulation. So, to get them in the mindset as … [Read more...] about The need to teach kids privacy self-protection
iPhone story & how kids’ ‘champions’ in Congress pay attention
This week's big iPhone tracking story offers a great example of how lawmakers don't seek out and react to the best information on kid safety available – and, of course, why parents need to take politicians' pronouncements on the subject with a grain of salt. Too often they are protecting their own interests more than they're protecting children. This week Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass) published a … [Read more...] about iPhone story & how kids’ ‘champions’ in Congress pay attention
‘The right to disappear’: Future of privacy in Europe?
The French call it "le droit à l'oubli – literally, the right to oblivion," the Christian Science Monitor reports, which is – for most of us, now – what disappearing from the Internet would be like. It's what the European Union wants for Internet users: the ability to erase their digital footprints. The Monitor leads with the anecdote of young Dubliner's effort to remove all trace of himself from … [Read more...] about ‘The right to disappear’: Future of privacy in Europe?