We ConnectSafely folk are pleased (and excited) to tell you about our new little Facebook guide for parents, educators, and everybody looking for the basics on the world's most popular social networking site – what it is, why young people use it, how to turn it into a great parenting tool, and how to optimize its privacy settings for teens. I started NetFamilyNews 11 years ago on the premise that … [Read more...] about Check out our new ‘Parents’ Guide to Facebook’!
Privacy
Talking privacy at household & international levels
We – all of us (well, maybe all of us above the age of around 28) – are in a very uncomfortable place where personal privacy's concerned. It seems all of our children are social Web users and we all have growing digital footprints ourselves, whether we're on Facebook or not, and we're pretty uneasy about the implications of all this intentional and inadvertent sharing for us as well as our kids. … [Read more...] about Talking privacy at household & international levels
Wall Street Journal: Privacy breach with Facebook apps
Today the Wall Street Journal reported that "many of the most popular applications, or 'apps,' on Facebook have been transmitting users’ Facebook ID numbers to marketers and tracking companies." It focused on Facebook, but then explained that the privacy breach it was reporting on is a phenomenon as old as Web links that has become a problem with the advent of social networking in general. The … [Read more...] about Wall Street Journal: Privacy breach with Facebook apps
From real emails to fake profiles on Facebook
This is a heads-up for parents and kids wanting to avoid a cyberbullying trick. First, if kids have multiple email accounts (and many do), they do not want other kids to know any email addresses besides the one they used to sign up for Facebook. Michael Arrington at TechCrunch created an account at Facebook impersonating Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google. He said he was sorry in the first sentence … [Read more...] about From real emails to fake profiles on Facebook
Youth privacy study: Should focus be only on parents’ views?
I'm sure Internet industry CEOs who've said or implied that "privacy is dead" are wishing they never had. I am too – but for different reasons. Where online kids are concerned, statements like that break an important global discussion down into a simplistic, binary argument about whether or not companies protect children's privacy. That argument keeps us (parents) focused on the wrong things and … [Read more...] about Youth privacy study: Should focus be only on parents’ views?