I think the very reason why this year's big-media anti-bullying campaign featuring CNN's Anderson Cooper has a much more effective message – "Stop Bullying: Speak Up" – is because a social media partner's involved. Last year, Cooper was host of a TV special report, "Bullying: No Escape," sponsored by Time Inc., CNN, and Cartoon Network, eSchoolNews reports. This year a more positive and … [Read more...] about An appropriately social anti-bullying campaign
Risk & Safety
No ‘God complex’ in Net safety, please
In his TED Talk, author Tim Harford tells the story of World War II prisoner of war Dr. Archie Cochrane and the start of his life-long observation about "the God complex" – the idea some people have that, no matter how complex the problem or conditions, they understand the way it all works and are "infallibly right" in what the solution should be. Problematic, if not dangerous in this … [Read more...] about No ‘God complex’ in Net safety, please
How cellphones get hacked
Amid the headlines and hearings about a British tabloid hacking cellphones, you may be curious about how that was done. You may also be curious about phone security for kids – I'll get to that in a moment. My ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid explained in the Huffington Post how easily those hacks can happen. He writes of default PIN numbers (used sometimes by criminal hackers when people … [Read more...] about How cellphones get hacked
A new book & fresh look at online privacy
We may not be fully aware of it yet, but as our media environment is changing – from a top-down (regulated, professionally produced) one to a user-driven, multidirectional, social one – so is our idea of privacy. Slowly, maybe, but changing it is. In their new book, A New Culture of Learning, University of Southern California Profs. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown touch on how today's … [Read more...] about A new book & fresh look at online privacy
A cyberbullying epidemic? No!
Please note: There is no cyberbullying epidemic. Like author and anti-bullying expert Rosalind Wiseman, I can't believe how many times I've been asked about "the epidemic" and what's to be done about it. Rosalind suggests that the epidemic is in bad PSAs and "educational" videos aimed at bullying prevention. I agree, but also suggest that we've been experiencing an epidemic of news coverage of … [Read more...] about A cyberbullying epidemic? No!