What digital technology enabled, digital technology is thankfully helping to disable. The ability to share photos online revived the child-pornography "scourge that had nearly been eliminated in the late 1980s," the New York Times reports, but technology developed by Microsoft and just starting to be implemented by Facebook – PhotoDNA – may "help to beat it back again." The Times says the … [Read more...] about MS & FB’s help in fighting child abuse imagery
Risk & Safety
Phishing seriously on the rise in social sites
You know what phishing is, right? Tricking Net users into clicking on bad links and sharing sensitive info like passwords and credit card numbers by pretending to be someone the users trust (a friend, their bank, etc.). Well, Microsoft says the number of phishing attacks in social network sites increased 1,200% last year, eWeekEurope.co.uk reports. Phishers "get a higher return on investment … [Read more...] about Phishing seriously on the rise in social sites
Kids’ & teens’ social networking in Europe
Last week a look at social networking U13s on Facebook in the US; this week, a fascinating, more in-depth look at Europe, thanks to the thorough, recently released pan-European research of EU Kids Online. Though there's a lot of variation country by country, European youth as a whole are just as avid a group of online social networkers as American kids and teens are, if not more so. Among … [Read more...] about Kids’ & teens’ social networking in Europe
‘Delete Day’: Students putting messages that matter online
Today (5/6/11) is "Delete Day" at the Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates, N.Y., a day the students themselves decided last fall to organize. And that is what's meaningful about this "online safety" initiative: It's their own. It started last October, when – as part of this Catholic girls school's public-service education program – sophomores, juniors, and seniors participated in a "Take Action, … [Read more...] about ‘Delete Day’: Students putting messages that matter online
Education as art form: Winners of the ‘What’s Your Story?’ contest
The grand-prize-winning video – produced by Mark Eshleman and performed by Tyler Joseph – is a visual poem about a real-life choice we all continually need to make online. On a spare set with a black line of electrical tape laid down the center of the concrete floor, and with a taped plus sign on one side of the line and a minus sign on the other, Tyler performs his poem, which reads in … [Read more...] about Education as art form: Winners of the ‘What’s Your Story?’ contest