Social Media

A 13-year-old in Detroit who lied about her age online and ran off with the 25-year-old man she lied to, was charged this week with "home truancy," the Detroit News reports. "Home truancy is considered a "status offense," or an offense where a crime is not committed, but where behavior of a minor warrants court action," the News explains. In this case, the court action includes requiring the … [Read more...] about Teen social-networker ‘tethered’

I blogged about this when Sprint first unveiled its service, but the Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro actually reviewed the phone, thinking here and there from the perspective of "the objects of all this surveillance." He does get one thinking about how far we've come since 9/11. "As demonstrated by a Sprint publicist yesterday, the service was deceptively easy to use . . . considering that the … [Read more...] about Kid-tracking phones

It's not the first phone with GPS technology, but it's the first one linked to a national database of sex offenders. Nextel's Cat Trax phone "allows parents to build a 'geofence' around every listed child predator that lives within their ZIP code. The phone alerts parents through an email, text message or pager if their child enters that zone," the Associated Press reports. This new feature will … [Read more...] about Phone with sex-offender alerts

Marketed to parents but designed for kids. That's the approach of Disney Mobile, announced at the big wireless communications trade show in Las Vegas this week. This fairly customizable (and thus kid-friendly) camera phone for 10-to-15-year-olds (or more realistically 7-to-10-year-olds – can't imagine a 15-year-old using a kid cellphone) makes Mom or Dad the phone's "family manager," USATODAY … [Read more...] about The Disney phone