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Dear Subscribers:

This issue's packed with information because 1) there's a whole lot going on these days concerning kids online, and 2) the Net Family Newsletter goes on spring break next week. Our next issue will land in your In-box March 24. Here's our lineup for this first full week of March:

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'The e-rate works'

That's the conclusion of a study just released by the Benton Foundation and the Center for Children and Technology: "The E-Rate in America: A Tale of Four Cities" (the complete report can be downloaded from that press release page).

"The first in-depth study of the federal program designed to help wire schools and libraries to the Internet," the authors say, "shows that the E-Rate discounts on telecommunications services have had a significant impact on communications infrastructure in four large, urban school districts: Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; and Milwaukee, WI."

The only problem is, now that schools in those cities are connected, they've found they need to upgrade their basic infrastructure, the study found - for example their electrical systems! That's not covered by the e-rate. All in all, though, the study has found that the process of getting Internet connections has been a positive experience for the schools involved. (The project did not look into what individual teachers are doing with those connections - please see our recent series for two such stories, starting with Feb. 18.)

Useful to many of us who find federal programs hard to grasp, the report includes a basic description of how the e-rate works and its history. For educators, there's a "toolkit" for planning an evaluation of the e-rate program's impact. For everybody, Appendix B has a wealth of Web resources - links to news, commentaries, and studies that look at education technology in general, attempts to kill the e-rate, the new definition of "universal service," and much more. If the e-rate has helped your school get connected, tell us about the experience - via feedback@netfamilynews.org.

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Subscribers write (meaty stuff!)

  1. Shaughn in Washington State

    In response to our item last week, "Kids' email in trouble?", we received an email from Shaughn FitzGerald, executive producer of Headbone Zone, a large Web entertainment and communications site for kids 8-14 (it claims 220,000 registered users):

    "Taking away email for kids would be another limitation on the few freedoms kids have these days. I believe it is very important for kids to be able to use all communication tools especially via the Internet. It would be a big mistake to not let kids use this great tool!"

    We did not find this response terribly surprising, coming as it did from a kids Web publisher. So we thought we'd call Shaughn and get a little more from her on the subject. We asked if Headbone is going to keep email part of its communications services and how it is dealing with the new children's privacy rules soon to be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (next month!).

    First, Shaughn told us that email (children having their own email accounts) will definitely remain part of the Headbone mix. Making email comply with FTC rules doesn't require much more than keeping all of the site's kid communications tools compliant, she told us, including chat, boards, the pager (instant messaging). This is something Headbone has been doing for some time - they say online safety is key to their success. There's a central parental controls area (HBZcontrols) where parents can, among other things, add or delete email addresses on their child's "Friends and Foes List" (or "buddy list," in AOL terminology), regulate how much freedom their kids have in communicating in the site, and choose which Headbone services the child can actually use. Beyond that, Headbone has at least two grownups monitoring every chat room, profanity filtering in all communications areas, and screening of all messages before they're posted on discussion boards (to make sure kids are giving out personal contact information, for example).

    As we were discussing this with Shaughn, we thought about all the effort the FTC regs are requiring not only of Web publishers like her company, but also of the kids and parents who register in their sites. Everybody - publishers, parents, and kids - is having to work hard at online safety. The unfortunate thing is, it's the "good guys" who have to go through all the hoops - the users and companies who want to comply. Not that teens sites like Bolt.com or Alloy.com are "bad guys," but it's very easy for kids to lie about their age and go to these sites, which don't have to comply because they target users who are 13 and older (the FTC rules apply to sites targeting kids under 13).

    To be fair, we haven't yet investigated whether Bolt, Alloy, or other teen community sites monitor sex-related chat - that's for another newsletter. But it's interesting to note the limitations of the new rules - who they don't regulate, who they don't protect. It seems that the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act is a law built on top of an honor system. Any comments you might have on this would be most welcome.

  2. Terry in Ohio In response to our invitation to teachers last week to send in their favorite sites for classroom research, we received this from Terry:

    "One of my responsibilities as tech aid in an elementary school in Ohio is to give 5th-grade students lessons on using the Internet. The [following] sites … have been a great help to me in finding age-appropriate Web sites that cover everything from safe surfing on the Internet and using search engines to snakes and space exploration. During computer lab, I often post a quiz question and have had some students quickly find the answer by using the Ask Jeeves for Kids Web site. The KidsClick! Web site has been most useful to students doing topic research. B. J. Pinchbeck's homework site and the Homework Central site are helpful in gathering information for Web worksheets, which I use to give the students practice using their computer and Internet skills."

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New company, new tool for parents

A young software company called Finer Technologies, owned and operated by an MBA student at Penn State University, has just introduced a monitoring software program called X-Detect. Founder and sole employee Joshua Finer wrote the X-Detect software himself.

That in itself is a fun story - one of those Internet startups spawned in school. Remember our item last week about Boston University's incubator, designed to keep students in school while they're running their businesses? The story's really about how the Internet has lowered the barriers to entry. (See a recent related news story, "Who Needs a Diploma?: "Why the high-tech industry wants dropouts".)

But this is also about a new online-safety resource for parents. X-Detect is interesting because it's a little different from most monitoring software. Usually, the monitoring function is one part of a Web filtering application that runs in the background while the user surfs the Web, "watching" where s/he goes. If a parent decides to use such a tool to monitor children's surfing patterns, the software needs to have been on the computer for a while before a "report" can be generated. The main distinction of X-Detect is that it can "spot check" various parts of the system (not just Web browser history) to see if sexually explicit or violence- or hate-related sites have been visited. That means it doesn't constantly "run in the background" - it's more like a drug test, as Joshua put it, detecting activity as far back as 30 days. That also makes it harder for smart young surfers to "hack" or manipulate the software (i.e., erase their "footprints").

The software uses keywords, which are disclosed in the documentation, as well as in the X-Detect Web site. Users can modify the keywords, based on a family's own criteria.

If you'd like to read about other monitoring products, a great resource is GetNetWise.org, which has a searchable database of all types of child-online-safety resources. For products in the monitoring category, go to GetNetWise.org's Tools for Families page. In the blue and yellow search engine box, just click/check "Monitors" under "What the tool does." Then click "Find My Tools," which will turn up 50 software products. You'll find, as we did, that many of these are filtering or blocking software applications that include monitoring as one of their features. Only a few - such as One Tough Computer COP, Spector, and SentryCam - are designed just to monitor. Some monitor email as well.

Editor's Note: 1) In our humble opinion, being up front with kids is best. If parents choose to use monitoring software, we suggest they let their kids know. Monitoring openly can be an effective "deterrent," just one part of a comprehensive family Internet-use policy. 2) We're not endorsing this product - we just report on new developments in online safety for kids. There are many tools for families who choose to use them - from software products for individual computers to filtered Internet services. The only recommendation we make is that any decision to use a Net safety product or service be accompanied with family discussion. Working together on Internet-use rules is a wonderful opportunity for parent-child communication. We'd love to hear from you, whether you try X-Detect and want to review it, or you have a story about family Net policymaking to tell. Do email us.

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Take a CyberSurfari (starting soon!)

The first CyberSurfari of 2000 kicks off at 3 pm Eastern Time, March 21 - before our next issue - and we don't want you to miss the chance to join in. That start time is important to any child or school team wanting to compete in the "race" part of this educational contest.

The Surfari is a semi-annual Web "treasure hunt" for children (or anyone, actually). Its start page gives them links to "clues" that take them to answers in 100 participating sites all over the Web. When they find the answer, it links them to a "treasure code" that they type into the CyberSurfari database for recognition. The object is to help players "increase their deductive reasoning, Web savvy, and reading skills" while they're exploring the Surfari's Web destinations.

There are various ways to win part of the $100,000 in prize money for this spring's Surfari, whether the treasure hunters are individuals or school teams. There's the race: Those who find the answers and submit their treasure codes fastest win. For hunters who want to take their time, there's a "weighted random drawing" (submit 5 treasure codes and your name goes into the "fishbowl" five times; 105 treasure codes means 105 chances). Individuals win cash prizes, school teams win cash prizes for their schools, earmarked for technology.

We're supporters because the nonprofit organization behind it, the Children's Web Surfing Alliance (CWSA), is all about learning how to use the Internet "as a functional tool for daily life" in ways that are both fun and safe. We also like this project because, via lesson idea links in the site, CyberSurfari.org helps teachers incorporate the Internet into their daily classroom activities.

If any of you go or have gone on the Surfari (or decide to incorporate it into classroom work), we hope you'll write us about the experience.

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Help for voters

FamilyEducation.com has recently debuted a very substantive new election resource: Parents' Vote 2000. They say this election is critical to parents and educators because "it will determine how educational resources for children are allocated for the next four years."

One terrific service is "Issue Navigator," which makes it easy for voters to see where the presidential candidates stand on education issues such as technology, school choice and charter schools, school safety, and after-school programs. This week the page also takes you to a parent opinion poll, election quizzes for kids' political education, and an interview with educator-reformer Ted Sizer about why the candidates are afraid to tackle the "real problems" US public schools face.

Meanwhile, the FamilyEducation Network is full of news these days. The service recently was designated "Forbes Favorite" Web site in the parenting category and has made two significant education-related acquisitions. One is FunBrain.com, an interactive games site designed to help kids learn "by having fun" and help teachers integrate assessment quizzes into their lesson plans. The other is SchoolCash.com - what appears to be part of a trend. Last week we told you about Surf Monkey's program whereby a percentage of purchases made through the online store is donated to a school of the shopper's choice. SchoolCash.com is a similar e-commerce+donation service.

If you use any of these services, do tell us what you think of them.

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Web News Briefs

  1. The 1-GHz milestone

    Remember when a 233 megahertz PC sounded impressive - if you even cared? Well, now they're making 1,000 meghertz, or 1 gigahertz, machines. Microprocessor chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices announced this week that it had broken the "sound barrier" of chip manufacturing. To them, it's a huge deal. Intel wasn't going to announce its 1-GHz chip at least until July, but suddenly its chip is ready, too. Who else is this meaningful to? Well, once machines running this chip are actually made, they will make graphic and Web designers, audio and video editors, and interactive gamers pretty happy, but all that speed will probably be wasted on most of us, and the machines will be very expensive.

    The New York Times puts it all in perspective. For the average Web user, it's helpful to remember that several factors determine download speeds: connection speed and speed of the server (e.g., the machine running eBAY's auctions), as well as the speed of one's PC. And what will the 1-GHz chip really enable? Here's the Times: "Looking ahead, 1-GHz computers are creeping closer to the level of power needed to do speech recognition, which will allow people to operate their computers by voice instead of keyboard and mouse commands. But experts say true speech recognition is still several years away." We'll miss our mouse!

  2. Privacy the moving target

    A few weeks ago we reported on the DoubleClick privacy milestone, saying all the media attention would translate to progress on the consumer privacy front. Here's fresh evidence: CNET says DoubleClick faces at least six lawsuits and complaints filed at the FTC by consumer watchdog groups. Apparently as a result, DoubleClick "put off its plan for wider use of personal data," according to the New York Times, which also reports that DoubleClick has hired two consumer advocates apparently to improve its image and that President Clinton has called for "stronger measures" to protect consumers' privacy. Reuters provides DoubleClick CEO Kevin O'Connor's perspective (via Wired News). CNNfn and Moneyline have pulled together a comprehensive special report on privacy. And Wired News says February 2000 will be "the month to remember" in the annals of online privacy.

    Meanwhile, amid all this talk about improving privacy, Uncle Sam is making moves to combat what it sees as the user-anonymity problem. Wired News reports that a White House-sponsored report says "the federal government should take steps to improve online traceability and promote international cooperation to identify Internet users."

  3. Hackers or vandals?

    Ever since "hackers" disrupted service on a bunch of major Web sites, they've been in the news and we've been seeking conclusions or insights. A story we feel offers some useful perspective was a Wired News piece with views from inside the world of hackers. One idea to consider is this one: There are good hackers and there are bad hackers, or "virtual vandals," as some hackers would call them. (In fact, a recent Wired News article on a cyberattack on Gallup.com called the attacker a "vandal" - perhaps a new Internet term's been coined?) Wired says, "Many hackers have denounced the recent cyber assaults as the work of clueless virtual vandals, not legitimate hackers. Most hackers also said the attacks required few real skills or in-depth knowledge." Twenty-one-year-old hacker "Schmoe" resents claims by older hackers that hackdom's younger generation lacks skills and a sense of responsibility. Forty-seven-year-old systems investigator "Gramps" talks about that and how the media have created myths about hackers.

  4. Matching athletes to scholarships (or vice versa)

    Here's a fun story in the New York Times for several interest groups: young athletes looking for college scholarships, college recruiters looking for athletes, and would-be Internet entrepreneurs looking for wisdom. Before her marketing career, Lisa Henderson, founder of LevelEdge.com, was an athlete of limited means who wanted to go to college. That's why, the Times says, she was so successful at turning her business plan into Web reality. She passionately wanted to create "an alternative to the unseemly practices that she and others feel are widely prevalent in the college athlete recruiting process."

  5. Flak for women's sites

    Web "portals" for women have been getting some flak lately, and Wired News illustrates some of it. What are these sites trying to do? Train women to shop online? That's the theory of some women's e-zines who seem to have lower user numbers than, say, iVillage.com, Oxygen.com, and Women.com. Wired cites a New York Times Magazine article that criticizes all the women's portals for "dishing out dumbed-down content in the name of feminism." What we'd like to know is what you think of sites like iVillage, Oxygen, and Women. Have any of you spent any time in one or two? If so, what do you like or dislike about them? Send your thoughts!

    As for the business end of women and technology, ZDNet reports that the Internet *shatters* gender myths. Women technology executives are saying the Net is "pushing more women onto the CEO track."

  6. Free ISPs: The caveat

    How to make free Internet service pay is the big question Lycos, Excite, and all the other portal/search engines are asking, now that they are providing free Internet access! That's not your problem, though - if you're inclined to get free ISP service. What *you* need to know is, "In exchange for free Internet service, users typically must view a continual barrage of advertising, usually in a narrow bar that is ever-present on the screen," the New York Times reports. It goes on to say that critics of this phenomenon "point to the sticky matter, perceived or real, of privacy: Sites that offer free Internet access typically require subscribers to divulge a certain amount of personal and demographic information, and the subscribers usually must agree to allow the site to trace their activities on the Web." Do send us your experiences with free ISPs.

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That does it for this week. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Net Family News


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