October 19, 2001
Dear Subscribers:
One last call (we promise): Do fill out the NFN
survey! So far the response rate is the lowest in three years. Thank you
so much. Here's our lineup for this third week of October:
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Family Tech
- In praise of the FTC
"I don't often go out of my way to praise government
agencies," writes SafeKids.com's Larry Magid this week, "but I take my
hat off to the Federal Trade Commission" for cracking down on deceptive
Web site operators like John Zuccarini (see our ref to "mousetrapping"
in Web News Briefs here). In his Family Tech
column for the San
Jose Mercury News, Larry adds that "it's hard enough keeping kids
away from inappropriate Web sites that they choose to visit, but quite
something else to protect them from sites that are trying to deceive them....
Prosecuting people guilty of deception is exactly the right tack for our
government to take to help protect children online."
- Easier family computer-sharing
Microsoft has finally made it easier for families
to share a computer and set up a home network, SafeKids.com's
Larry Magid reports in an earlier column at the Mercury
News. How? Windows XP, Microsoft's new operating system, which lets
families set up and manage multiple "accounts" on one PC. Larry's piece
spells out the OS's family-relevant features and why they're helpful.
- Halloween fun
Here are five great links for a really creepy
31st: You'll find the
Home Sewing Association's Top 10 Halloween costume ideas and, on the
practical side, dessert
and snack recipes for leftover Halloween candy in the Christian Science
Monitor. FamilyEducation.com has multiple links to "Ghoulish Recipes,"
"Pumpkin Carving 101," and BrainPOP's
special page for the holiday, including "Experiment with Bob the Ex-Lab
Rat". Family.com offers up "horr-edible
hands"; gauzy, wind-sock, and foam ghosts to make; and outdoorsy decorations
like "trashbag tarantulas" for our "boneyards." FamilyEdge.com
points out "Things That Go Bump in the Night."
* * * *
Filling
online-safety gaps at home
When we interviewed Nick and his mom for last week's
issue, Leonor asked us what online-safety software we'd recommend. Here's
our one-size-fits-all answer, which has to be very basic and generic because
there are as many "right" solutions as there are families.
Ideally, we'd all discuss this together so we could
consider different scenarios - for example, Nick and
Leonor's and then Candy's more challenging one
(with a proactively curious, technically sophisticated teenager at her house).
But since it'd be tough to get you all in one room, let's start a virtual
discussion here. Then you email
us what works for your family, and we will gladly keep the conversation
going!
Basically, we think the very basic priority list for
working out the best home online-safety formula should look like this:
- People
- Software
In other words, rules and/or family acceptable-use
policies/contracts come first and are best hammered out by kids and parents
together (see links below for samples).
That said, we are not big fans of filtering software
by itself - because kids can disable it, it can block out useful content,
and blocking criteria are based on a software company's values, not your family's.
But using some forms of filtering with some other aids can be quite
effective for families that need them, e.g.:
- The Web rating system of the Internet
Content Rating Association. You can go to the Parents area of that Web
site to find out how to configure a browser to "see" ratings (or see mention
of it in this recent issue). This option - which
applies only to Web activity, not chat, IM, or other online pastimes - might
need an accompanying rule (more for big kids) that only the ratings-enabled
browser can be used for surfing/researching.
- Safe searching. Include in family rules one
about using only Google.com,
Lycos.com, or other search engines
that allow for filtered searching (see links below for more). After filtering's
enabled, any searches conducted in those search engines on that computer
will be filtered from then on (or until the filtering's disabled). Kids
can easily disable the filters, but hopefully they can be trusted to obey
a filtered-searches-only rule.
- Monitoring software. Best used as a deterrent
with parents being totally up front with kids that it's to protect them,
not spy on them. Choose a product that works with all programs on
the PC - chat, IM, email, etc. One example we like is "Predator Guard" by
Security Software Systems, because
it actually honors kids' privacy (by noticing only online-safety "violations"
rather than monitoring all activity randomly). The violations it detects
are sexually explicit language, personal information being given out in
chat, etc.
- Other aids. These include time-limiting software
(that imposes a curfew or schedule on both computer and online time), kids'
browsers or safe e-playgrounds (that "fence in" children's Internet activity),
and filtering Internet service providers. Please see the links below for
resources that can point you in those directions.
Links to great online-safety resources
- SafeKids.com's
family Internet-use contract and Guidelines
for Parents
- GetNetWise.org's
page on why filtering is controversial
- A chronological index
to our reports on online-safety resources and trends - safe e-playgrounds,
safe chat & IM, next-generation filtering technology and services, etc.
- SearchEngineWatch.com's
list of kid-safe search engines. (The list may be a little out of date;
for example, at Go.com, we couldn't find the "Go Guardian" filtering tool.)
- Internet
Product Watch's list of 100 filtering and monitoring products, with
links to their Web sites (there's also a firewalls
list).
- Software4Parents.com
- a software engineer's top picks for family online safety, with good customer
service for parents seeking advice to fit their family's needs (products
can also be purchased and downloaded there).
- A
recent New York Times look at a few filtering and monitoring products
that have been around for a while (nothing particularly new here, but one
more perspective never hurts).
- PC
Magazine's "Clean It Up" looks at about a dozen Internet examples of
filtering hardware and software designed for home, school, and office.
- Subscriber and mom Candy's
email in July about the porn file-sharing problem at her house, with our
explanation and possible solutions; other subscribers'
responses thereto; and the US Congress's own findings and warning to
parents, as well as some additional counter-measures
we found.
Editor's note: Next week we'll publish fresh
statistics on parents' and kids' online-safety perceptions and practices,
and how these have changed in recent years.
* * * *
Online news
& commentary: For kids, by kids
We've been meaning to link you to these great resources
for kids for a month, but there's been so much to get into the newsletter
since 9/11! The White House gave us a nudge this week, though, with its announcement
of a fund with which US children can help Afghan children. Here are some other
places where youth are doing a great job taking action, speaking out, and
keeping peers informed:
- Children's
Express - A long-time favorite of ours, this is a nonprofit organization
presenting "news and comment by young people for everyone" (here, kids 8-18,
half boys and half girls, of diverse ethnicity and economic means are empowered
to make editorial decisions, take responsibility, meet people they wouldn't
meet otherwise, influence adult opinion, and discover new opportunities).
- At the Kids' Learning Network, Sept. 11-related
commentary from KLNLive's young users (ages 9-14): "Sharing" in both the
Girls'
Guide to Life and the Boys'
Guide to Life. Here's what site producer and children's author Jess
Brallier told us about these sections: "We've kept it as much kids as possible.
I think we've smelled out and dumped the adults who wrote. And we've resisted
putting up adult causes (like funds, the President's contribute-a-dollar-fund
to feed Afghan children, etc.) because then it's not just a kids place.
I like to think that, if possible, a kid should have her own room, or his
own clubhouse. Same with a place where they honestly share their own thoughts
and feelings."
- YouthNOISE.com
("the sound of change for our generation") - part of the Save the Children
Federation, this is a US project for youth activism, run by teens and adults.
- SHiNE.com ("Seeking
Harmony in Neighborhoods Everyday") - a national youth-empowering nonprofit
organization with local clubs, events, and student activities nationwide
(the Web site is a joint project with MTV).
- CNN's FYI for students
- mostly by adults, but there's a Student Bureau
too, with news by, for, and about students.
- ChannelOne
- news for youth (the TV version airs in 12,000 schools US-wide), with teens
involved in production.
- TimeforKids.com
- the companion Web site of Time magazine for kids (we particularly like
"Kid
Report".
- Scholastic's
Kids - pulling all of Scholastic's massive children's resources together
in one place.
* * * *
Web News Briefs
- More on CIPA & schools
As the next deadline for compliance with the Children's
Internet Protection Act nears (10/27), news stories on the subject multiply.
A very useful one this week in eSchoolNews.com
points out the great variety of compliance approaches schools are taking
nationwide. The story includes thoughtful advice for school administrators.
For more perspective, see our two-part series on school online safety
and CIPA (which starts here). Meanwhile, apparently
timed to this latest CIPA deadline, a coalition of 50 nonprofit organizations
that oppose censorship released a report calling filtering "hopelessly
flawed." ESchoolNews.com
reports that the National Coalition Against Censorship "summarizes existing
information about products designed to filter out Internet sites that
are deemed controversial, offensive, or inappropriate for adolescents
or children," while filtering software makers "dismissed the report as
inaccurate and based on outdated information." As for specific tools,
NetworkComputing.com
gave Vericept (formerly eSniff) its Editor's Choice award for monitoring
at school. Vericept reportedly monitors all traffic on the school network,
including email, chat, and instant messaging. Another monitoring product
concept we like is that of "Policy Central" by Security
Software Systems. Here's the issue with
our mention of it.
- Parents' direct line into classroom
The question is, do parents really want to know
everything that's going on at school? Online gradebooks like MyGradeBook.com
and ThinkWave.com make it happen,
reports the New
York Times, also looking at the pluses and minuses of said. One abuse
would be the posting of information that compares one child's progress
with that of others in the class, the Times suggests.
- EU's connected schools
Schools across the pond have been going online
in force. Nua
Internet Surveys has the latest data, which shows that "90% of schools
in the European Union now have Internet access, and pupils have access
in eight in 10 of those." Of course, the level of school Net access varies
from country to country. "The European Commission says the provision of
the Internet in schools is a priority in all member states," Nua adds.
- Net makes students lazy?
That's what a leading British psychologist argues,
according to ZDNet
UK. Dr. Susan Blackmore of the University of West England in Bristol
told fellow academics at a Royal Institute debate that "e-learning is
making children mentally lazy by encouraging them to rely on the click
of a button for information" and that "the expanse of information available
on the Internet is preventing school children from memorizing and storing
knowledge in their brains," ZDNet adds. Our thanks to QuickLinks
for pointing this out. Meanwhile, another researcher, Dr. Naomi Baron
of American University, told colleagues that ease of copying digital content
threatens plunge ... writers "into a plagiaristic morass that they might
not even recognize is wrong," the Washington
Post reports.
- Latest e-viruses
Alertness is needed among email users too! Be
very careful about opening any attachments that come with email about
Anthrax. A worm-bearing Spanish-language message has been circulating.
According to SiliconValley.com,
the message comes with a "photo" attachment that is actually a worm that
spreads itself to everyone listed in the person's email address book and
that can overwrite files on remote drives. Also this week, the Red Cross
warned Net users to beware a credit-card-stealing Trojan horse program,
delivered in a donation-soliciting email made to look like it comes from
the disaster relief organization. The Washington
Post report gives the URLs of seven partners authorized to accept
online donations on the Red Cross's behalf.
- State online porn law rejected
A federal judge struck down as unconstitutional
a Virginia state law aimed at protecting children from "harmful" Internet
content, the Washington
Post reports. "US District Judge James H. Michael Jr. noted that the
law arose from 'legitimate concern regarding the proliferation of pornography
on the Internet' but said its enforcement would violate First Amendment
freedoms," according to the Post.
- Carolinas poll on Net dangers
Ninety-five percent of North and South Carolina
residents surveyed said "children face danger on the Net," according to
a sketchy Associated Press report (via NewsObserver.com),
and "more than half rate the danger as high."
- Recording industry 'spies'
Gotta watch those lobbyists! The recording industry
has been angling to hack into our computers and delete our stolen MP3s,
Wired
News reports, by trying to glue a "hacking-authorization amendment
onto a mammoth anti-terrorism bill that Congress approved last week."
And later this week the RIAA issued a public apology for its tactics,
ZDNet
reports. Meanwhile, the US Justice Department is looking into whether
new online music ventures, backed by large record companies, are using
copyright rules and licensing practices to control distribution, reports
the Wall Street Journal Online (via ZDNet).
Here's the South
China Morning Post's story on the antitrust investigation.
* * * *
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That does it for this week. Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Anne Collier, Editor
Net Family News
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