Unless your family's had "the discussion," chances are any file-sharers at your house are swapping tunes as much as ever. Despite recording industry's thousands of lawsuits, last month file-sharing was up 19% over that of June 2003 - "8.3 million people were online at any one time" using P2P services such as Kazaa and eDonkey, USATODAY reports. Kazaa is becoming less popular, while New York-based … [Read more...] about File-sharing’s up
New family PC risks, Part 2: Games!
Last week we looked at the phenomenon of invasive Web sites and pop-ups. This week a heads-up for gamers of all ages.... If your child plays Unreal Tournament or other multiplayer games that run on the basic Unreal game code, your PC could become a hacker playground. "As they develop more online capabilities, games have become an increasingly popular avenue for online miscreants," CNET reports. … [Read more...] about New family PC risks, Part 2: Games!
What’s on your mind?
The SafeKids/NetFamilyNewsletter is working on a feature that features you! You might call it "What's on your mind (concerning kids & tech)?" We'd love to receive questions, concerns, stories about kids' use of Net-related technologies - IM, file-sharing, games, blogs, Web sites, etc. - at your house. We can reach out to a wonderful range of expertise to answer your questions, but many of you have … [Read more...] about What’s on your mind?
Gamers: More and more going online
If they don't know already, parents of gamers will want to know how easy Sony and Microsoft are making it for console gamers to go online, link up with other players, "form alliances and socialize in groups," the New York Times reports. We're not referring to computer gamers; we're talking about the PlayStation 2 and XBox gamers who typically start playing at much younger ages. Computer gamers … [Read more...] about Gamers: More and more going online
Peer-to-peer gambling
First it was pretty much just music (widely shared with file-sharing technology). Then porn, viruses, and spyware (see our "File-sharing realities for families"). Now casinos are using P2P technology in a big way. "Peer-to-peer betting, which has been increasingly popular in Europe, Asia and Australia, is one of the fastest-growing online gambling enterprises," the New York Times reports in … [Read more...] about Peer-to-peer gambling