It's unsettling but important reading, this week's look inside "the [US's] under-age sexual revolution, where causal sex is common, online ratings are scrutinized, everybody wants to be so detached, and boys still get what they want on Saturday night" in the New York Times Magazine. Here are some observations writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis makes just about the role the Internet plays in this … [Read more...] about ‘Friends with benefits’
Net blamed in Tokyo school killing
In Japanese society's search for answers in the killing of a 12-year-old girl by a classmate, "Japanese media have turned to the Internet as a culprit," Reuters reports. It cites Japanese media coverage as saying the 11-year-old girl who confessed to the murder told police that she'd asked the victim not to post messages about her appearance on an online discussion board, but "her friend had … [Read more...] about Net blamed in Tokyo school killing
Credit card firm drops online porn business
Porn doesn't pay, apparently, at least for one e-commerce company. Citing business reasons, Colorado-based Cardservice International announced it was dropping all of its online adult industry clients, Web Host News reports. The company processes "more than $12 billion in annual credit card volume with more than 125 million transactions annually in 140 languages." … [Read more...] about Credit card firm drops online porn business
A teenager & the tool of anonymity
If this weren't a story told by a wire service, picked up by news outlets in other countries, it would be hard to believe. But it's the true story of a 14-year-old boy, "Boy B," attempting suicide by inventing a case for his own murder in online chat. The self-created victim used the anonymity of the Internet to create and pose as various participants in an elaborate story that persuaded a … [Read more...] about A teenager & the tool of anonymity
IM has grown up
All you parents out there know that instant messaging isn't just text anymore, right? It's games, bots, videos, photo-swapping, tune-sharing, ringtones, individually customized "skins," etc. All of which makes it really attractive to kids and therefore yet another thing on which parents need to be up to speed. The BBC recently published an update on some of this, including a little history on this … [Read more...] about IM has grown up