You may've heard the term "doxxing." It's where online harassment can spill over into the offline kind, increasing risk of harm to whoever's being targeted, regardless of age, race, gender, etc. The form it usually takes is public exposure of the target's personal information – street address, phone number and other records – and, as we've seen in the news lately, it's "often accompanied by … [Read more...] about Doxxing: Key Internet safety risk & what to do about it
Identity
Exploring what parenting & social media are teaching us
NetFamilyNews is less and less about tech parenting and more and more about just parenting (and in every other way working with) children and young people in this networked world. That's because – over the 15 years I've been on this beat, this exploration – it has become clearer and clearer that this time of discontinuity (and how we're dealing with it) is so much more about our humanity than our … [Read more...] about Exploring what parenting & social media are teaching us
Self-definition in social media: I am not my online profile
Think about it. Media literacy no longer protects "only" the quality of the information we take in. It now protects our relationships and even our identities – on several levels. It's an understatement to say we need to be media literate more than ever now. I've posted plenty about the relationships part (social literacy), so this time the identity part, because I've seen no better illustration of … [Read more...] about Self-definition in social media: I am not my online profile
How anonymity’s a safety factor: 1 clear example
People sometimes fear or vilify online anonymity, and there are well-lighted places like Facebook where reliance on offline identity is a safety factor, but we seem often to forget that anonymity is a safety factor too, one that long predates the Internet. Well-known examples are political and human-rights activists in many parts of the world now and throughout history. Another example was … [Read more...] about How anonymity’s a safety factor: 1 clear example
2 key SXSW themes: Anonymity & meaningfulness
Two distinct, game-changing themes that emerged from the complexity of South by Southwest (SXSW) this year are worth following wherever they turn up – in Washington and other places where policymakers gather, in business, and in people's Internet use: anonymity and meaningfulness. Sometimes they intersect. Both are vitally important to all of us. The former is good and bad but always essential to … [Read more...] about 2 key SXSW themes: Anonymity & meaningfulness