School filtering works better when less restrictive and blended with teaching students how to "take responsibility themselves for using new technologies safely," said a study by British education watchdog Ofsted I blogged about in February). Educator Tom Whitby and the amazing comments to his blog post, "Deal or No Deal" got me thinking about this all over again this weekend. User-produced … [Read more...] about Reflection on filters, social media & school
online safety
Differing views on COPPA
While the Federal Trade Commission is taking a fresh look at the Children's Privacy Protection Act of 1998, the Senate Commerce Committee is taking a look of its own – in the form of a hearing today on children's privacy and new technologies called by the Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee. Two witnesses at the hearing – American University professor Kathryn Montgomery … [Read more...] about Differing views on COPPA
Net safety: How social networks can be protective
Hmm. It's arresting to think about what Stewart Wolf, MD, discovered and presented at medical conferences – as told by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers – in the context of social media and online safety today. Back in the 1950s, he found a community in Pennsylvania statistically very free of the No. 1 medical concern of the time, heart disease, and looked into what was going on there. When Wolf … [Read more...] about Net safety: How social networks can be protective