It’s always a good time to re-visit the subject of online privacy with your kids. Read the Common Sense Media article below for advice on how to talk to your kids about their behavior and activities online. Help them understand that the digital footprints they leave now could be permanent.
It’s a culture of sharing
Our kids live in a culture of sharing that has forever changed the concept of privacy. In a world where everyone is connected and anything created can get copied, pasted, and sent to thousands of people in a heartbeat, privacy starts to mean something different than simply guarding personal or private information. Each time your child fills out a profile witho
Tags: Advice, Online Privacy, Parents, Posting, Privacy, Privacy Settings, Texting
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Online gaming is becoming an increasingly popular activity for kids of all ages. If your child is participating, get smart about the online games they play, and help them to protect their privacy. The following tips from the National Cyber Security Alliance can help you guide your children as they navigate the online gaming world.
Gaming Safety Tips for Parents
Before your kids start playing, be sure your computer has an activated security suite: a firewall, anti-spyware software, and anti-virus software.
Be sure your kids have strong passwords for their gaming accounts. Passwords should be at least eight characters long and cont
Tags: Advice for Parents, avatar, cyberbully, Gaming, Online Gaming, parental controls, Tips for Parents
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LookBothWays’ founder Linda Criddle has determined that Verizon has the most comprehensive family safety/parental control options among mobile service providers, citing an exhaustive study by GetParentalControls.org the independent guide to Online Safety Technology. The July 2010 mobile carrier review was provided for one purpose – “to provide consumers of all ages the best information on internet safety, security, privacy and ethics available”.
LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc.’s mission is to make the Internet safer for all consumers. In addition to providing free web resources to consumers, LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc. speci
Tags: mobile parental controls review, parental controls, wireless parental controls review
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Internet Safety and You is an interactive online resource aimed at helping students and families become safe and responsible Internet users. Featuring Garfield the cat and his friends, kids and teens work through four learning modules that address online safety, cyberbullying, forms of media, and distinguishing fact from opinion. They learn important concepts through an engaging narrative-based animated segment. Then they collaborate with Garfield and his friends for guided practice. Finally, they apply what they have learned through interactive challenges. Additional resources for parents and teachers ensure that kids and teens have the additional support they need.
The site also features an online Safety Teacher’s Guide with the following objectives:
Tags: Garfield, Internet Safety, Online Safety, Online Safety Activities, Online Safety Curriculum, Teacher Guide to Online Safety
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A longtime advocate for internet safety, Donna Rice Hughes was on the front lines of the battle when it was just beginning. In 1994, she began working with Enough Is Enough, an advocacy group launched in 1992 with the aim of targeting illegal pornography and helping those who have been exploited by it. Early on, the organization noticed that pedophiles and predators were taking full advantage of pre-internet chat rooms and newsgroups at the dawning of the cyber age, and changed its focus, setting its sights on preventing and stopping the exploitation of children and women that was taking place in these burgeoning new forums.
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The Verizon Foundation and Frontline developed a series of digital workshops for parents. This series of interactive resources will help parents deepen their knowledge of how digital technology is transforming our society and to gain insights into understanding, analyzing and participating in our technology-infused world.
The digital workshops include activities for adults to learn how to manage their family’s media usage, to become a better caregiver to the “digital natives” in their lives, to assess the impact of technology in education, and to explore the effects of multitasking on our brains and much more.
The second digital workshop in this seri
Tags: Digital Nation
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The Verizon Foundation and Frontline developed a series of digital workshops for parents. This series of interactive resources will help parents deepen their knowledge of how digital technology is transforming our society and to gain insights into understanding, analyzing and participating in our technology-infused world.
The digital workshops include activities for adults to learn how to manage their family’s media usage, to become a better caregiver to the “digital natives” in their lives, to assess the impact of technology in education, and to explore the effects of multitasking on our brains and much more.
The first digital workshop in this serie
Tags: Digital Nation
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With support from the Verizon Foundation, for the past 10 months PBS FRONTLINE and the production team at “Digital Nation,” have been exploring how digital media and the Web transformed virtually every aspect of the way we live. From the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war, nothing has had more of an impact on a single generation. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it?
The answers to these questions will be explored in the broadcast premiere of PBS’s new multiplatform documentary “Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier
Tags: Digital Nation
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“Sexting”: a new word in the digital lexicon. And a hot button issue that has piqued the curiosity, ire and concern of everyone from parents to school administrators to policymakers to law enforcement and understandably, mobile carriers such as us. As you may already know, sexting is generally defined as the act of sending sexually explicit photos via cell phones (or over other electronic devices, including computers).
In and of itself, the idea of children sexting is eyebrow-raising. Add to the equation a sender or receiver who is under the age of eighteen and suddenly a problem of ever-growing proportions begins to unfold. Getting the word out to kids about the possible ramifications of sexting is the key. Child pornography charges, a jail sentence and having to register as a sex offender should deter them from sending a racy photo of themselves or someone else. And, even if these legal repercussions were to disappear, the emotional fallout would remain as wou
Tags: sexting, sexting parental controls
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Let’s start with the obvious. What exactly are “short codes”? Short codes are like shortened phone numbers. They are typically 4 to 6 numbers (or characters) that can receive text messages. Marketers looking to expand their reach with mobile technology use them as a way to entice consumers to engage with their products and/or services. If you’re still scratching your head, let me throw out a recent example. If you’ve ever tuned in to MTV’s popular show, America’s Best Dance Crew, you may recall seeing a sequence of numbers while host Mario Lopez instructs you to text in your “crew” choice to that number. Voila: short codes!
Tags: text message parental controls
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