Online Safety Blogosphere Roundup July 13, 2009

iKeep Safe reminds us to “Take Precautions When Traveling and Using Free Internet
Taking the family on vacation? Bringing along the laptop to look for things to do and places to go?  It makes sense, but be careful. Trusting unfamiliar wireless networks could mean that you are trusting your information to fake networks created by cybercriminals who are lurking on the other side ready to steal your information. 

Nancy Willard at SafeKids.com tells us “Web 2.0 schools – something more profound is happening
What these technologies are doing is challenging the hierarchical authoritarian-based structures in our society. We are changing to a network-based, community-based society. And this brings us to schools. Currently, most schools function as strict hierarchies. But they don’t have to. 

Anne Collier at NetFamily News blogs about a “Morgan Stanley teen intern on peers’ media use
Though Morgan Stanley says its report by 15-year-old intern Matthew Robson on his friends’ media habits got “five or six times more feedback” than its European media team’s usual reports, the investment banking firm “made no claims for [the report's] statistical rigour,” the Financial Times reports. 

Linda Criddle at iLookBothWays asks us to “Listen to the new Summer Online Safety Tips Podcast
As president of the Safe Internet Alliance, Linda Criddle recently hosted a podcast to discuss Summer Online Safety Tips with Kim Sanchez of Microsoft and Holly Hawkins of AOL.   For most kids summer affords more free time – and with working parents, much of that time for teens is spent on their own. But unlike past generations, with today’s technologies that does not mean they are unsupervised.

Online Safety Blogosphere Roundup July 9, 2009

Lots of blogging about yesterday’s Point.Smart.Click.Safe report, including: 

Marsali Hancock, President, iKeepSafe blogged:
I was honored to be part of the Blue Ribbon Task Force that brought together so many key stakeholders including public health–all looking for industry best practices that will improve the online experience for youth. This was real work: industry stakeholders actively participated and debated. We all considered every option that was brought to the table, looking for new tools and expectations that promote cyber-citizenship. iKeepSafe is pleased to take these valuable findings on to the NTIA working group as a springboard for future discussion. Moving forward we encourage industry to simplify and expand the process of reporting abuse to allow for intervention, prevention and bystander awareness initiatives. We’re encouraged by new industry trends that allow more options for users around identity, privacy and reputation management.

 Adam Thierer of the Progress & Freedom Foundation says
It was a great honor to serve on this working group alongside so many respected child safety experts and advocates.  The working group has produced a stellar report, finding that there is no single ‘silver-bullet’ solution to child safety concerns. Instead, we need a holistic approach based on education, empowerment, and sensible industry self-regulation. The best practices outlined in this report will set a new benchmark for online operators going forward to ensure that they have policies in place to keep kids and parents educated and informed about how to stay safe online. 

Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing for Microsoft blogged:
Like most parents, I want to help my children enjoy a safer and more enriching online experience.  This is a complex problem that lots of people are trying to solve and, to that end, we’ve seen a series of high-profile commissions and reports, each with its own set of recommendations to improve online safety.   This week another group, PointSmart.ClickSafe, issued a report, but this one has something different – a specific list of recommended best practices for Internet companies.  We’re still evaluating the report, but I’m pleased to say that many of the best practices involve elements that we’ve already embraced at Microsoft.   

Other topics: 

Linda Criddle at iLookBothWays writes “Children 2-11 Years-Old Now Represent 9.5% of the Online Universe
New research by The Nielsen Company found that nearly 16 million children aged 2-11 are active online, representing 9.5 percent of the active online universe. Overall use is still low at 11 hours per month though this represents a 63% increase over the average 7 hours spent online by the same demographic in 2004. The great news is with kids averaging 22 minutes online a day, the worries that parents use the Internet as a digital babysitter appear unfounded.

Anne Collier at NetFamilyNews asks “The power of play: Cyberbullying solution?”
I’ve long felt that empathy training and other efforts to reduce the impact of online disinhibition (helping kids understand those are human beings with feelings behind those profiles, screennames, avatars, and text messages) are important keys to beating cyberbullying. But now I’m thinking there’s probably a role for play! 

Cyber Patrol tells us that “Cyber-bullies come in all shapes and sizes
Cyber-bullies are one kind of cyber shark and they can come in all shapes and sizes. While the cyber shark that could inflict the most damage on your child would no doubt be an online sexual predator, your kids are more likely to become victimized by cyber-bullies. Ranging from classmates to casual friends, they use the power of the Internet to spread trash and lies about your kid to anyone who will pay attention.

Net Smartz intern Jovan Petty writes about “Teens Talk Back: College and Social Networking Sites

LeGrand Woolley at Net Nanny blogs about the “Feature of the Day: Dynamic Analysis and Age-Based Settings

PointSmart.ClickSafe Report is Mixed on Parental Controls.

A broad industry coalition called PointSmart.ClickSafe has just issued a Task Force Recommendations for best practices for child online safety.  This is a solid report that repeats earlier calls for more education, and for the first time lays out some much needed Internet industry standards.  This is a  real step forward.  Adam Thierer at the Progress and Freedom Foundation has a nice take on the report and puts it into perspective with other major safety reports here: “Five Online Safety Task Forces Agree: Education, Empowerment & Self-Regulation Are the Answer.”

 Here’s what the Task Force has to say on parental controls:

Filters:
A filter is both loved and hated. When it prevents a child from coming across inappropriate content, it is great. When it is incompatible with a business transaction it is not only counterproductive but also costly. Parents, while praising a filter’s effectiveness to stop a child’s inadvertent access to pornography, can also be confused and frustrated by instructions and settings that differ from product to product. Educators admit that young people can often get around filters and fear that public reaction to just one negative incident could be enough to end use of technology at school. And if that negative incident did occur, the legal ramifications are unclear because case law for school situations related to the Internet is not well established. Content that should be filtered out must first be indexed into a corresponding database. If it is not indexed in, it cannot be filtered out. In the end a filter can only be as good as its design and data. By definition, it will never eliminate 100% of the inappropriate content

 The following is a sample of the limitations connected with the purchase, installation, and use of filters:

  • No standardization or benchmark exists to differentiate an excellent from a merely good or mediocre product.
  • Youth often install computer and Internet tools for untrained or uninformed parents and when doing so bypass the protective settings.
  • When set incorrectly the default can result in a total G-rated experience, limiting adult access to more mature and perhaps enriching content.
  • Overly restrictive settings chosen by some school systems often lock out harmless and valid educational materials.

 I agree with a lot of this.  It’s true that parents are on their own in evaluating filters.  I’ve rounded up all the reviews of parental control filters written in the last three years here.  Reviews are helpful, but some certification would be better.    I also agree that filters need to be easier to set up – some of the programs, especially when filters are part of a security suite, are too complex. 

I take issue with the assertion that “young people can often get around filters.”  What is this belief based on?  The report cites no evidence to support this. (the evidence on this point is weak, as I’ve blogged about before.)  The report also inaccurately states that “Content that should be filtered out must first be indexed into a corresponding database.  If it is not indexed in, it cannot be filtered out.”   Many filters employ real-time blocking using artificial intelligence, which is prone to over-blocking for sure, but still doesn’t need to be indexed.  Another thing is in the section on “Monitoring software” it states “its weaknesses are the ease by which it can be hacked.”  This is the first I’d ever heard that “monitoring software can eaily be hacked.  I really like to know more about why they believe this. Looking at the panelists, it doesn’t appear that anyone from the filtering industry was part of this report.  That’s unfortunate, because aside from those minor issues, this is actually quite a good report.

PC Magazine gives Spector Pro 4 stars

In order to manage Internet access in the more complex world of Web 2.0, parents are increasingly turning to monitoring software, often in combination with filtering software ( a recent survey found that 27% of European parents use both filtering and monitoring software).  Spector Pro is often considered the best total monitoring package.  As this review points out, it would be a great total parental control package if they would add blocking along with monitoring.  From the current PC Magazine:

Spector Pro 2009
Bottom Line
While it does include features related to controlling what your kids do on the computer, Spector Pro’s real power is its comprehensive activity monitoring. Mom and Dad can view surfing history, IM conversations, passwords, e-mail—everything! The kids won’t dare do anything improper.

Pros
|
Comprehensively logs all computer activity including Web surfing, IM, e-mail, and more. Logs all keystrokes, takes periodic snapshot. Internet time scheduling. Can view logs across the network.

Cons
No category-based Web site blocking. No over-the-Web remote access. No remote configuration.

Online Safety Blogosphere Round Up July 7 2009

iKeep Safe sounds off about, “Lori Drew Judge Dismisses MySpace Cyber-bullying Conviction based on Terms of Use Violation
Wu’s decision to overrule Drew’s conviction highlights the difficulty in prosecuting cyber-bullying with the law, and the necessity for cyber-citizenship education (at home and in the schools).

Anne Collier at Net Family News gives her own take on “Lori Drew acquitted in cyberbullying case”
In a second ruling in the Megan Meier cyberbullying case, a federal judge yesterday threw out Lori Drew’s three misdemeanor convictions of late last year.

Larry Magid at SafeKids asks, “Should schools end Internet safety nights?
Call it Tech Parenting 2.0 or perhaps just “get a clue.” Whatever you call it, it’s time to put Internet safety into a larger context. And instead of mostly using police officers (as is often the case) or even “Internet safety experts” like me as presenters, they should get the kids involved.

Livia Web Protection gives us some much-needed “Tools to Twitter More Safely
With Twitter, many times, users tweet interesting stories to their followers. Unfortunately, cybercriminals can also send around fradulent links that unsuspecting users will click on and be sent to malicious web sites. Livia Web Protection was listed as one of three tools available to help consumers Twitter more safely on Byron Acohido’s ‘The Last Watchdog on Internet Security’ blog.

Marian Merritt asks “Should Teachers ‘Friend’ Their Students?”
Social networks can cause us all headaches but it’s a special kind of pain for teachers, especially younger teachers or those who are the early adopters of technology. The raging debate is whether or not it’s ok for a teacher to “friend” a current student among their friends on Facebook or another social network.

Pandora blogs about “MySpace Monday Madness
I don’t understand why every parent isn’t using a program like our PC Pandora computer monitoring software, so they can KNOW who their kids are talking to online. Let’s face it, they aren’t going to tell you. I don’t think a 15-year-old girl would tell her parents she is sending her 18-year-old boyfriend nude pics of herself. It’s important to know.

Can Games Become ‘Virtual Murder?’

Interesting essay by Benj Edwards on the gaming enthusiast site Gamastutra:

You know, I used to laugh at the term “murder simulator” when it was bandied about by knee-jerk opponents of video game violence some years ago. Preposterous, I said: video games are video games — easily distinguishable from reality, and reasonable people know the difference between fantasy and reality. That was in the Mortal Kombat and Doom era, where the violence seemed cartoonish. And I love those games.  Then I played BioShock. For the first time, hell started to freeze over, and I found myself beginning to understand the critics’ point of view. As real-time computer graphics inch ever closer to absolute photorealism (which some industry professionals believe to be no more than 10-15 years away), violent video game critics’ arguments are slowly beginning to look more sane.

 Ever more realistic game violence should be a cause of concern for parents.  Fortunately, major gaming consoles  have built-in parental controls, as does the Windows Vista operating system to block by ESRB game ratings.  Unfortunately, Net Nanny is the only parental control software I know of that does this as well.  This is a very useful feature for parents that all parental control software should have.

Online Safety Blogosphere Round Up 06/30/2009

On the iKeepSafe blog,  “Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer For MySpace on Discussing Cyber Safety with Teens and Children
It’s all a matter of perspective – just like when you think about approaching your teens about safety and privacy.  In your mind, you might be wondering whether your child will think you’re intruding in their online space, so you decide not to say anything.  But maybe that’s just your perspective – dividing up the online from the offline and treating them differently.

 Internet Safety writes “Safe Eyes Mobile Complements Apple’s Parental Controls on iPhone
We want to applaud Apple for making the iPhone and iPod touch more family-friendly by introducing their parental controls in the 3.0 update. The new settings allow parents to restrict movie, TV show, music, podcast and application access by user age. 

PC Pandora gives their take on “Cox Communications’ Annual Survey: Cyberbullying and Sexting
The fourth annual National Teen Summit held by Cox Communications released results of a new study on Cyberbullying and Sexting. The results aren’t all too shocking and pretty much what one would expect – if you are embedded in the issue like we are. But for parents who are clueless, some stuff may come as a shocker.

Anne Collier at NetFamily News writes about “Facebook’s new public/private feature
Is Facebook becoming a cross between Twitter and a mini-blogosphere? Partly – if you make your status updates as long as blog posts. The social network site “is rolling out a new option for users who have made their profiles viewable by everyone,” the Washington Post’s Rob Pegoraro reports. “

Video: DC Debate on Cyberbullying Legislation

On Friday, June 12, 2009 FOSI held a panel in the Capitol to discuss whether it’s possible to legislate safety. The panelists included Jason Tuber from the Office of Sen. Menendez, Mercedes Salem from the Office of Rep. Sanchez and Adam Thierer with the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF). Panelists compared recent online safety legislation, particularly the SAFE Internet Act and the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act.
 
 

Online safety blogosphere Round up 6/39/2009

Anne Collier at Net Family News gives us a “Heads up on Free Realms chat
Chat has always been a problematic piece of the Internet where child safety’s concerned – some would say that’s putting it mildly! So it’s a bit surprising that Sony included chat in its new Free Realms virtual world for kids. Online game specialist and blogger Jaime Skelton registered her surprise. 

iKeepSafe tells us about “Common Sense Media: 1/3 of Teens Surveyed Have Used Cell Phones to Cheat
Robin Raskin, from Raising Digital Kids, did a fascinating highlight post of Common Sense Media’s recent study on teens, cell phones, and cheating. 

Safer Internet Alliance, “Welcomes new partner: Institute on Religion and Public Policy
The Institute on Religion and Public Policy is dedicated to ensuring freedom of religion and has an overarching goal: To create and strengthen legal, business, academic, media and other systems within countries—and internationally—to protect religious freedom so such abuses do not occur.  This includes creating a safe Internet where individuals can exercise their religions and beliefs without fear of retaliation or attacks.

Apple Won’t Have a Hard Core After All

After much confusion in the media last week, in turns out that Apple will not be allowing applications that feature x-rated content on the Apple App Store after all.  This recalls what happened with Yahoo back in 2001 when “the Los Angeles Times reported that the company was expanding its online sales into sex-related videos and DVDs.”  After an uproar in the press, Yahoo pulled out.   Consumers may accept the fact that there is a lot of porn on the Internet, but it’s still a big risk for mainstream companies to pull it out from under the counter and put it on display.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

 Porn made its debut on the iPhone this week. While it was a limited showing as Apple quickly yanked the racy program from its App Store, it caused quite a stir in the tech world as bloggers were eager to speculate that Apple had opened the floodgates to adult content for its wildly popular smartphones. But Apple appears to be holding the line on decency for now, although this brief appearance of the first application to feature nude photos raises questions about whether Apple will stick with its early pledge to not distribute X-rated content for its iPhone and iPod touch devices, which have combined sales of more than 40 million units. On Thursday morning “The Hottest Girls” application showed up for sale via the iTunes App Store and then quickly vanished. At first, the application’s developer said it was no longer available due to its overwhelming popularity — he said it was “sold out.” Apple didn’t quite see it that way. The company later said that the app had been removed because it doesn’t “distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography.” “The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content…. The application in no longer available on the App Store,” the company said in a statement to CNN.