February 15th, 2009 by larrymagid
Child Safety on the Information Highway
Family Contract for Online Safety
Online Safety Quiz (for pre-teens)
Tips from ConnectSafely.org
Social Web Safety Tips for Teens
March 30th, 2009 by larrymagid
”Sexting” is the practice of taking a sexually revealing picture of yourself, typically from a cell phone, and sending it to someone. Legal consequences aside, it’s a dumb thing to do, especially for younger age groups in which it has become something of a fad.
Even if you are comfortable with the person receiving the image, you never know for sure where else it might land. Digital images are easy to copy and forward and, even if you trust your friend’s discretion, it can be accidentally forwarded or seen by others with access to your friend’s phone or computer. It’s not uncommon for such images to find their way to other people’s cell phones and even Web pages, where they can be seen by anyone, copied, searched for and redistributed, perhaps forever.
For minors, there’s another risk — serious legal consequences. Creating, transmitting and even possessing a nude, semi-nude or sexually explicit image of a minor can be considered child pornography. It can be prosecuted as a state or federal felony and can even lead to having to register as a sex offender.
Crazy as it seems, some prosecutors have gone after kids for taking and sending pictures of themselves. There was a case in Florida a couple of years ago where a teenage boy and girl photographed themselves nude and engaged in “unspecified sexual behavior.” One kid sent the picture to the other and somehow the police got involved. They were tried and convicted for production and distribution of child porn and the teen who received the image had the additional charge of possession. An appeals court upheld the convictions.
In January this year, three teenage girls from Pennsylvania were charged for creating child porn and the three boys who received the images were charged for possessing it. And, according to CBS News, a Texas eighth-grader in October spent a night in jail after a coach found a nude picture on his cell phone, sent by another student.
It’s sadly ironic that the very child porn laws that were written to protect children from being exploited by adults could wind up having a devastating impact on the lives of children who, while acting stupid, have no criminal intent. For some perspective on whether this issue is or isn’t overblown, see Anne Collier’s piece in NetFamily News.
It’s hard to know how prevalent the practice is. But if you believe the results of an online survey commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, about 22 percent of teenage girls and 18 percent of boys admit to having “electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude pictures or video of themselves.” I’m not completely confident about the results of this study, which was carried out by a market research firm and not subject to academic peer review. But I think it’s fair to assume that a significant number of kids are doing this.
Perhaps more interesting than the survey’s overall number is the breakdown of why teens take and send these pictures. Of those who reportedly sent such pictures, 71 percent of girls and 67 percent of boys said they sent or posted content to a boyfriend or girlfriend, while 21 percent of the girls and 39 percent of the boys say they sent it to someone they wanted to date.
As you might expect, peer pressure plays a role. Of those who sent such content, 51 percent of teen girls cited “pressure from a guy,” while 18 percent of teen boys blamed pressure from girls.
While sexting is troubling, I think it’s important for us all to take a deep breath and refrain from passing new laws or using child pornography laws that were designed to protect children from exploitation by adults.
I suspect that sexting will diminish over time. Kids aren’t stupid and, faced with the facts, most will wise up. We also know that kids who get in trouble online are the same kids who get in trouble offline, so when teens repeatedly do sexting or other stupid or risky things online, it’s important to intervene early and often.
The best thing for a parent to do is to have a non-confrontational conversation — perhaps over dinner — to ask your kids if they’ve heard about sexting and what they think about it. You might not get a straight answer but you’ll open up a dialog that can go a long way toward helping your kids understand how to minimize legal, social and reputation risks. There are more tips on ConnectSafely.org, a non-profit Internet safety site I help operate.
Boy, am I glad the Internet and camera phones weren’t around when I was a kid.
February 26th, 2009 by larrymagid
Facebook’s privacy settings, in most cases, don’t permit you to expose your information to everyone on the Web. By default, the settings typically show your profile and other data only to “My Networks and Friends.” While that might include a lot of people, it doesn’t include the entire world.
These settings can be modified, but most of them can only be tightened. With a few exceptions, you don’t even have the option to make a lot of your information available to the public at large. One exception is media files such as photos and videos, which, by default, can be viewed by “everyone.” But you can use privacy settings to restrict who can see your photos all the way down to specific friends or even “only me.”
Video - How to configure settings
Mouse over to privacy settings
Start by hovering your mouse over the “Settings” tab near the upper-right corner and select Privacy Settings. There you’ll find options to control who can see your profile as well as other information about you, such as your “personal info,” status updates, photos, videos tagged of you, and who your friends are. You can control who can see your profile within Facebook and you can turn off access to public search engines such as Google. There are plenty of other settings, including ones to control who can write on your wall and who can comment on notes, photos, or other elements of your site.
Settings vary according to what you’re trying to control and, because of the confusing user interface, you might have to hunt around a bit. For example, to change the privacy settings on your own photo albums within the Privacy Settings area you would have to find the fine print under Photos Tagged of You that says “Edit Photo Albums Privacy Settings” or navigate from the Applications tray at the bottom left corner of your browser. That “privacy wizard” they’re working on can’t come a moment too soon.
Another relatively unknown feature is the ability to create multiple friends lists and assign different privileges to people on different lists. For example, if you want only certain people to know your cell phone number you can create a list like “good friends” and another called “colleagues” to make that information available only to people on those lists. You can create lists by clicking on the Friends tab on the blue navigation bar and then clicking on “Make a New List” in the left column.
Third party applications
Be especially careful when it comes to third-party applications. For example, I use an application from Eye-Fi that automatically syncs my photos to Facebook and Flickr through my Wi-Fi network. When I review cameras, I often take ugly and stupid test pictures and, if I’m not careful, those pictures can be automatically loaded to my Facebook page for everyone to see. But my most embarrassing moment was about a year ago, when I tried out the New York Times Quiz on a day I hadn’t read the paper, only to have my low score posted for all my Facebook friends to see, including my editor at The New York Times.
Regardless of how you configure your privacy settings, there is a reality of the social Web that can’t be configured away. Any digital information that is posted can be copied, captured, cached, forwarded, and reposted by anyone who has access to it. Even if some embarrassing photo or information is up for only a few minutes, there is the possibility that someone might copy it and send it around. And–as many people are painfully aware–friends can become ex-friends. So even if you’re reasonably careful about who you let on your page, you never know what they might do with the information you post.
February 11th, 2009 by larrymagid
by Larry Magid
I’ve been an Internet safety advocate since 1993 and right now I’m discouraged and angry about what’s going on in this field.
I’m angry because people who ought to know better are trying to mislead the public with false information about online risks, which is diverting attention away from real risks. And I’m not alone.
Many respected online safety organizations and leading youth-risk researchers are trying to shift the discussion away from mostly predator danger to youth behavior risk. Thanks to some politicians, it’s an uphill battle.
Online safety groups and public officials should be spending our time educating families on how to avoid real risks that affect most kids - like bullying, harassment and unwanted exposure to inappropriate material. We also need to do a better job of identifying and reaching the small minority of “at risk” kids who are putting themselves at greater risk by the way they behave online. Read the rest of this entry »
January 19th, 2009 by larrymagid
I’m almost always saddened by news of businesses being forced to close because of the economy, but I’m glad to see the apparent demise of JuicyCampus.com.
The site, according to a blog post from its founder Matt Ivester, is shutting down because “in these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved.”
I’m not shedding any tears for Mr. Ivester. What he refers to as “lighthearted gossip of college life” was, in many situations, vicious innuendos, hateful messages, and downright lies. In covering the site for CBSNews.com, I saw postings that went so far as to call someone a willing slut and publish her cell phone number and address.
Last year, Ashley Rose, a junior at the University of California, Irvine, told CBS News’ The Early Show about a posting on the site that said she had “engaged in oral sex with four men in one evening.” Ms. Rose said she was able to deal with these innuendos because, “people who are friends with me know the truth about the type of person that I am.”
I’m a strong believer in free speech and perhaps JuicyCampus did have a First Amendment right to encourage people to anonymously post whatever they wanted to say about others, but just because something might be legal doesn’t mean it’s good. In looking at the site last year I saw postings that were sexist, racist, hateful, and homophobic. Maybe they were just online versions of fraternity pranks but, whatever they were, I think the net is better off without them.
It’s no wonder that some student government associations, according to the Associated Press, asked their administration to ban the site from campus networks. It’s not often that students call for banning speech, but even though I’m not sure I agree that that was the best tactic, it was certainly understandable.
Goodbye JuicyCampus. May you never return.
January 13th, 2009 by larrymagid
A long awaited report from the Internet Safety Technical Task Force concludes that children and teens are less vulnerable to sexual predation than many have feared. The report also questions the efficacy and necessity of some commonly prescribed remedies designed to protect young people.
The task force was formed as a result of a joint agreement between MySpace and 49 state attorneys general. Read the rest of this entry »
December 31st, 2008 by larrymagid
By Hemanshu Nigam
It’s New Year’s Eve, and your teen is all decked out and ready for a big party. She’s got her iPhone, BlackBerry, or some other cell phone with a camera in her pocketbook. And she’s ready to roll. You’re glad she’s got these gadgets so you can get in touch with her. You tell her to call to check in, to let you know she got there safely, to ask for permission to stay later. She agrees. You give her a quick hug and run upstairs to get ready for your own party to celebrate the arrival of a new beginning. You even remember to put the new digital camera you got for Christmas by your purse so you don’t forget it. Read the rest of this entry »
December 26th, 2008 by larrymagid
Reposted from San Jose Mercury News
December 8, 2008
by Larry Magid
What Lori Drew allegedly did to Megan Meier was despicable, but it doesn’t justify her conviction late last month for violating federal laws designed to keep hackers from invading computer networks.
Two years ago, Megan, a 13-year-old Missouri girl, hanged herself after her online friend “Josh Evans,” who had befriended her on MySpace, reportedly told her that he didn’t want to be friends with her and that the world would be better off without her. But Josh was in fact Drew, a 49-year-old mother of one of Megan’s former friends.
According to published reports, Megan had been mean to Drew’s daughter and Josh’s fake online relationship with Megan was a way for Drew to retaliate. Read the rest of this entry »
December 17th, 2008 by larrymagid
News that Microsoft had to issue an emergency patch to fix a flaw in all versions of Internet Explorer reminds me how important it is for parents to make sure that all the computers in your household have up-to-date anti-malware software and the latest updates to the operating system.
While Windows PCs seems to attract a lot more attacks than Macs, the Apple Macintosh is not invulnerable to malicious software. That’s why Apple regularly updates its operating system as does Microsoft — and why some leading security software companies including Symantec and TrendMicro offer Macintosh security software.
The latest threat is a flaw in all versions of Internet Explorer that makes it possible for an attacker to take remote control of your PC, capture user names and passwords and log keystrokes. All you have to do to be exposed is to visit an infected ‘Web site, whether it is a site set up by a hacker or even a legitimate site that been injected with the malicious code. The Associated Press reports that “thousands of Web sites already have been compromised by criminals looking to exploit the flaw.” That’s because the flaw was disclosed about a week before Microsoft issued a fix.
Microsoft was expected to release a fix on Wednesday, December 16, which would be automatically applied to any machine that has automated updates turned on. To be sure, you can manually scan your computer to see if its security fixes are up-to-date by visiting WindowsUpdate.microsoft.com. For this particular site, you must use Internet Explorer (other browsers such as Google’s Chrome and Mozilla Firefox works with the vast majority of sites but not this one).Speaking of other browsers, only Internet Explorer is affected by this particular flaw but that doesn’t mean that Firefox and Chrome are exempt from other vulnerabilities.
PC security is a cat-and-mouse game. The good guys are always trying to catch up, but, with billions of dollars of ill-gotten gain at stake, the bad guys are always thinking up something new.
And parents, be sure your kids know not to download anything without your permission — and don’t you download anything unless you know it’s from a reputable site. Even then, make sure you have a good Internet security suite installed and that it’s up-to-date.
November 10th, 2008 by larrymagid
As a columnist and radio commentator, I avoided endorsing a candidate in the recent presidential election. But as an Internet safety advocate and co-director of ConnectSafely.org, I have to say how happy I am to see a setback for the politics of fear and rumor mongering.
I say this because over the past year or so, many of us in the Internet safety field have been retooling our messages to focus more on digital citizenship and civility as we realize that the fear of predators has been grossly exaggerated. In terms of numbers, the larger danger to both kids and adults is “cyberbullying,” harassment and defamation — often between people who know each other in the real world.
And that’s exactly what we saw during the campaign: fear mongering and defamation. It was especially sad to see this coming from Sarah Palin, the mother of five children, including three teenagers. Children learn from their parents and other adults including our leaders. Read the rest of this entry »
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