Do you know where your teen goes online?

Kids and especially teens are notorious for keeping secrets from their parents, and in today’s world of technology they have a whole new world of ways to keep secrets.

Since kids are also incredibly adept at learning and using modern technology and the following list may help you keep better track of what your child may be hiding.

1. Surfing the Internet: Today, kids have almost unlimited access to computers, and now computers are small enough to carry, enabling access to the internet literally anywhere. This gives kids easy access to sites parents may disapprove of, not to mention “adult only” sites that only ask the user to click a link stating they are over 18 years of age. That’s an easy button to click if you want to keep secrets from parents. Close monitoring of your child’s computer history, password protection and parental blocks can keep your child away from inappropriate sites.
2. Downloads: Kids love to download- anything they can: pictures, jokes, videos, etc. These downloads may be putting your computer at risk for viruses that could cause permanent damage. Parents need to know the source of any download and that it is safe, as well as keeping up-to-date antivirus protection on all computers.
3. Music Downloads: What kind of music are your kids downloading and listening to? Even if the site is safe, the music might not be. Listen to the music downloads. If you are not able to understand the lyrics of the songs, you may want to check them out. You can find an internet music site that has song lyrics available to read. Be careful, though, if you do not allow your child to download certain titles, he/she will probably change the file name of the prohibited song to something allowable.
4. Uploads: Kids are not very discerning when it comes to what others should or should not know about themselves, and their families. Find out what sorts of pictures, text and other files your child might be sharing on social networking sites or shared folders.
5. Games: What games are your kids playing? Playstation, X-box, computer games, both individual and interactive-online are filled with violence and “adult” themes. Monitor the games your child buys or rents; most are labeled with age guidelines and parental notices. Also, monitor your child’s history with online games. Install a computer block that allows access to only approved sites.
6. Friends: Kids have many friends. Some of them, they don’t even know. Facebook and other online social networking sites make it easy for children to fall prey to predatory abusers disguised as “friends.” If your child has a Facebook or other social networking accounts, make sure that you know their username and password, and check in on their activity once in awhile.
7. Cell phone use: How much time your kids spend on the phone, when they are calling and who they are calling are important to know. Read the itemized portion of your bill each month to double check, and if there is a number you don’t recognize or don’t want your child accessing, have it blocked through your service carrier.
8. Texting: With unlimited texting capabilities on cell phone plans, your kids can text anyone at any time, day or night. Parents need to know who they are texting and the language they are both reading and using while they are texting.
9. Abbreviations: LOL, and CUL maybe be familiar “social” abbreviations, and ROLOFLMHO may be used by your kids without any qualms, but ROLOFLMAO might be offensive to some parents. Do you know the difference? Also, new abbreviations are added to the lexicon of technical communication on a daily basis. As a parent you need to be familiar with abbreviations so as to know what your kids are saying. You can check the internet for sites that list abbreviations and meanings.
10. Plagiarism and cheating: That kids are able to access information which expedites learning in ways never before thought of, is a wonderful outcome of technology today. That kids can also use this information to cheat in ways never before thought of, isn’t.

Spy v spy

America is constantly under attack, and the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s top intelligence network, has been working with Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) in attempts to foil cyber-attacks. Here are some of the ways the agency and ISP’s work together. Some ISP cooperation has been voluntary, but in many instances ISP’s have had little choice in the matter.

1. Existing Cooperation Between NSA and ISP’s – AT&T and Verizon have been handing the NSA voice and data traffic for years; once illegal, laws have been changed to allow the practice. The Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) of 1978 paved the way for greater government utilization of civilian companies and, eventually, ISP’s.
2. CALEA – In 1994, Congress enacted a program called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcements Act (CALEA), a program that required all providers of Internet service, including phone companies, ISP’s, colleges and even coffee shops to install equipment that would allow the government to monitor almost all Internet activity.
3. The Patriot Act – In the fallout from the 9/11 attacks, warrantless surveillance was introduced, and even though opposing voices were raised there was enough fear of additional attacks that the program was enacted without effective judicial review, and the Bush administration titled it the Terrorist Surveillance Program.
4. Recent Developments – In May of 2011, it was reported that defense contractor Lockheed-Martin had come under cyber-attack, and, in a novel move, the defense industry, ISP’s and the NSA joined together to launch a program that would enable the NSA to utilize data sets to identify malicious programs that had been slipped into data streams received by Lockheed-Martin and others. ISP’s would then be able to disable the threats before they reached company servers.
5. Unknown Threats – Right now, the NSA technology and the ISP’s ability to filter Internet traffic is only effective against known threats, and work is under way to develop methods of detecting threats that are more ambiguously presented.
6. LulzSec and Anonymous – LulzSec and Anonymous are a pair of hacking groups that have declared a virtual war on manifold targets like media companies and mega-corporations; these are among the types of threats the NSA and ISP’s hope to neutralize.
7. Civil Liberties – Any time a government begins to monitor its citizen’s personal or business communications, there is a very real threat to the civil liberties of that citizenry.
8. Technology – The NSA, which employs more than 40,000 people, is at the forefront of many aspects of Internet security technology, which makes partnership with ISP’s possible.
9. Data Bases – ISP’s control incredible data flows, and their ability to monitor vast amounts of information makes them indispensable in any credible attempt to disable cyber-attacks.
10. What We Don’t Know – In a cyber-world infused with secrets, we may never truly know the depth of interactivity between ISP’s and government agencies like the NSA.

More threats are inevitable, and continued cooperation between the NSA and ISP’s is truly needed.

Source:  Internet Service Providers

Keeping your kids safe virtually is a priority.

Facebook turned 7 years old this month.  Hard to believe that a college student and his buddies invented it and now it has spread so quickly that more than 40% of the U.S. population has a Facebook account.  Talk about going viral.

While this social network phenomenon started out as a tool for college kids, it has rapidly grown to include a younger and younger audience.  Facebook rules state that a user must be 13 years or older to have a Facebook account.  However, there is no way to verify this so there are many kids that are younger than that with their own accounts.

How do you protect your kids from the questionable material on Facebook?

1. Don’t let them get an account. Now, this may sound obvious, but it’s the truth.  The best way to protect your kids is to make sure they don’t have an account before they are old enough.
2. Make sure your child friends you. You need to watch what your child is posting on their friends’ walls and what kind of stuff is being posted on their wall.
3. Make sure your child only friends people they know in real life. Anyone can send you a friend request if you are a friend of a friend etc.  This can be an open invitation for predators.
4. Discuss boundaries with your child. Your child needs to know that he/she should not post any personal information online.  No reference to their full name, name of their school, their address or their birthday.
5. Limit your child’s access to the computer. Computers are a way of life, but as a parent you want to be able to monitor what your child is doing on the computer.  Make sure the computer is in a central location like the living room or office.
6. Invest in parental control software that monitors your child’s computer activity. You can’t always be with your child.  If you have software like that specializes in monitoring your child’s keystrokes, you can see exactly what your child is doing on the computer and on Facebook accounts even if you aren’t home.
7. Do not allow your kids to post pictures. Pictures lead to online bullying and sometimes too much information.  What if your child posts a picture from his soccer game?  Seems innocent enough, but this gives out personal information that may put children at risk from a predator.
8. Allow your child to use your Facebook account. This may sound funny, but if they aren’t posting under their own name they may be more conscientious.  Plus, you will indeed have access to see everything they have posted.
9. Make sure you have their passwords. There is no such thing as privacy in your house.  You should have their e-mail password as well as their Facebook password.
10. Make sure you set the privacy settings on Facebook. Facebook will show your phone number and other personal information if you don’t turn it off.  Make sure you are there to help your child set up their account.

Source: Internet Provider

In Broward County, Mother’s Against Predators (MAP) was formed to help educate and inform parents, teachers and the community about the warning signs of predators as well as tech tips we all can use.

Internet Predators do not discriminate, any child is at risk if not properly taught about how to stay safe in cyberspace.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Read more.

What Can You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An On-line Exploiter Victimizing Your Child?

Tired of your old social network? Wish they would listen to you? Looking for a fun and new place to make new friends, or want to create a private mini community for just your family? Check out Friendburst, a YOUR Friendship Community.

The Future of FriendBurst (From one of the founders, Kevin of More4Kids)

Well, that will be up to our members and community. I would like to think of FriendBurst more as a co-op social community. Everyone should have a say.  So what are some lessons learned from some of these other social networks?

1) Our members are members, not user or guests! That distinction is critical

2) Don’t touch a members profile. Many spend tens of hours getting it just ‘right’.

3) Listen to your members, and that mean’s ‘all’ your members and not just the noisy ones.

4) Be helpful, providing excellent customer service is so important.

5) Encourage creativity and a members ability to express their individuality.

With that said, what does FriendBurst have to offer?

1) An activity feed that lets you share links, photos, videos, and more. It has built in privacy settings so YOU can decide who sees what and what you want to share.

2) Blogs. FriendBurst.com has a very sophisticated blog that all members have access to built right in.

3) Music. If you are a Musician, you can upgrade to a FREE musician account and share your music.

4) Photos. Create you own photo albums and password protect.

5) Friends. Create friends lists and send messages to multiple friends at once.

6) Recipes. Over 4000 recipes that members can submit and comment on.

7) Profiles!!! Customize your profile with html, CSS or use our editor.

Forums

9) Groups!! Like the profiles, your groups can be customized with CSS or the editor. Each group has a Group name, plus its own individualized url which the Member creates.

10) FAN Pages. We love giving our members the ability to customize things at friendburst. Like on the profile and groups, you can customize pages with CSS and the Editor.

Those are just a few of many things we are doing at FriendBurst.com. Its all about our members and giving each one the abililty to truly express their individuality and creativity.

In a recent survey on TeenVogue.com, 94 percent of readers polled said that teenagers should be more concerned about privacy on the Internet.

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, has become a go-to site for college recruiters as well as employers.  Does your teen know the consequences of posting their party pictures, or language they should only be using privately (if using at all)?

Do you recall a recent Examiner article, Employers now asking for your Facebook link when applying for a job?

Although it can be nearly impossible to control or monitor everything our teens do, it is imperative you stress the importance of the lasting effects that an innocent photo or a questionable action that is posted on your Facebook page can result in – years from now.

Many kids are not able to grasp that two to five years from now is really not a long time.  Like many kids, it seems like forever – so why not post these cool things they are doing.  The problem is, what they consider cool, some may consider crude.

What may seem humorous to you and your friends, could be offensive to others.  Privacy is a gift, and how much you want to give is up to you.  However give with caution!

Don’t learn the lesson the hard way, “Google Bomb! The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet,” a story everyone needs to read.  This case took place in Broward County.

Ironically when our children were young, most taught and encouraged our children to share.  Now we have to redefine sharing and give it boundaries.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Read more.

During National Cyber Security Awareness Month there are many topics to be discussed, and one of the most fast-paced issue is porn and how it lands on your teens screens.

In the past, pornography was mainly limited to artwork, magazines and the red-light districts. With the Internet and cable television, however, pornography has now made its way into our family rooms, home offices, teens cell phones and kids’ bedrooms. It is easily – and often inadvertently — accessible by children and teenagers, and parents must work even harder to prevent their children from becoming addicted to it.

Experts at the Jacob Wetterling Foundation developed the following tips to help parents prevent their children from becoming addicted to pornography:

• Place home computers in a central area of the house, not a child’s bedroom or secluded area. Make surfing the Internet a family experience.
• Talk with your children about what they can and cannot do online, while trying to understand their needs, interests and curiosity.
• Know your child’s password and screen names; they may have more than one.
• Set reasonable time limits on computer use, and ensure that your children adhere to the limitations.
• You should also realize that children may be accessing the Internet from outside the home, such as friend’s homes, work, libraries and school.
• Be open with your children and encourage them to come to you if they encounter a problem online.
• Explore filtering and blocking software, which is used to sort information on the Internet and classify it according to content. A major drawback is that some filtering may block innocent sites, while many “negative” sites still get past the filters. Though these programs can be great assets, parents still need to maintain open communication with their children to inform and protect them.

The best cure for addiction is prevention. Many parents may suspect their children of being sexually addicted, but may not be sure of the warning signs. Victor Cline, Ph.D., an expert on pornography and its effects, encourages parents to be on the lookout for the following symptoms of sexual addiction:

• A pattern of out-of-control sexual behavior
• Experiencing severe consequences due to sexual behavior, and an inability to stop despite these adverse consequences
• Persistent pursuit of self-destructive behavior
• Ongoing desire or effort to limit sexual behavior
• Sexual obsession and fantasy as a primary coping strategy
• Regularly increasing the amount of sexual experience because the current level of activity is no longer satisfying
• Severe mood changes related to sexual activity
• Inordinate amounts of time spent obtaining sex, being sexual and/or recovering from sexual experiences
• Neglect of important social, occupational or recreational activities because of sexual behavior

Being an educated parent will help you have safer teens both online and off.

Learn more about protecting your children from online porn, click here.

The Broward County’s Sheriff’s Office has more tips on their website to help keep your family safe online, click here.

Read more.

Keep in mind when online the following tips, consider it Social Networking 101 crash course.

1. Use privacy settings. This is a no-brainer.  Keep the strangers out of your profiles and photos.  Don’t make yourself an easy target for predators and for bullying.  Check your privacy settings weekly to be sure they haven’t changed.
2. Think before you post. In the same respect, think before you hit send.  Imagine a teacher, a parent, a family member, college admissions, potential employer seeing this post and consider whether it is appropriate or not.
3. Trust your gut. If someone is bothering you, block them.  If you have suspicions, feel threatened, unsafe or uncomfortable, notify the site owner and tell an adult you trust.  You can also contact www.cybertipline.com for more help.
4. Check it out. See what others are posting online about you.  Google yourself.  Even though you are careful, others may not be.  Hurt can come from friends as well as from strangers.
5. Be savvy.  People you meet online might not be whom they say. Meeting an online ‘friend’ in person only makes sense if you’ve told a trusted adult, it’s in a public place, and you’ve got friends with you.
6. Don’t get duped. Ads and messages making offers that are too good to be true?  Spam. Requests for personal account information?  Phishing scams.  Mark bogus friend requests as spam.  Don’t get sucked in.
7. Be part of the solution. Don’t use your space to trash talk others. Close out any account and services you no longer use.  Promote a culture of self-monitoring so others won’t be so tempted to step in and restrict teen access.   You have the power to improve your online community!

Need more resources to help you further?  Visit Social Networking Safety Group and CyberSafeFamily Group on Facebook.

Order Google Bomb book for more valuable information about maintaining your virtual reputation.

In Broward County there is an Internet Safety website to give you more tips and resources to keep you and your family safe in cyberspace.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Read more.

Cyber Rape: Exposing the Psychological Horrors of Virtual Violation

By Tim Handorf

 We all know by now that crimes on the Internet parallel, in many ways, crimes in “real life.” There’s fraud and thefts of all sorts, there’s verbal sexual abuse toward children, and there’s also non-stop internet trolling that has become out-and-out defamation and libel. So if all these crimes are possible in our increasingly invested virtual worlds, then is rape, too, a viable Internet crime?

A case that raised some eyebrows a few years ago occurred on Second Life, a virtual world that has become almost indistinguishable from real life. Companies use it to meet clients, users have actually made significant amounts of real money, and some even devote hours online to building a social network, making love to significant others, and bearing and raising children. Apparently, if you stick with it long enough, using entrepreneurial skills that you would employ in the real world, you can even become a Second Life (and real life) millionaire.

What happens then, when an avatar (a virtual representation of a “real” person, who carries with it all the vestiges from real life—a personality, a reputation, and everything else our social lives may entail) rapes another avatar in a vicious manner? Is this cause for “real life” police intervention? Well in 2007, Belgian police briefly investigated a virtual rape case exactly as described.

 Now many think it borders on the ridiculous that the rape of what is essentially a video game character could be anything tantamount to rape in its physical manifestations. However, Maria Korolow in Hypergrid Business, suggests an interesting reconsideration. For those who have never experienced a virtual world, of course the idea seems absurd. However, it is quite astounding the extent to which real people—hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions—strongly identify with their virtual counterparts.

What’s more, behind these “virtual” entities are real people, and they interact with each other (although via Instant messenger, of course) as real people would. So what are we to think when a user has established relationships in a virtual world, thinks herself safe and free to pursue her own virtual interests—whether it be going to a party, attending a business meeting, or having children—and is suddenly, violently, and horrendously “raped” by an avatar who represents a real person? Are the psychological effects of rape in the real and virtual worlds, then, not exactly the same? In a now famous Village Voice article, Julian Dibble explored these questions when a similarly terrifying rape incident occurred in the early virtual reality world LambdaMOO.

Whatever the answer to this question is, I believe that cyber rape, and the extent to which it can be carried out, should be investigated further. As a phenomenon in virtual reality, we should think about its implications, simply because we are immersing ourselves more and more in these worlds as the Internet continues to develop and integrate itself into every moment of our lives.

 By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Tim Handorf, who writes on the topics of top online colleges.  He welcomes your comments at his email Id:  tim.handorf.20@googlemail.com.