Archive for the ‘privacy’ Category
Posted by Marti Weston on May 21, 2012
Image made with Wordfoto with a picture taken at the Library of Congress.
Much of what a child or teen does online gets added to a digital profile. Even when information is not supposed to be collected, it accumulates – somewhere. Moreover, when a child or adolescent acts impulsively or thoughtlessly online, no way exists to erase or delete a digital mistake. Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society posts a great digital dossier video that parents and educators may want to use as a conversation tool.
To learn a lot more about the state of privacy policy, especially as it concerns children and adolescents, read the article Congress Revisits Online Privacy Legislation over at Boston.com.
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Posted in acceptable use, data collecting, data sharing, digital footprints, digital parenting, Do Not Track Kids Act, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: Berkman Center, Boston Globe, digital footprints, digital kids, digital parenting, Do Not Track Kids Act, Kids privacy, privacy, profiles | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on May 13, 2012
Our digital society hasn’t figured out what to do about privacy. More importantly, it hasn’t figured what to do about the privacy of our kids — we keep confusing privacy with transparency.
It’s problematic enough that adults are diving willy-nilly into the digital world, sharing everything about themselves, private and not so private, but it’s even worse to observe a world where everything a child does and almost every mistake he or she makes is now public. These days we are giving children and adolescents no cover and no protection as they blithely explore the digital world while making what in any other era would be common and developmentally appropriate errors.
Lest I sound like a digital Luddite, I’m not. I love participating in the activities of my digital world, actively but moderately, and I have an arsenal of digital gadgets in my purse, book bag, and lying around my house. As an educator, however, I am keenly aware of how much we are forgetting to nurture and honor kids’ developmental stages as they grow up in this digitally dense world. Part of solving that problem involves ensuring that children have a guaranteed amount of privacy.
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Posted in digital footprints, digital parenting, marketing to kids, media literacy, parents and technology, privacy, teaching digital kids | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, James P Steyer, privacy, public policy, Talking Back to Facebook, The Atlantic, The Other Parent | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on May 11, 2012
Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just published new survey results finding that 74% of smartphone owners — that’s three-quarters — appear to be using location services on their phones.
This statistic is double what it was when Pew conducted a similar survey in May 2011. The increase in location services occurs despite privacy concerns about tracking and data collection. Check out the report to look at the data by age, gender, and ethnic group, depicted in a range of charts and graphs.
I am still minimizing or turning off the number of location services that I use on my phone. While some of us use more location services than others on our smartphones, it’s critical for parents to know how location services work and how to limit access on the phones that their children around each day. Many apps ask to turn on location services during the installation process.
Do you know about Foursquare ? If it’s on an adolescent’s cell phone a parent needs to learn about it. Find out more about location services by reading a post that I wrote about location services, Location, Location, Location – Services that Is.
Each adult needs to figure out how much privacy is necessary or desired in his or her digital life and also in the digital lives of children. People seeking one right answer won’t find it, however it’s best to take the time to understand the devices that family members carry and apps that they use.
Posted in apps, digital devices and gadgets, digital parenting, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: digital parenting, location services, Pew Internet, Pew Research Center, privacy, smartphones | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on March 12, 2012
Sherry Turkle's 2012 TED Talk
NPR’s All Tech Considered blog has posted a thought-provoking piece on privacy (February 29, 2012).
In New Ways to Think About Online Privacy, Nina Gregory shares what she heard at TED Long Beach where some major technology thinkers and innovators (some speakers, some attenders) shared their thoughts about what Gregory calls “privacy hygiene” (and about what they might be teaching their kids about the subject).
You may not have heard of some of the companies represented, but the thoughts about privacy are worth reading.
In Gregory’s article read about the thoughts of: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in digital citizenship, digital parenting, electronic communication, online tracking, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: All Tech Considered, digital parenting, Nina Gregory, privacy, Sherry Turkle, TED Long Beach, Wired Magazine | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on February 23, 2012
If you use Twitter, watch out for a spam tweet — usually a direct message tweet that tells you about a “crazy personal message.” Do not click on the link that accompanies the message. If you do you may send out the hoax to your Twitter followers. If it goes on for too long before you do anything, it may also send out a message from your account. Oh, and the original message may come from someone you know, like, and trust. Mine did.
Because it’s a scam, do the following things.
- Change your Twitter password.
- Disconnect from all connected accounts such as Facebook, newspapers, Linked-in, etc. Wait a day or so to reconnect.
- Log out all devices.
- Restart all devices as needed.
You should be ok. However, keep an eye out on your Twitter account.
Posted in online security, privacy, Twitter hoax | Tagged: privacy, social networks, spam, tweets. hoax, Twitter | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on February 7, 2012
Read the bill.
Today, February 7, 2012, take a few minutes to ask your United States Representative to support the Do Not Track Kids Act, a bill that seeks to prevent the tracking and collecting of kids’ online information and activities.
Parents and educators know how much children and teens love to explore the digital world, and that’s not going to change. What needs to change is the way companies collect information about kids’ digital activities and then use it for marketing purposes, much of it exploitative. The Do Not Track Kids Act aims to stop tracking the activities of children and adolescents and encourages companies to adopt a Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Teens.
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Posted in American Academy of Pediatrics, digital parenting, Do Not Track Kids Act, kids changing lives, online tracking, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, Do Not Track Kids Act, online tracking, privacy, tracking kids, United States House of Representatives | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on February 4, 2012
I have a big problem with online web surveys and quizzes aimed at kids. Many are tricky digital techniques using old-fashioned fun and emulating magazine quiz features of the past, but with a contemporary cyber-twist that encourages today’s web users — and many, many children — to happily divulge all sorts of personal information.
When you encounter a quiz or survey on a website, it’s a good time to chat with children about privacy and the methods that websites use to collect personal information. Remind them that no kid-friendly erasers are currently available to whisk things away once children provide information. To learn more about how websites and companies track the online activities of children read the Common Sense Media policy brief, Protecting Our Kids Privacy in a Digital World.
You may also want to visit the I Look Both Ways blog, where Linda Criddle has posted Online Quizzes and Surveys and the Real Risks These Represent. Linda’s post offers a comprehensive overview of the subject along with supplemental images.
Here’s a short excerpt — applicable for home and at school — from my November 2011 post at the Teaching Tolerance blog.
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Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, parent education, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, online tracking, privacy, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, tracking kids | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on January 23, 2012
A recent New York Times article, Young, in Love, and Sharing Everything, Including a Password, reminds parents and teachers to take time to talk to adolescents about password privacy. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Matt Richtel, reports that kids share passwords — just as they share gifts and secrets — as tokens of trust and affection. But often an adolescent relationship doesn’t last and neither does the trust. What happens afterward can lead to hurt and humiliation.
Don’t wait until pre-adolescent years to start talking about digital topics such as password privacy. Family conversations, at home and at school, can begin as soon as children receive their first passwords, and over time these talks help kids develop a sense of personal privacy. Discussions can be brief and range over lots of digital topics, but they should occur regularly.
Many adults will be pleasantly surprised that children want to talk about these issues. My post, The Digital Citizenship Minute at the Teaching Tolerance blog, highlights some of the topics fifth graders want adults to address.
Posted in digital citizenship, digital learning, family conversations, parents and technology, privacy | Tagged: digital kids, digital parenting, Matt Richtel, password, password security, passwords | Leave a Comment »
