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21st Century life, data collecting, digital footprints, facial recognition, parents and technology, personal data security, privacy

7 Articles to Help You Educate Yourself About Facial Recognition

Posted on July 9, 2019July 25, 2019 by Marti Weston

Privacy is a big topic on this blog, and today, JULY 9, 2019, was an interesting day in the 21st Century privacy department.

It’s a significant day because just about every newspaper features an article about facial recognition software and how it may be misused by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (ICE). This government agency uses the facial recognition software to go into state driver’s license databases and collect information about the faces associated with those licenses. This is accomplished without the permission of the people whose images they scan.

As a privacy-conscious person, I turn off facial recognition on Facebook, on my phone, and for my photos, but I never considered my driver’s license. I also did not think that researchers might be harvesting photos from social media, using them to test their facial recognition products.

Continue reading “7 Articles to Help You Educate Yourself About Facial Recognition” →

21st Century life, 21st Century parenting, digital kids, digital parenting strategies, parents and technology, personal data security, security questions

Should You Make Up Answers to Security Questions?

Posted on June 13, 2019June 13, 2019 by Marti Weston

Why You Should Lie When Setting Up Password Security Questions , over at the Techlicious site, makes me seriously consider whether the use of security questions — and the answers that we provide — should be re-evaluated. The 2018 article emphasizes the lack of security and privacy in our lives, and it notes that by giving responses that describe our personal lives we provide virtual keys that can open doors to potential identity theft problems.
Like a lot of people in the educational technology field, I spent a good deal of time helping 21st Century children understand the importance of not lying, especially about their ages. I encouraged them not to engage in anonymous activities, and I counseled them to avoid sharing made-up information, gossip or innuendo via social media. Continue reading “Should You Make Up Answers to Security Questions?” →

21st Century parenting, digital habits, online security, parents and technology, personal data security, personal information

Check Out this Security Quiz From Kim Komando

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Marti Weston

Komando quiz — Click to take Kim Komando’s quiz.

Do you know how to check out a suspicious link? What does HTTPS mean? How can you distinguish a message with real information from one that is fake or, worse, a phishing scam that can cause real damage to your digital life?

Amazingly, most people think they are going about their 21st Century digital lives in a secure way, however, there are plenty of security loopholes and many ways that people unintentionally share their personal information — information that they do not intend to share. That there is lots of informatio that people do not apply as they go about their daily digital diversions.

Kim Komando’s website features a terrific security education feature — including some quizzes so check out her site. Komando’s information is useful for adults and kids. Better yet, explore this site together. We all learn more when we work collaboratively!

Check out this quiz. You will be uncomfortably surprised about how much you do not know.

digital change, digital wellness, electronic personal assistant, kids and privacy, parents and technology, personal data, personal data security, privacy

Understanding Kids’ Echo Dot Privacy Controversy: Key Articles to Read

Posted on May 12, 2019May 12, 2019 by Marti Weston

Echo Dot must have seemed like a really good idea, at least to some people, but then the privacy concerns surfaced.

It appears that Echo Dot records what children say, saves that personal information, and apparently, it’s still saved even after parents delete It. A group of child advocacy organizations has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FCC), and they are supported in a detailed letter from a bipartisan group of United States Senators. Amazon insists that they need to collect the recordings to improve the device.

Um, all our kids’ comments and ideas stored for posterity — I mean Amazon? Growing kids say lots of things that they quickly realize they shouldn’t have said. Ask any teacher. Those archived recordings may contain comments that most parents did not even know their kids say. Just imagine the out-of-this-world corporate data trove provided by all those children. Whatever happened to COPPA?

Below are a few articles to help adults learn more about the kids’ personal assistant privacy issue and how it may affect children. Continue reading “Understanding Kids’ Echo Dot Privacy Controversy: Key Articles to Read” →

creating secure passwords, digital parenting, online security, parents and technology, password security, personal data security

Online Security and Passwords… Passwords… Passwords

Posted on April 29, 2019April 29, 2019 by Marti Weston

WHDH television news in Boston reported on a United Kingdom survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The data were gathered via telephone polling, and the overall aim was to learn more about how people in Great Britain think about online security, what they worry about, how they learn more, and how they maintain personal security online. Check out the results depicted in a set of amazing charts and graphs.

My guess is that the results would be somewhat similar in the United States.

Also described in the WHDH article was another part of the study in which NCSC researchers conducted password “breach analysis” using information gathered from the website Have I Been Pwned? This website allows individuals from all over the world to type in their email addresses and receive immediate feedback about whether any of their accounts were hacked (or breached). Because the site keeps track of huge data incursions from around the world, it has accumulated massive password data. Note: I have used the site twice and discovered a violated account resulting from a corporate data breach, something that exposed the credit information of millions of people. Continue reading “Online Security and Passwords… Passwords… Passwords” →