Category: privacy

Posted in online security, privacy, Twitter hoax

Twitter Hoax — Watch those Tweets!

Posted on by Marti Weston

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 American Academy of Pediatrics, digital parenting, Do Not Track Kids Act, kids changing lives, online tracking, parents and technology, privacy

Support the Do Not Track Kids Act

Posted on by Marti Weston
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.

Continue reading “Support the Do Not Track Kids Act” →

Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, parent education, parents and technology, privacy

Think Before Taking Online Quizzes and Surveys

Posted on by Marti Weston

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.

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.

Continue reading “Think Before Taking Online Quizzes and Surveys” →

Posted in digital citizenship, digital learning, family conversations, parents and technology, privacy

Safe Passwords: A Reminder for Parents, Kids, and Teachers

Posted on by Marti Weston

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 parenting, family conversations, parents and technology, privacy, resources to read

SOPA Best Coverage: We Need to Learn More Since It Will Be Back

Posted on by Marti Weston

So maybe, other than discovering that Wikipedia wasn’t working very well, you did not really get into all of the brouhaha about SOPA.

Fine, but if you read blogs or write for blogs or just do a lot on the web, you need to learn a lot about this issue. Below is a basic reading list, culled reliable press sources, to help you understand more.

What stands out in many of the articles, is how many of our representatives in Congress do not know or even understand enough about the digital world to be making policy about it. I wonder how many representatives and senators based a decision on a single staff memo or an index card with important (but perhaps poorly explained) bullet points? Right now the bill is not going anywhere, but this issue will come back.

Educate yourself by reading some of the articles below. Continue reading “SOPA Best Coverage: We Need to Learn More Since It Will Be Back” →

Posted in digital parenting, electronic communication, parents and technology, privacy

Online Privacy for Kids: FTC Requests Comments

Posted on by Marti Weston
FCC, another agency, provides this publication on net safety, and privacy. (Free)

Parents of digital kids will want to keep abreast of proposed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revisions to online privacy regulations that, if implemented, would increase and expand online privacy protections for children. The changes will alter the  Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

A September 16, 2011 press release from the FTC announces the proposed regulation changes and seeks comments from the public. The increasing use of mobile devices by children is one reason the agency believes that changes are necessary, and the expanded regulations would add locational data as additional personal information that needs to be protected.

Three Proposed Changes

1. Notify parents in advance if their children’s personal information is collected and may be used or sold.

2. Encourage the development of better parental consent methods, using any  developing technology that might improve how parents are contacted and ask for consent. Stop using the e-mail-confirmation method. Continue reading “Online Privacy for Kids: FTC Requests Comments” →

Posted in digital parenting, online security, parents and technology, privacy, social media, social networking

Best Instructions for Disabling Facebook Facial Recognition Feature

Posted on by Marti Weston

Facebook has tossed out another challenge to family members, including grandparents, who seek to maintain privacy while still enjoying the social interaction that the social network offers.

Here we go again with facial recognition.

Find instructions for disabling the new Facebook facial feature at the BBC blog, WebWise: A Beginner’s Guide to Using the Internet. I’ve compiled the basic steps after reading a number of posts about the new facial recognition addition, but read the whole BBC post for the simplest and most comprehensive explanation.

  • Go to Account.
  • Go to Privacy Settings.
  • Click on Customize Settings (itty-bitty blue link at the bottom).
  • Find the category, Things Others Share.
  • Find the words Suggest photos of me to friends and click the edit settings button.
  • Naturally…Facebook’s default has enabled the feature so you want to click on the button that disables the feature.
  • Click OK.

Continue reading “Best Instructions for Disabling Facebook Facial Recognition Feature” →