By Anne Collier
NetFamilyNews

Keep in mind as you read this that every new Mac has a built-in webcam, and webcams are otherwise very easy to buy, use, and conceal from parental detection. Stickam is a site parents probably don’t want to find in their kids’ browser History or Bookmarks. It’s “a year-old social-networking service that urges members to connect with others via live Webcams and instant chat,” CNET reports.

MySpace doesn’t allow Webcams or even links outward to Stickam for security purposes. That’s not to say there isn’t good stuff going on in Stickam (CNET mentions live video chat with musicians and video feeds from the Sundance Film Festival), but the problem is it’s just about impossible to enforce rules like a minimum age (14) or no obscenity where live video’s concerned. An investigative reporter researching Stickam recently told me a group of people can be chatting about a completely innocuous topic, when someone can spontaneously join in nude on camera and start “performing” – though a Stickam executive told CNET the site’s “trying to overcome these problems by developing technology to block inappropriate behavior, and by keeping a team of staff that monitors video feeds, alongside warning flags from members.” CNET adds that the site has about 40 staff to deal with all the above. It has 400,000 registered users and is “adding between 3,000 and 4,000 members a month,” mostly 14-to-25-year-olds, the site says.

By Anne Collier
NetFamilyNews

In a unanimous decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that school districts are responsible for stopping bias-based harassment of students, New Jersey Online reports. “Much like employees in a workplace, students have the right to attend school without being subjected to repeated taunts from other children,” the court said. Its ruling addressed a case brought years ago by a student “who complained he was slapped, punched and repeatedly taunted [for years] from the time he was in fourth grade by classmates who perceived him as gay.” The court’s opinion stated that “students in the classroom are entitled to no less protection from unlawful discrimination and harassment than their adult counterparts in the workplace…. We do not suggest, however, that isolated schoolyard insults or classroom taunts” would be enough to spark a legal case, the decision said.

By Anne Collier
Reposted from NetFamilyNews

Actually, I think these sites may be teen-social-networking training wheels as much for parents as for their users (parents who don’t already have MySpace profiles, anyway). Newsweek leads with how Club Penguin (4 million visitors/month) kept a child, who was in the hospital for five months, connected with his then-distant friends. But this site for 8-to-14-year-olds, Newsweek says, is just the “tip of the iceberg” in the category targeting tween socializers. Some, such as ClubPenguin.com, Whyville.net, Nicktropolis.com, Habbo Hotel, and Disney’s VMK are more like a kid version of Second Life, others – such as Tweenland.com and Imbee.com – are more in the MySpace or Xanga category (profile or blog creation + IM). “Most of these sites are remarkably safe,” Newsweek reports. “Still, experts warn against growing too complacent,” because site moderators probably can’t tell, for example, if a group of peers has decided to give a friend the cold shoulder offline and online - a form of social harassment or bullying.

By Anne Colllier
reposted from NetFamilyNews

Casually clicking around the Web “can be a dangerous business” these days, because of the malicious stuff you (or your child) can download just by arriving at some Web pages, CNET reports. By malicious stuff, I mean software that can affect a PC, your identity, or your wallet, not harm a child – e.g., trojan software that can take control of the family PC, keylogger code that grabs passwords or credit card numbers, or nasty spyware that’s tough to get rid of. So CNET’s reviewers “looked at five standalone safe-surfing tools and compared them with the native protection within Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7.” They’re all quite different, some identifying and blocking phishing sites, others identifying and blocking legitimate sites containing bad downloads. Most did a better job than the protection in browsers. Check out CNET’s at-a-glance chart.

There’s a lot of talk about Internet predators but the reality is that your kids are lot more likely to be harassed by a teenage online bully than approached by an online predator. As this Associated Press story points out, bullying can have a deviating effect on a child. And when it comes to cyberbullying both the victim and the perpetrator need help. In fact, a recent study by the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center found that kids who cyberbully are actually more likely themselves to be victims of online crime.

Some states pushing for laws to curb online bullying

Source: MercuryNews.com | 02/21/2007 | Some states pushing for laws to curb online bullying

As this BBC story explains, social networking is going mobile. This has interesting implications when you consider that people have their cell phones with them at all times. Expect less text and more graphics, video and audio as people find ways to update their profiles from bars, amassment parks or wherever they happen to be.There are some interesting safety implications, of course, but also some very exciting opportunities. If you think MySpace made a stir, wait till Congress figures out that kids can blog from wherever they happen to be, usually far from adult supervision.

Link to BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Mobile talk moves to Web 2.0

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We call on crossing guards and police officers to help keep our kids safe on the streets, but our main line of defense is the family.

Kids are taught to look both ways when they cross the street and to wear seat belts when riding in cars. Very young children are not even allowed on the street unless we’re holding their hand. Most of the time things work out for the best because we follow the basic rules of the road.

The same is true when it comes to Internet safety. Congress can pass all the laws it wants and civil-liberties groups can challenge those laws, but regardless of what the government does, it’s up to parents and kids themselves to assure a safe passage while online. (more…)

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is launching a new Web site to answer parents’ questions about Internet safety and computers. The free service features an interactive knowledge-base where parents can use natural language search to find information. If that’s not enough, there’s an “ask the experts” button that lets parents type in a question which will be answered by e-mail by real-life analysts at the center’s Alexandria, Va., headquarters.

Separately, the organization formerly known as ICRA — Internet Content Rating Association — announced on Tuesday that it’s re-launching itself as the Family Online Safety Institute, a Washington and London-based think tank to promote research and discussion about keeping kids safe online. (more…)

by Larry Magid

Most of the time I write about gadgets or fun Web sites, but today’s column is about a more serious topic: Keeping your kids safe on the Internet.

While I think that some of the “online predator” dangers have been overstated, there are nevertheless risks that every parent should consider before they let their children or teens surf the Web or even carry a cell phone. No reason to panic, only a tiny number of children each year are victimized by adult predators. (more…)

More than a dozen years ago I wrote a booklet for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children called Child Safety on the Information Highway. Millions of copies are in print and countless people have seen it online. The first item in the child safety rules was “I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or the name and location of my school without my parents’ permission.” But new research suggests that my Rule No.1 may have been an overstatement. (more…)