Parents Poll: Your Kids Internet Usage

How involved are you with your children’s online viewing habits? Are you engaged when it comes to their Internet activity? Are you checking their smart phones routinely? Are you monitoring what sites they are surfing? Are you intimated and don’t know where to start? Do you not feel you need to review their usage? How can you turn over a new leaf in 2012?

That's Not Cool

Your mobile, IM and social accounts are a part of you? Where do you draw your digital line? Do you need some pointers on how to deal with textual harassment, pic pressure, constant messaging or communicating clearly in today's digital world?

On this site, you'll have access to extensive campaign research, interactive videos, support information, helpful tips on engaging your kids in your local community, and more! If you are having an issue with someone close to you using tech in a harsh way, then check out these tips.

The site says, “That's Not Cool is a national public education campaign that uses digital examples of controlling, pressuring, and threatening behavior to raise awareness about and prevent teen dating abuse. That's Not Cool is sponsored and co-created by Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund), the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, and the Advertising Council.”

http://www.thatsnotcool.com/

Internet Safety Tips

The Central Intelligence Agency has developed a friendly kid oriented section with some handy tips for safe web usage. I think most of these tips seem to be common sense, but the key is how you weave them into your daily activities.

• Create hard-to-guess passwords
• Update anti-virus software regularly
• Never open any attachments from senders you don’t know
• Alert you when something bad happens
• Surf the Internet with your children and talk to them about it
• Discuss with them the information the sites collect about them

https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/parents-teachers/internet-safety.html

Net Nanny: Making the web safe

It’s only a matter of time. If your kids have not found their way to some questionable content online yet, they will…  Even when it is not sought directly, many times children and other novice web surfers will click on seemingly harmless links, only to end up downloading spyware, viruses, or just plain ol’ smut.

Tired of playing Internet traffic cop at home, I went looking for help—something in addition to common-sense best practices. I found www.netnanny.com. This subscription-based service is an amazing addition to the parenting tool arsenal.

Here are just a few of its key features:

• User-specific Profiles – I can customize permissions for each user in the family, allowing more or less control as needed.
• Internet Filtering – There are over 30 categories to filter with multiple settings for each.
• Social Network Activity Monitoring – Net Nanny will notify you when there is new activity on social networking accounts or when a new account is established.  Further, you can actually access that account to see their friends, photos, chats, etc.
• Remote Monitoring – Log into the reporting module from anywhere.
• Web Search Tracking – You may be surprised what your kids are searching!

Watch their 2 minute video for even more information:

Social Networking Safety Tips

I stumbled upon this site the other day and discovered some sound tips. Here are tips for helping your kids use social networking sites safely:

• Understand what information should be private.
• Only post information you are comfortable others seeing.
• Use privacy settings to restrict who can access info.
• Once information is online it can not be erased.
• Avoid sex talk online.
• Trust their gut if they have suspicions. Tell you if something online is uncomfortable.

http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/social-networking-sites.aspx

Google Family Safety Center

Google recently launched the “Family Safety Center”. This site features tips on how to surf the Internet safely as a family. Google has developed their own set of safety tools like Google Safe Search, Safe Search Lock, Safe Search on Your Phone and YouTube Safety Mode. All these safety features function exactly as they sound, they give you as a parent the ability to limit what can be seen.

Google Family Safety Center:

• Provides parents and teachers with tools to help them choose what content their children see online
• Offers tips and advice to families about how to stay safe online
• Works closely with organizations such as charities, others in our industry and government bodies dedicated to protecting young people

Have you tried Google's hub of online family-centered safety tools? If so, which one do you like the most?

http://www.google.com/familysafety/

Cyber Swatton

Cyber bullying is a serious threat to you and your family. According a 2010 Pew Research Center study, 32% of teens online have experienced a form of cyber bullying. 15% have reported private digital material being forwarded without their permission. 13% have received threatening messages, 13% have had a rumor spread about them online and 6% have had an embarrassing picture posted online.

Learn tips on cyber bullying and security.
http://cyberswatton.com/

Cyber Security Industry Alliance

Staying safe online is a full-time job. Thankfully there is a group who's only mission is to set standards to keep the Internet safe. The website says, “The Cyber Security Industry Alliance is the only international public policy advocacy group dedicated exclusively to ensuring the privacy, reliability and integrity of information systems. Led by CEOs from the world's top security providers, CSIA believes a comprehensive approach to information system security is vital to the stability of the global economy. Its offices are located in Washington, DC, and Brussels, Belgium.”

For more information, visit:
http://staysafeonline.org/

PG Key Keeps Kids Safe Online

I saw this about a year ago at a Internet trade-show and I was impressed with how easy it worked. I have requested a sample and I am in the process of testing it myself. I generally do not post entries unless I personally tried it out, however I feel that this tool needs to be evangelized.

What is it? According to their website, “The PG Key is a new, simple to use, all in one solution that lets parents follow the best advice from the experts. It’s a key. Just plug it into a USB port of your kids or family computer and PG Key provides 3 areas of protection.”

I will post an update when I get my trial PG Key.

http://pgkey.com

Parry Aftab Privacy Lawyer

According to her website, “Parry Aftab is one of the leading experts, worldwide, on cybercrime, internet privacy and cyber-abuse issues. Kids used to pass notes around the class, now they are putting it on pages with 500 million users.” I have been following Parry for a few weeks and her insight into online self-defense is honest and professional.

http://www.aftab.com/