SafeKids.com

Although still not widely recognized in the US, Safer Internet Day is neverthess “official” – at least as far the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is concerned. Though marked by Net users in schools, nonprofit organizations and governments in a growing number of countries since 2004, it was recognized by the US government last November, when Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano joined European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes in signing a Joint Declaration in London, “committing to make the Internet a safer and better place for children,” according to the EC’s press release

More at ConnectSafely.org including interviews with Safer Internet Day officials in Europe and the UK.

by Larry Magid

Vine is a fun new iPhone app from Twitter that has lots of people shooting and sharing very short videos.

Although it’s too early to know if this app will catch on with teens and tweens, my guess is that a lot of young people will find it appealing. Some people have called it “Instagram for video” because like Instagram (which lots of kids love), it’s easy to use and lets you immediately share what you’ve captured.

All you have to do to take a short video is press a camera icon at the top of the screen and then hold your finger on the screen while you shoot. You can remove your finger, re-aim the camera and press again to resume shooting.  When you’re done you’re given the chance to share the video on Vine (it can be viewed on the web or other Vine users’ phones) and share it on Twitter and Facebook.

Parents — I know what you’re thinking. This is one more ways for kids to get themselves in trouble by taking videos that perhaps they shouldn’t be taking and sharing. But, while Vine may be new, there are plenty of other smart phone apps that allow users to shoot still or video as well as easy ways to share it so — even though this is a new app — it’s by no means a new issue for parents to talk with their kids about.

As with any imaging app, kids need to know that they are accountable for what the post.  Yes, Vine can be used for sexting and kids need to know that there are potential legal consequences to posting or even possessing nude images of people under 18, even if it’s of themselves.  As with anything else, kids need to think before they post videos taken with Vine.  ConnectSafely.org has Tips to Prevent Sexting where we advise parents to “Talk with your kids about sexting in a relaxed setting” and “express how you feel in a conversational, non-confrontational way.”

Kids (and adults too) should also be aware of privacy implications of these videos for themselves and others. Be aware of what’s in the background of your shots and –regardless of what they are wearing — be sure to get permission from other people before including them in videos.

Here’s one of my first Vines, shot as I was taking our dog Yuri for a walk. By default the audio is off but you can turn it on by clicking the speaker in the right corner (though not much to listen to on this shot).

vine.co/v/b5pDVA3Hr6L

— Larry Magid (@larrymagid) January 25, 2013

By Larry Magid

A recent story from the Gilroy Dispatch gives me concern about the unintended consequences of our recent campaigns to stop bullying. The report, which lacks specific details, quotes police officials referring to the children involved as “suspects”and “victims.” It reads more like a crime blotter than a serious discussion about how to encourage youth (and adults too) to treat each other respectfully

I don’t have enough details to know whether law enforcement intervention was necessary in this case.  There certainly are situations where police do need to be involved. But I worry whether our well meaning desire to combat bullying could lead to an even bigger problem by branding children who misbehave as criminals instead of using other methods to create a more civil and compassionate environment for our children.

To be fair, most of the recently enacted state bullying laws don’t necessarily criminalize what we typically consider to be bullying. In an email, Cyberbullying Research Center co-director Justin Patchin said that “most simply mandate that schools have a policy” and “none say schools ‘must’ suspend for bullying.” He added that “it is up to the school administrator to determine what school-based discipline is appropriate and if the police do get involved they will decide whether the facts of the case warrant an arrest for a criminal offense. The applicable criminal laws really haven’t changed in most states.”

Nancy Willard, director of Embrace Civility in the Digital Age and author of several books on cyberbullying agrees that there are some “instances of egregious cyberbullying that should be viewed as a criminal offense,” but said that while’s it’s important to hold those who cause harm accountable, “punitive responses to these kinds of situations, either suspensions or criminal action, should be discouraged.” She encourages a “full investigation to accurately assess the underlying factors, leading to a restoration that will allow all of the students involved to move past this situation to remain welcomed and successful members of the school community.”

School-to-prison pipeline

There is no direct evidence that being suspended for bullying increases a child’s odds of getting into the criminal justice system but there have been studies to suggest that harsh school discipline can lead youth into what some federal officials are calling the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

The U.S. Department of Education and the Justice Department, in 2011, launched the Supportive School Discipline Initiative “to reduce the use of disciplinary practices such as suspension and expulsion, which place children at higher risk of poor academic achievement and dropout, illegal behavior, and entry into the justice system.”  Secretary of Education Arne Duncan expressed concern about “rising rates and disparities in discipline in our nation’s schools” and pointed to a study that found that found that when a student was suspended or expelled “the odds increase dramatically that they will repeat a grade, drop out, or become involved in the juvenile justice system.”

Patti Agatston, a trainer and consultant to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and co-author of Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age said that “most law enforcement personnel would rather address bullying and cyber bullying through prevention and education.” She feels that “giving a criminal record to a child at a young age will likely do more harm than good for the perpetrator” and said that “there are more supportive and effective ways to help the targeted individual without involving the criminal justice system.”

Bullying on the decline

I am also concerned about the general sense that bullying is a growing problem.  While it is a problem — regardless of how often it happens — the actual incidences of bullying are going down, not up, according to researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center (CRCC).

A recent paper by CRCC’s director David Finklehor looked at several studies and found “substantial declines in face‐to‐face bullying and peer related victimizations at school from the 1990s to recent years.” The annual National Crime Victimization Survey, according to Finkelhor, “shows that between 1992 and 2010 for youth 12‐18 school related violent victimizations declined 74%  and school related thefts declined 82%.

The 2011 Health and Risk Behaviors of Massachusetts Youth report, based on a survey of 8,925 students in 137 Massachusetts secondary schools showed a significant decrease in reported “bullying at school” between 2003 and 2011.

Percentage of  Massachusetts secondary students reporting that they had been bullied in school.  (source: Massachusetts Youth Risk Survey)

The Center’s on Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS) did show that cyberbuling rates increased from 6% in 2000 to 9% in 2005 to 11% in 2010, but that is also the period when millions of children started going online. Prior to the advent of online communications, the cyberbullying rate was zero.  ” The increase in online harassment,” wrote  Finkelhor, “is probably best seen simply as growth in the usage of electronic media for all kinds of socialization including its negative forms.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explaining new search feature (Photo: Larry Magid)

As he opened Tuesday’s press conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg proudly announced that this was the first product announcement from Facebook’s sprawling new campus in Menlo Park, California. He then wasted no time talking about the company’s new “Graph search” product.  Graph search, which is initially being rolled out to a small test group of Facebook users who apply will enable you to search  your own social graph — content from your friends, friends of friends and things others post publicly – that lets users to dig deeply into Facebook’s vast content of information that users post.

Zuckerberg shows an example of searching for “TV shows my friends like.” (Photo: Larry Magid)

The search feature will help users locate  some of those 240 billion photos from more than a billion Facebook users but, as I discuss later, only those posts and images they already have access to based on the privacy settings associated with each post.

The new service will appear as a search bar at the top of each page. As you start typing in your search query, you immediately start seeing results based on what you’ve already typed. If you were to to type “Restaurants in New York that friends of friends in New York like,” you would get only those eating establishments favored by that group.

You can also use it to find people who share your interests. If I were to visit Seattle with my bicycle  I might very well want to search for “People who like Cycling and live in Seattle, Washington,” which would show me links to pages of people who meet that criteria but only if they have allowed me (depending on how they set privacy for that post) know that they live in Seattle and share my passion for cycling.

Amazing implications

The new service has some pretty amazing implications. It’s like your own personal “big data” source but instead of drawing on a world of information — like Google — you draw on information from your own “social graph.” Facebook also has a deal with Bing that returns web search results if you can’t find results based on your social graph. Of course, like any powerful tool, there are also privacy implications, which is why it’s a good idea to scroll down to review some of the ways you can protect your privacy.

Example people search based on interest and location (Screen shot from Facebook blog)

I asked Mark Zuckerberg whether any content that is not currently discoverable could be unearthed via the new search tool and he gave me an emphatic “no.”  Search will respect the privacy policies you already have in place so if you limit the audience of a post to friends only, than only your friends will be able to find it in search. If you limit it friends of friends than only people in that group will be able to find it. But if you post it as “public,” than anyone can find it via the new search tool. Privacy settings are even more granular. You can limit any post to a subset of friends or even “only me.”

Zuckerberg did point out, however, that hiding content from your timeline does not keep it from being found via search. You could, for example, hide an unflattering photograph of yourself from your timeline but if someone else posted that picture and tagged you in it, it could be found and displayed if people search for photos of you.  To that end, Facebook plans to launch an educational campaign urging users to use the service’s activity log feature to review everything they’ve posted and who can access it. You can also go back and delete a picture or a post or change the audience.  And once you have access to the new search tool, you can also use it to search for pictures of yourself. To unearth those photos that you already hate, you can search for “pictures of me that I’ve hidden from my timeline.”

For specific parental advice on Facebook’s new search feature see A parent’s-eye-view of Facebook new ‘Graph’ search by my ConnectSafely.org co-director, Anne Collier.

Can’t hide through obscurity

What’s important to know about Facebook search and search in general is that obscurity is no longer a way to guarantee privacy. Things that used to be hard to find are now easier to dig up, which is why everyone needs to think about what they post and who they share it with. That’s always been true on Facebook and the Internet in general but as companies like Facebook and Google develop better ways to search, it’s truer than ever because things are now a lot easier to find.

Privacy tools

If you go to your Facebook timeline, you’ll find a link for Activity log, which lists everything that you’ve ever posted on the service as well as every post and picture where you’re tagged.  Now –before search becomes widespread — is a good time to review what you’ve posted to make sure you’re comfortable with it being there, with who it’s share with and with how it’s tagged. You can remove tags and delete or change the audience for anything you’ve posted and using Facbook’s social reporting tool, you can request others to take down images or posts that you find objectionable.

You can click on Activity Log from your timeline to review, delete or change the audience for anything you’ve ever posted.

If you find pictures or posts by others, you can use Facebook’s social reporting tool to request that person take it down and automatically untag yourself.

If your’e tagged in a picture posted by someone else you can remove that tag and request the photo be taken down.

For more on Facebook privacy, select Privacy from the Facebook help menu and — for parents — see A Parents Guide to Facebook from ConnectSafely.org.

Disclosure: I’m co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a non-profit Internet safety organization that receives financial support from Facebook.

In a follow up to a 2011 study, the Federal Trade Commission found that “little or no progress has been made” on disclosure of information gathering since the first report was issued.

Read more on CNET News

by Larry Magid

Several years ago, my site SafeKids.com, developed a Family Contract for Online Safety and every few months I make sure it’s up-to-date.  The idea of a contract, or series of pledges, is to get everyone in the family on board as to what it means to use today’s technologies safely and smartly. This includes understanding privacy, security and maintaining your reputation as well as some basic pointers about making sure you stay safe online.

There are now separate pledges for kids, teens and parents. The teens and kids pledges are different because one size doesn’t fit all. Rules or policies suitable for a 5 year-old don’t apply to 15 year-olds.

Young kids

With very young kids, it’s important to focus on issues like “I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number,” etc and it’s also a good idea to remind very young kids to “never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents” and to “check with my parents before downloading or installing software or doing anything that could possibly hurt our computer or jeopardize my family’s privacy.” Here’s the Kids Contract for Online Safety.

Different for teens

The teen pledge is very different because teens are very different from young kids. It starts out with “I will be respectful to myself and others. I won’t bully and won’t tolerate bullying by others” and concludes with “I will help create a culture of respect and tolerance at my school and among my peers.” ConnectSafely.org has lots of advice for teens and parents of teens, including A Parents Guide to Facebook, that I co-wrote with Anne Collier.

Parents need to agree to not overreact

The parents pledge starts with “I will get to know the services and Web sites my child uses. If  I don’t know how to use them, I’ll get my child to show me how” and includes “I will not overreact if my child tells me about a problem he or she is having on the Internet. Instead, we’ll work together to try to solve the problem and prevent it from happening again.” Parents also pledge to “not to use a PC or the Internet as an electronic babysitter.”

Contracts to accompany technology gifts

A Platform for Good, which is a project of the Family Online Safety Institute, has recently published several online safety cards to company kid’s technology gifts. There are separate cards for tablets, gaming systems, cell phones, and computers.

Conversations matters more than tips, rules and contracts

These contracts and cards are really conversation starters. Sure, you can sign them and post them by your PC or in a prominent place in the house, but the actual text of the contracts is far less important than the conversations you have with your kids. Talk with them frequently about how they are using technology to enhance their lives and ask them to talk with you about privacy and other issues. Considering asking their advice on how you can use the technology better and more safely. Your kids may know a lot more than you think they do and you may be a lot more patient and understanding than they give you credit for. Tips, rules and contracts are useful tools but they are not a substitute for  two-way communication.

Chart shows that younger children are more likely to friend their parents (Source: Facebook)

Researchers at Facebook took a look at friending patterns within families and discovered that teens — especially young teens — are more likely to friend their parents than the other way around.

Facebook found that over 65% of friendships between 13-year-olds and their parents are initiated by the child. But as the child gets older, the curve starts to shift. Only about 40% of parent/child friendships are initiated by the child when the child is in their early to mid-twenties. And I’m using the term “child” here to mean offspring. For some reason the percentage of  child-initiated friend requests start to ramp up, reaching 50%, by the mid-40′s.

Why do children friend parents?

Facebook didn’t ask or speculate why younger children are more likely to friend their parents, but I have a theory. Internet safety experts, including my colleagues and myself at ConnectSafely.org, recommend that parents ask their young teens to friend them and some parents require that as a condition for allowing their child to use Facebook. And, while Facebook requires that the user be at least 13, it is no secret that millions of children lie about their age to get on during their pre-teens and research has shown that in many cases the parent helps their pre-teen sign-up for the service.  It could be that those parents are especially likely to be sure that they’ve been added as friends. For the record, I would like to see Facebook admit children under 13, with additional safeguards.

Nature of family conversations

Facebook also examined who posts on who’s timeline and what they say to each other. It turns out that daughters post on their parents timeline at about the same frequency as parents post on theirs but sons are more likely to receive post from parents than initiate posts.

Daughters more likely to post to parents wall than are sons (Source: Facebook)

Parents are proud and kids are gracious

As I would have expected, parents often post things that show that they are proud of their kids, but it may come as a surprise to learn that kids generally appreciate those post.  Having said that, I urge parents to think carefully and check in with your kids before starting to post on their wall. It’s usually not an issue with adult kids but for teens and pre-teens, too much public parental interaction can be a bit embarrassing. As your children what they prefer and respect their wishes.  Also, consider using Facebook’s custom privacy tools to limit those posts to just them or perhaps them plus other family members.

Lots of love

Check out the graphics below to see typical words posted by children (including adult children) on their parents’ timelines.

Kids are nice to moms on Facebook (Source: Facebook)

Dads get plenty of love from sons and daughters (Source: Facebook)

Disclosure: I’m co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a non-profit Internet safety organization that receives financial support from Facebook.

Amazon has just fired another shot in its battle to convince families to buy its Kindle Fire tablet (starting at $159). The company just announced Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, which it describes as an “all-you-can-eat content service built from the ground up just for kids.” The service requires a Kindle Fire device (it doesn’t work on iPads and Android tablets) and prices start at $2.99 a month per child for families that already subscribe to Amazon’s $79 a year Amazon Prime service (that also includes free 2-day shipping and access to free videos). A family membership is $6.99 a month for Prime members. Non-prime subscribers pay $4.99 per child or $9.99 for a family membership. Owners of the newest Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD get one month of FreeTime Unlimited for free

The new service is aimed at children from 3 to 8.

Kids will be able to watch videos, play games, use apps and read books from content partners including Andrews McMeel Publishing, Chronicle Books, DC Comics, Disney, HIT Entertainment, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Marvel, Nickelodeon, PBS, Rainbow and Sesame Workshop.

Amazon said that children wil be able to explore content on their own and “pick for themselves what to read, watch or play next.” Characters will include Elmo, Dora, Thomas & Friends, Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen and Curious George.

Amazon has disabled any in-app purchases so parents don’t have to worry about their kids running up a bill.

Amazon said that it’s working with Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization that provides independent ratings of books, movies, television, apps, games, websites, and music.

Facebook announced on Monday that it is allowing users of its iOS and Android mobile app to automatically sync photos to their Facebook account so that they’ll be available to share as soon as you log on via a computer.

But don’t worry about accidentally posting embarrassing photos. When you enable sync, photos wind up in a holding area and are invisible to all but yourself until you decide to share them.

Follow the directions below to enable sync on your phone and to share your pictures once you log on via the web.

To enable sync:

1. If you haven’t already done so, download the latest Facebook app to your phone. Launch the app and press the menu icon in the upper left of the screen (it’s a blue icon with 3 lines).
2. Scroll down till you see photos and click on the word Photo
3. Then click on Sync in the lower right corner.

To share pictures

After you’ve enabled sync, pictures you take will automatically be syncronized to a holding area in your Facebook account.  To access it, click on Add Photos/Video near the top of your Home page and notice that there is now the option to Add Synced Photos:

Click on Add Synced Photos and you’ll see the pictures that you’ve synced.  Select the pictures you want to share and click Add Photos. You will then be able to add text and share them to whatever audience you select. As with all Facebook posts you can select who gets to see it ranging from the pubic (everyone) to “only me” (just you). The widest audience available to minors under 18 is Friends of Friends.

Privacy concerns

There are already plenty of blog posts about the privacy implications of this new feature.  An unsigned post at  RT.com, for example, worries that Facebook could “still steal the image’s geolocation data and use it to keep track of where its users are and whom they’re posing with.”  Ewan Spence here on Forbes finds “ it hard to trust Facebook’s constantly evolving privacy settings to keep these images truly private.”

I’m not so worried. If you don’t want to share photos, then don’t use the Facebook app to take pictures. Why else would you take a picture within Facebook if you didn’t want to share it?  And let’s give Facebook a bit of credit for not making the process completely automatic. You have to confirm that you really want to share the photo and even then, you get to decide on the audience.  And I’m not losing sleep over whether Facebook is “stealing” our geolocation data or planning on using our photos for some nefarious purpose.  Facebook’s motivation in wanting people to share photos is pretty obvious to me. It’ s because people want to share photos. People do it everyday and it’s one of the main reasons people use the site.  And the more time people spend on Facebook, the more money the company stands to make from advertisers.

Disclosure: I’m co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a non-profit Internet safety organization that receives financial support from Facebook.

by Larry Magid
This post fist appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

By all accounts, the online holiday sales season got off to a good start. Tracking companies reported big increases for this year’s Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday, including a 70 percent increase in shopping from mobile devices.

Of course, Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday are just the opening rounds of holiday online shopping. I got several pitches last week for “cyber week” sales. I’m fully expecting to see ads for “cyber month,” because the holiday shopping season doesn’t actually end on December 25th. Many online and offline stores offer after-Christmas sales. Clearly we have a lot of online shopping ahead of us.

One of the biggest obstacles to online shopping is the fear of fraud or a security scam. Although longtime Internet users may already know how to protect themselves, we’re seeing a lot of new people shopping online this year as Internet use become ubiquitous. And most of us are new to shopping from mobile devices. They too have security risks.

While security is an issue, it’s important not to overblow the fear. If you shop in physical stores you run the risk of getting into an accident on the way, having your car dinged in the parking lot or having your pocket or purse picked. There is even a risk of in-store credit card fraud, where a clerk copies down all your information. These risks are low, but so are the risks of online shopping. Most of us don’t encounter fraud, identity theft or merchandise that never shows up.

The most important thing you can do is to be sure you’re dealing with a reputable site. Even if it looks like a merchant you know, take a careful look at the site’s web address (URL). If it’s Sears, for example, make sure it’s really Sears.com and not something like Sears.somethingelse.com.

That’s especially important if you’re clicking on a link that comes by email. Phishing attacks that take you to fake look-alike sites are getting increasingly sophisticated. I try to avoid clicking on links in email and just type in the site’s URL. Also be careful about misspellings. It’s not uncommon for scammers to register a site with a slight variation of a legitimate site’s name.

Even if the site isn’t a fraud, it may still be somewhat unreputable. I once bought a camera online at a price that was “too good to be true.” The camera did arrive but without a battery, battery charger or manual. By the time I bought the required accessories, I wound up spending more than if I had bought it at Amazon.com.

If you’re not familiar with a site, look at it carefully. Read the “about us” section to look for a street address and phone number. Give them a call if you feel a need for a bit of human contact with them and by all means look them up on a search engine. Sometimes I’ll type in the merchant’s name in Google followed by “scam” to see what comes up. I don’t necessarily take all reports literally — even reputable merchants will get some complaints — but I look to see how many there are and where they are coming from.

You should always use a payment method that gives you some recourse. Credit cards are best because, if you have a complaint, you can ask the credit card company to investigate and it will remove the charge until it determines if it’s fraudulent. You also have protections with debit cards, but since they take the money out of your account immediately, you have to ask that it be put back. PayPal also offers some protections against fraud.

You might want to avoid shopping or banking from public Wi-Fi networks, especially ones that aren’t secured with a password. Even if it is password protected, there is the chance that someone could “sniff” what you’re doing on the public network.

Finally, make sure your device is secure. And notice that I said “device,” not PC. Many of us are using security or “anti-virus” software on our PCs and heeding advice to keep our operating systems and software up-to-date. But most people don’t pay much attention to smartphone security.

As smartphone shopping and banking increases, cyber criminals are turning their attention to mobile. Be very careful about the apps you download — some have been known to contain malware that can steal your information. Only download from trusted sources like the Apple App store or Google Play and read the reviews in those stores if you’re not familiar with the app. The major security software companies like Norton, Trend Micro and McAfee offer mobile software, as does Lookout.com, which has both a free and premium app to protect iPhone and Android phones.