Archive for August, 2010
Facebook Places – How to turn it off
After reading my first post on this topic, many of my friends on Facebook came forward and asked me what they can do with their account settings to protect themselves and their children. In this blog-post sequel, I will try to provide parents with somewhat of a solution, as well as address a few more [...]
A Response from the CEO of Face.com – And My Questions for Him
The CEO of Face.com—the company behind the facial recognition software that I discussed in yesterday’s blog post—responded to my post with a comment. Here’s what he had to say: So I took Gil up on his offer and reached out to him. Fortunately, he was nice enough to offer answers to some questions that I [...]
Facial Recognition Tech May Pose Some Serious Threats to Online Privacy
Once in a while, I come across a news article that leads me to believe that things may be getting better in the world of online privacy. I’ve read and blogged about conferences where lawmakers and website CEOs have come together to discuss outdated privacy laws, and ways to amend them. I’ve also shared with [...]
How Risky Is Your Digital Behavior?
I was browsing Linda Criddle’s Online Safety blog when I came across this interesting tool. It’s a Digital Privacy Quiz created by the ACLU. Essentially what the quiz does is show you the impact you have on your privacy when you use every-day digital technologies like email, social networks, or even your cell phone. The [...]
The Internet’s Most Precarious Celebrities
Letting our guard down is the last thing we want to do when it comes to searching around on the Internet. Whether we’re searching for entertainment like fashion or music, or something more serious like answers to health questions that we may have; it’s always a crapshoot as to what we’ll come across in our [...]
Facebook Places – A Great Tool or A Stalker’s Best Friend?
Possibly feeling out of the loop when it comes to GPS locating features like the one you’ll find in the 2 million-member-social-networking site, Foursquare, Facebook has officially released their version of the service, called Places. The feature is available to Facebook users in the U.S., and just like Foursquare, Places allows users to post their [...]
Cell Phone Software That Protects Your Kids on the Road and At School
Protecting our kids can be a full-time job. And though parenting methods are much different today than they were 20 or 30 years ago when instant-access technology wasn’t so abundant, parents still have plenty of obstacles to face. On one hand, you have the computer; and though it can be tough, there are plenty of [...]
Sexting – The Slippery Slope
How slippery? Slippery enough that lawmakers from all over the country are unsure about what kind of laws they should have to govern sexting. Some states label it as illegal and even put it in the same category as child pornography (20 states); while other states feel that the punishment shouldn’t be nearly as harsh. [...]
The 10 Weirdest Technologies for Moms
I ran across this blog post on Vanessa Van Petten’s parenting website, RadicalParenting.com. Her website is a great resource for parents, no matter if it’s for Internet safety help or general parenting tips. But I found this blog to be pretty funny. It’s amazing that some of these technologies actually exist! 1. Bug Spray iPhone [...]
Department of Justice Cleaning House with Nationwide Operation
You’ll be glad to know that the United States government is stepping in and doing something about the sex offenders here in the states, registered or not. Last week, the Department of Justice announced that they are launching their first-ever national strategy to crackdown on sex offenders in an effort to combat the ever-increasing problem [...]
How and Why Identity Thieves Are Targeting Minors
Identity theft isn’t anything new. You see it on TV shows and movies, you read about it in the newspaper, and you’re warned about it every time you check your bank statement online. But when it comes to the identity of our children—children who have yet to establish a credit history or even open a [...]
BlogHer Survey Sheds Some Light on the Benefits of Technology
The 2010 BlogHer Annual Conference was held in New York this weekend. In case you don’t know what BlogHer is, they are the leading participatory news and information network for women online. They reach out to more than 20 million women each month through their website www.blogher.com. This year’s conference yielded a pleasant surprise as [...]
Funny Friday – Kids Say the Funniest Things
Jump to this Twitter feed to read some of the funniest things that kids will say. Have a great weekend!
Why Digital Allowances Aren’t Too Far-Fetched.
In the midst of the online cultural shift that we’ve seen in the last five years, it’s no secret that online shopping is becoming more of a social norm every day. Though online shopping can be extremely convenient and user-friendly, it can also pose a whole new set of rules and guidelines that parents have [...]
Registered Sex Offenders – A Harsh, But Very Real Reminder
Parents, every single day I receive a handful of news articles that report some form of online sexual predation of children, or what’s referred to as “online grooming”. But to be honest, I’ve shied away from sharing these articles and information as, and I’m sure you’d agree, they can be quite depressing and terrifying to [...]
Getting The Most Out of Skype’s Safety Tools
Connecting with friends and family over video chat can be an awesome experience; unfortunately, it’s just one of those technologies that can sway from one end of the spectrum to the other depending on who’s using it and for what reasons. I use the video-chatting program Skype for a lot of business reasons. It’s a great [...]
Mary Kay is a nationally-recognized Internet safety expert and the founder of 
