News for the Week of May 8, 2005
The top story in kid-tech news this week was some long-awaited guidance for parents on Web filters from Consumer Reports.
Software keeps getting better, and filters are no exception.
So now that more than half of US families with teenagers use filtering
software (see Pew Internet & American Life research
The four main take-ways from Consumer Reports's latest set of filter tests are: 1) Filtering software has gotten better but is still flawed, 2) the 11 products tested are "very good or excellent" at blocking porn (the worst product blocked 88%), 3) "they blocked more than porn but not effectively" (not great at blocking hate and violence sites or those that aided weapons-making or advocated illegal drug use), and 4) they over-blocked ("the best porn blockers were heavy-handed against sites about health issues, sex education, civil rights, and politics").
The at-a-glance ratings of the products offer parents some great criteria to consider when shopping for this kind of parental backup. Other tools parents use include monitoring software (ideally as a deterrent, with full disclosure among family members), time-out software (scheduling kids' online time), and specialty software such as parental controls for IM, file-sharing, and PC games. "Backup" is the operative word, of course, since nothing takes the place of open family-policy communication and informed parenting.
In Other News...
- "Instant message, instant virus" was the headline in the Washington Post's computer security blog. It cites Trend Micro findings that "four out of ten of the top online threats at the moment arrive via instant message" and "the threat of viruses and worms through instant messaging could worsen in the near future." For help, see "IM tips from a tech-savvy dad" at Net Family News."
- Managing spam. The bad news is, "nobody has found a technological fix for spam." The good news: it can "be managed," the Washington Post reports. Writer Rob Pegoraro explains how, thoughtfully in terms we can understand. There's the one most of us have heard: "Never respond" to junk email messages. And there are some lesser-known tips, such as using current releases of email programs that don't display pictures in spam messages. Read Rob's piece to find out why.
- "Multi-purpose mobiles": Nearly 300 UK school and university students were disqualified from exams last summer because of cheating with mobile phones, the BBC reports. That's a 15.7% increase over the previous year. "Some students had attempted to receive answers via text messaging - particularly in more factual subjects such as maths and science. Others had inadvertently taken handsets into the exam hall." [There are not more cellphones than people in the UK, VNUNET.com reports!]
- Phones kids love. Get ready for ever-more-attractive, multi-purpose phones. Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins told the BBC to expect "games and programs that let people connect, on their own terms, with anyone and everyone else." Watch for "mobile gaming leagues," he said, and other phenomena that are as much about connecting people as playing games (and not about fancy graphics). Of course, kids will love all that, and parents will be leery.
- P2P gaming? Here's another sign that P2P technology is here to stay. It's an experiment in its early stages, CNET reports, but the Solipsis project/game "aims to draw together the technological lessons of 'massively multiplayer' games like Sony's 'EverQuest' and file-swapping networks like Kazaa or eDonkey." It'll be a virtual [game] world distributed across player's PCs instead of being served by a few humongous servers owned by the game companies. In theory, the security of the family PC would be no less vulnerable than if used to swap songs (and that is indeed vulnerable if owners aren't aware of what's being shared on the PC - see "File-sharing realities for families"); and the security of a young player would be no different than in a massively multiplayer game (with players worldwide).
