Week of November 6, 2005

For our top story this week, two new resources for online families.

1. OnGuardOnline.gov - help with privacy, PC security

Mystified by "VoIP" or "phishing"? Baffled by spyware? There is now some clearly worded help from Uncle Sam at OnGuardOnline.gov. With quizzes, videos, tips, and tutorials, there are lots of ways to learn what these computer-borne pests and technologies are and how to deal with them. Under the main topics (Spam Scams, P2P, Shopping, etc.), the site even links you to software products that can help with some of these (click where it says "GetNetWise Tools Database" in the gray box headed "Links and Resources" on the right-hand side of the topic pages).

OnGuardOnline is more about privacy and computer security than children's safety, so there's not much about instant-messaging, blogging, games, and other top-of-mind tech-parenting issues, but there isn't a more credible, comprehensive resource on the Web for what the Federal Trade Commission is designed to protect.

2. FamilyTechTalk - news you can listen to

A new joint-project of NetFamilyNews.org and SafeKids.com is now available to parents who prefer to listen to their news: FamilyTechTalk, a 15-minute weekly roundup of child-related technology news produced by Larry Magid and I (your editor, Anne Collier). It's a conversation by parents, for parents. You can listen on the Web here. Details on the stories we talk about can be found in this space or at NetFamilyNews.org.

In Other News

  • IM threats way up. Threats like worms and viruses targeting IMs were up 1,500% over the past year, CNET reports, citing research by IM security firm IMLogic. These are attacks that lead to outsiders taking control of your PC. To help kids be on the alert, tell them all these attacks use some sort of "social engineering," IMLogic indicated - "such as tempting users with an enticement to click on a link or attachment," like "check out my blog," "look at my photo," or "check out this cool video clip" (only more enticing because probably using kid chatspeak and posing as someone on their buddy list).
  • New Windows patches! Microsoft says they're critical, so all Windows PC owners out there need to get the patches here if you don't already have patching automated. To automate the process (which is a good idea), go here. "Two of [the security flaws they're patching] could allow a remote intruder to gain complete control over a Windows PC," ZDNET cites Microsoft's November security bulletin as saying.
  • More risks taken at home - online, that is. A new study of youth online behavior found that 51% of US 8-to-18-year-olds say their schools' computer-use rules were tougher than their home rules. "The findings suggest that less rigid supervision at home increases kids' freedom to surf inappropriate Web sites, download digital copyrighted works such as software and music without paying for it, and chat with strangers," said the press release of the Business Software Association, which sponsored the survey by Harris Interactive. Just 15% of respondents said they are online alone at school, as opposed to 62% at home. In other findings, 35% of 8-to-18-year-olds are "are more likely to use a home computer rather than a school computer to chat with someone they don't know, divulge personal information online (24%), or go to Web sites they probably shouldn't visit (29%).
  • Student wins free-speech case. "A New Jersey school district will pay $117,500 to a student who was punished for creating a Web site that included critical statements about his middle school," the Associated Press reports. A federal judge ruled that the district had violated the student's free-speech rights. Two years ago, Ryan Dwyer, now in the 11th grade, created a Web site on his own time at home. "Comments posted in the site's 'guest book' section angered school officials, who suspended Dwyer for a week, benched him from playing on the baseball team for a month, and barred him from going on his class trip, among other discipline. The district's lawsuit said anti-Semitic remarks were posted on the site, which Dwyer denied writing." The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey helped the Dwyers sue the district.
  • Parental controls for phones. It's good news, but it's also a sign that porn is coming to ever-more-multimedia cellphones. The US's major cellphone companies this week agreed to adopt "a content rating system for video, music, pictures and games that they sell to cellphone users - a development that could pave the way for them to begin selling pornography and sex-oriented content on mobile devices," the New York Times reports. According to Reuters, rating guidelines were developed by the industry's biggest trade association, CTIA. The industry will provide filtering "initially" based on two ratings: "general interest and restricted content deemed appropriate only for people over the age of 18," the Times reports, adding that the carriers said they wouldn't make the restricted content available until filters were in place. No start date was apparent, just "soon." About 21 million 5-to-19-year-olds had cellphones by the end of 2004.
  • Grokster shut down. The file-sharing service that played the "title role" in the Supreme Court case decided last June, has agreed in a legal settlement with the RIAA to stop distributing its P2P software, many tech-news outlets report. Illegal file-sharing probably won't be affect much by this and similar shut-downs, however, because "millions of people already have the Grokster software on their computers, and the company can't stop them from using it to get copyrighted songs free from other Grokster users," the Wall Street Journal reports, and file-sharers have also migrated to other services "to trade music online, notably BitTorrent, Gnutella and eDonkey."