When strangers friend your kids: A parent's view
Friday, February 19, 2010
 I happened to be sitting in a Starbucks on Tuesday, waiting for my scheduled meeting party to arrive. There was a woman and a man sitting about five feet away from me. The woman must not have minded my presence because she was not making any attempt to keep her conversation private. (Good for me because I got a parent’s take on Facebook and my meeting was 30 minutes late.) So this Mom is talking to this guy. They were both in their 40’s. She was talking about her 15-year olds Facebook. The Mom was also a Facebook user. The mother had accepted a random 50-year old man’s friend request. She didn’t really know the guy but said she was open to meeting new people and they had been chatting and emailing. The next thing she knew, the man had befriended her daughter. “What is a 50-year old man befriending my daughter for? He doesn’t know her. That is creepy and weird. My daughter must have thought that was okay because he was one of my friends. She must have thought I knew him from my work circle or something.” The mom went on to say that this man had requested to be friends with many of her friends. She seemed creeped out enough by this that she told her daughter to take him off as her friend and she did the same. Facebook is a great social network but there are some creepy folks out there that may find adults to friend, then friend their children. If you’ve never thought about getting a Facebook account yourself, perhaps it may be a good idea. That way, you can see who your kid’s friends are. Between monitoring from an outside perspective and using McGruff Safeguard, you can rest assured that we can see if there is any behavior that is out of the ordinary, then alert you. It was good to see that this mother was on top of what was going on in her teen’s social media realm. It was also nice to see that she recognized a potential danger and put a stop to it. What are some of your experiences as parents? Has anything like this happened in your world? Are you a member of a social network? We’d love to hear from you. Labels: Facebook, friending, McGruff Safeguard, parents, strangers
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 5:58 AM Link to this Article
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Facebook hits new milestone
Friday, February 5, 2010
 For those of you who aren’t a “techy” type like me and keep up with the news, Facebook just celebrated it’s 6th birthday. Along with that birthday came a new milestone as the popular social networking site just hit its 4 million member mark.
Mashable, a top social media news site, reports:  Two months ago the social network hit 350 million, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminds us that number was less than half of today’s 400 million mark a year ago. It took the site about three months to climb from 300 to 350 million users and only about two months to gain another 50 million, indicating Facebook’s explosive growth is actually still accelerating. As great as this is for Facebook, this only ups the ante for internet predators to interact with kids and teens. This is why it is so important to incorporate McGruff Safeguard into an everyday habit. Parents can feel more at ease knowing their conversations are monitored to inform them of any suspicious activity. However, its not just about catching internet predators, it’s also about keeping kids and teens safe from themselves. In other words, if there is any sign of depression or suicidal thoughts, we inform the parents strait away. If we notice any suspicion of drug use, or sexual abuse, we let parents know. Facebook has been a huge communication platform for people of all ages and it started with the Gen Y’ers. There have been many posts that cause concern, and some lives have been saved because of this social network. A few months back, I posted about how my friend had noticed her nephew’s posts were getting more and more disturbing to him. She ended up reaching out to him because of these posts. It ended up being a pivotal moment because he was sad and was contemplating suicide. He is doing much better now since his aunt reached out. We’ve had parents share stories with us. We’ve heard stories of success, of deeper communication, and also stories where parents were just grateful to know a little better about what their kids were up to, good, bad and ugly. As popular social sites grow, so does the need for more monitoring and more concern over who is on these site. Download McGruff Safeguard today. Join the force that is dedicated to knowing their children better. Labels: Facebook, Internet predators, internet safety, Mashable, McGruff Safeguard, Milestone
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 3:03 PM Link to this Article
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Taking an active role
Saturday, January 30, 2010
 I’ve been thinking about McGruff Safeguard quite a bit lately. Especially since my 7 year-old niece is now on Facebook. I have a firm sense of relief as more and more parents are signing up to monitor what is going on with their kids. We’ve had some parents concerned about privacy issues. We’ve had parents who aren’t concerned about that at all. However, once they’ve tried it and are able to communicate better with their kids and teens and will know if any sexual predators try to harm their kids, they’d be notified, they don’t regret making that decision.
I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but by taking the steps and downloading McGruff Safeguard, you’re actively contributing to stopping internet predators. You’re actively taking the steps to be a better parent to your children. You’re actively taking a roll from a position of strength. That means something. The following came in from one of our parents:
The service is great! I had a couple incidences with my 14 year old daughter. There were boys at her school that she was friends with and they started to say things to her that were sexual and degrading. I was glad I had the opportunity to view the comments to let my daughter know that what they were saying was disrespectful and that "no boy or man" has a right to talk to any girl the way they did. Also, that she should have responded back to them with disgust and that it was unacceptable.
I do not feel like I am invading her privacy because there are so many issues that come up and need to be discussed in today's society. I did however tell my daughter that I have the service and it alerts me to sexual content via email. The service is the most important thing a parent should have if they allow their child freedom on the computer-internet. I personally know of a parent that does not have the service and never checks up on their child to see what they are doing on the internet. If they only knew that this boy spent most of his nightly hours on the x-rated sites and is hooked on pornography.
Parenting is tough enough. With the ever-advancing technology, I don’t see it getting any easier. Download McGruff Safeguard today. You’ll be glad you did. Labels: Facebook, McGruff Safeguard
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 12:07 PM Link to this Article
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Bullying Leads to 15-year-old Suicide
Monday, January 25, 2010
 We have posted many articles about bullying via texts and social media platforms such as Facebook and Myspace. We have heard of a few teen suicide stories which these platforms have been a launch pad of emotional abuse. Here’s one more to add to it. One thing we need to keep in mind as parents is that our kids don’t think like we do. Some things we understand, which only come with growth and maturity, are far out of the scope of the “everyday reality” that our kids face on and offline.
Phoebe Prince is yet another example of why it’s so important to get in touch with that reality…their reality. According to the Boston Globe, Prince had been a victim of both bullying and cyber bullying, which authorities believed may have prompted the 15 year-old to take her life.
Prince and her family moved to Western Massachusetts last year from a small village in west Ireland. Last fall, she enrolled at South Hadley High School which has a student body of approximately 700 students. “In a school with that many kids, there are going to be issues,’’
Sergeant Robert Whelihan, a spokesman for the South Hadley Police Department
said yesterday. “We are investigating what effects the bullying might have had
on the suicide.’’
The bullying included disagreements over teen romances at school, school
officials said. And it continued with taunting text messages and harassing
postings on Facebook, the popular social networking site.
“The real problem now is the texting stuff and the cyber-bullying,’’ said
South Hadley School Superintendent Gus A. Sayer. “Some kids can be very mean
towards one another using that medium.’’
You may think to yourself, “Well, if my son/daughter were having issues with other kids, they would surely let me know.” Unfortunately, this is not always the case. They may feel embarrassed, disconnected, or ashamed of what is happening. There are lots of reasons kids don’t communicate as we do. They’re kids. If they knew any differently, they probably would.
That’s why it’s important to know what is happening behind the scenes. McGruff Safeguard is about keeping those you care about safe. It’s about giving you the information necessary to facilitate conversation.
Could this suicide have avoided? I absolutely think so. There is a whole mess of stuff that happens that we don’t know about. If your kids are being cyber bullied…that’s one thing we can alert you on. Then, you have an inside look as to what your kids are going through. Download McGruff Safeguard today. It can definitely make you aware, and it may help save a life.
Labels: bullying, cyberbulling, Facebook, McGruff Safeguard, myspace, Pheobe Prince, South Hadley High school, teenage suicide
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 8:32 AM Link to this Article
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Sex offenders on facebook and myspace
Friday, January 15, 2010
 Just recently, I posted a blog about the sex offenders that were found on Facebook and Myspace in New York. I wanted to go into a bit more depth with this subject today. Many of you, like me, want to know how these sex offenders were found, how they are BEING found, and what are the states we live in are doing about it. According to Wired, a popular magazine devoted to new technology, as of December 1, 2009, 3,533 registered sex offenders were stripped of their social networking accounts. This happened as a result of the state’s 2008 Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) law. According to the article, the law requires the state’s 30,000 convicted sex offenders to file their home, e-mail and social networking addresses with the state. Out of that pool, only about 27 percent revealed e-mail addresses or social-networking usernames to authorities, and only 10 percent divulged a Facebook or MySpace username. The remaining 22,000 or so registered sex offenders who did not supply
online identity information are either in prison or homeless, lack computer
access or simply chose not to respond, an unidentified state Division of
Criminal Justice Services representative told the New
York Daily News.
The e-STOP system only works if criminals volunteer their social networking
identities, as they are required to do within 10 days of creating a new account
under penalty of new felony charges. Proponents of the law have declared it a
success.
“Before e-STOP, sexual predators freely lurked in social networking
sites trolling for innocent victims,” said executive director of Parents for
Megan’s Law and the Crime Victims Center Laura Ahearn to the Daily News. “With
e-STOP, Attorney General Cuomo has sent a clear message that there is a new
sheriff in the cyberworld protecting our most vulnerable.”
Okay, so what else is going on NOW in order to stop predators from getting on the popular Facebook site? Facebook has an application (not created by Facebook, but it’s out there) called P.O.M. Offender Application. What does this app do? It locates sex offenders in your area (U.S.) and comes complete with a Google map mash up showing their residence, their crime and their photo. To check it out, click here. Illinois has also recently signed a bill into law by Governor Pat Quinn, banning registered sex offenders from using social networks, turning the act into a felony. The new law took effect January 1, 2010. “Obviously, the Internet has been more and more a mechanism for predators to
reach out," said Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), a sponsor of the measure and a
governor candidate. "The idea was, if the predator is supposed to be a
registered sex offender, they should keep their Internet distance as well as
their physical distance.”
The popular social networking sites, as well as some states, are taking steps to protect our children, but they can only do this IF the registered sex offenders are actually doing what they are supposed to. To me, this means there are thousands slipping through the cracks. That is why it is so important to continue monitoring the online activity of our kids and teens. McGruff Safeguard does this for you by monitoring conversations and alerting you if there is questionable conversation. By registering for McGruff Safeguard, you are helping us help you keep your loved ones safe. Labels: e-Stop Act, Facebook, facebook application, myspace, Pat Quinn, Wired
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 9:20 AM Link to this Article
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Facebook Security Tips: Top 10 Tips for keeping your kids safe
Monday, January 11, 2010
I was reading an article the other day about safety for FB users, especially since they are getting younger and younger as my previous post spoke of. There are more than 250 million active users on Facebook, with each having an average of 120 friends. Because most of its users do not know the some of the implications of entering personal information, I wanted to share this “Top 10” list on Facebook Privacy. http://www.makeuseof.com/ has this guide that will show you what you can (and cannot) do to safeguard your Facebook Privacy.
1. Organize Friends in Lists
What do you do when your boss, mother-in-law, or a casual web acquaintance
sends you a friend request on Facebook? Use Friend Lists. Friend Lists are the
foundation of your Facebook privacy settings. Select Friends from the top menu,
and use the Create link to create friend lists like Co-workers, Family, College
Friends, etc. Your friends can’t see your lists, so you can name them whatever
you like. 
Tip: On your left sidebar, all your friend lists may not show up by
default. Click More to see all of them, and drag and drop those you want above
the separator.
2. Customize Profile Privacy
Click Settings > Privacy Settings > Profile. Select which parts
of your profile will be seen by whom.
If you choose Customize in the drop down, you can be more specific. This is
where the Friend Lists you created before become really useful.
Also go to the Contact Information tab and choose how you want your contact
information to be shared on the Internet.
3. Set Facebook Privacy Level of Photo Albums
On the Photos tab of your profile page, click Album Privacy. Here again, you can use your Friend Lists to set the privacy for each photo album.
Note that your profile pictures go into a special album that is always visible to ALL
your friends.
4. Restrict Search Visibility
Click Privacy > Search to set your visibility when someone searches
Facebook for people. This is an important way to safeguard your Facebook
privacy. You can also select what will be visible in the search results.
5. Control Automatic Wall Posts and News Feed Updates
Your
actions in Facebook such as comments, likes, appear as highlights on ALL your
friends’ home pages. You cannot use friend lists here, only turn them on or off.
Go to Privacy > News Feed and Wall and choose whether you want your boss
or ex-girlfriend to know that you’re in a relationship.
6. Set Facebook Wall Privacy
Go to your profile page, click Options > Settings under the status box.
Here you can control whether your friends can post to your Wall, and
who can see the posts made by your friends.
7. Avoid Appearing in Advertisements
Facebook has two types of advertisements: third-party and Facebook. Third-party advertisements are currently not allowed to use your pictures, but there is a setting to disallow it if it is allowed in the future.
Go to Privacy > News Feed and Wall > Facebook Ads tab to turn this off.
The Facebook ads shown to your friends are about ‘social actions’ like
becoming a fan of something. You can turn this off at the bottom of the page.
8. Protect Yourself from Friends’ Applications
Go to Privacy > Applications, and click the Settings tab and uncheck all the boxes. These settings control what information about you is visible to applications installed
by your friends. By default, these are set to visible. This means that your
religious, sexual, and political preferences, pictures, etc. are readily
available to one of the million worldwide Facebook application developers, each
time any of your friends takes a quiz, plays a game, or runs any other Facebook
app. This is obviously a Facebook privacy issue.
This is the most commonly misunderstood aspect of Facebook privacy. These settings control what applications installed by your friends can see about you, even if you don’t install the application yourself.
Why is this important? Because these settings will not change anything about
what you are sharing with the applications you install yourself. For that, go to
the next step. 9. Privacy from Your Applications There is no way to control what applications see about you; it is an
all-or-nothing affair. Take this quiz developed by the American
Civil Liberties Union to check what anonymous application developers can
know about you and your friends each time you take a quiz.
The Burton Group’s Identity Blog features the Facebook Privacy Mirror, an
application that you can use to find out what applications know about you and
your friends. If you really want to see exactly what profile data of each of
your friends is visible to application developers, Privacy Mirror shows it in
detail.
The only thing you can do is to authorize only those applications you
require and trust. Go to Settings > Application Settings from the top menu.
Change the drop-down from Recently Used to Authorized. Here you can see all the
applications you have authorized to get access to ALL your profile information.
Remove the ones you no longer need.
Also check the list of applications Allowed to Post and Granted Additional
Permissions to remove unwanted ones.
10. Quitting Facebook? Delete, Don’t Just De-Activate Your Account You can easily deactivate your account in Facebook from the Settings page.
But deactivation will retain all your profile information within Facebook,
including pictures, friends, etc. If you want to permanently delete your
Facebook account, click here to submit a deletion request. Note that:
There is an unspecified delay between submitting your delete request and actual deletion. If you login to Facebook, your deletion request is automatically cancelled.
There doesn’t seem to be any way to confirm that your request was completed.
Even after permanent deletion, Facebook says that copies of your photos may remain on their servers for technical reasons.
Also, note that once in a while, there is news of a Facebook hack or leak that can
expose your information on the Internet. It is better to be safe than sorry by
avoiding using Facebook for anything that may embarrass you.
Hopefully some of this information can help you. I know there were a couple of things on this list that I wasn’t aware of. Facebook has many features and these are a some we thought were well worth mentioning. If you have the opportunity to sit down with your kids and do some of these safety precautions, this along with installing McGruff Safeguard, can ease your mind with what your children are doing online. What are your thoughts? Labels: Facebook
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 5:29 AM Link to this Article
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Tweens on Facebook: Start Early, Start Now
Friday, January 8, 2010
 You can probably imagine my surprise when I received an email notification that my 7-year old niece has requested my friendship on Facebook. Now, I instantly thought of my 11-year old nephew, the brother, and his participation on the social media platform. I felt it was a little young for him. So, I am thinking to myself, “Wow…what is my sister thinking?” (Btw, I will be having a conversation with her about this, and installing McGruff Safeguard for monitoring them.)
What this goes to show, is that our kids are becoming more and more technologically savvy, and they are hopping on social sites daily at a faster and younger rate. It makes me think of my daughter. She will be 6 tomorrow. I am thinking that it will be HIGHLY unlikely that in one year from now, she’ll be allowed to be on Facebook. Right now, I’m just okay with the whole Webkinz site. She certainly won’t be participating in a FB forum anytime soon. But back to technologically savvy kids… parents are finding that their teens are far more advanced in internet knowledge than they are. This can be scary and overwhelming to a parent.
With this advanced internet knowledge, I’ve had many parents say they believe that developmentally, tweens and teens need some level of privacy and should be extended trust. I agree that trust should be extended. I also think that by allowing your kids to be active on these sites is giving them trust. That doesn’t mean parents shouldn’t be thinking that they don’t monitor and protect their kids from what they are not aware is out there. Perhaps the best way to do this is by looking into the option of McGruff Safeguard in order to be ‘notified’ for critical behavior rather than monitoring every interaction that their tweens or teens have. This gives parents the opportunity to set the stage NOW on how their child will use the internet, establishing from day one that they will monitor their kids’ activity, ensuring that they are safe from the outside, and also mentoring them on their online interactions and conversations.
Our parents were able to provide input to us on how we talked to others, how we interacted with friends, how we needed to respect other people. Kids (tweens especially) today still need that guidance; even though HOW we do it is changing. Help us help you keep your family safe online. Labels: Facebook, McGruff Safeguard, technology, tweens, Webkinz
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 2:08 PM Link to this Article
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Considering Holiday Gifts
Monday, December 28, 2009
The holiday season is upon us. Christmas is now over and New Years Eve is just days away. This year went by quickly. 2009 was a monumental year in the tech world where major online social networking sites gained millions of participants. Facebook started out as a site for students. Soon, pre-teens and adults learned of its rising popularity and hopped on too. However, as we’ve seen, not all adults are welcome in this space…which brings me to think about the gifts that our kids may be asking for this year.
Many of our teens have asked for gifts, such as notebooks/ laptops, and personal computers. While here is no doubt that by having a computer, this will give teens the necessary freedom and access to complete schoolwork. However, it also takes away the opportunity to have a computer in a centralized location which can inhibit monitoring. And while it’s important to give some rope to our kids…give them some freedom, it’s also important to understand that not every teenager is ready for that type of freedom. By installing a PC solution like Mcgruff Safeguard, parents will be able to ensure their kids safety and continue to provide them advice and guidance as their parents.
I have seen teens in small towns have thousands of friends, most of whom they don’t know. It is a typical practice for teens on social networking sites to “friend” someone without having a clue who they are or where they’re from. This then gives the “friend” access to all information provided from the teenager, from hometown and high school they go to, to things they share with their best friends on the walls they write on. That is the danger of online predators. They’re sneaky and can pose to be anyone or anything in order to get in.
As the population of social networking sites grows, so do the hidden dangers many people take for granted. Just last week, a major story that broke out was about the 18-year-old U.S. student who had been accused of posing as a girl on Facebook. He tricked at least 31 male classmates into sending him naked photos of themselves, blackmailing some for sex acts.
You never know who is out there intending to do harmful acts to your kids and teens. As you consider the holiday gifts you gave your family, consider protecting them with McGruff Safeguard. Help us help you keep your family safe.Labels: Aol News, Facebook, gifts, holiday season, McGruff Safeguard
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 6:55 AM Link to this Article
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Parental Reality Check
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
 I had the opportunity to interview an anonymous 16 year-old girl today for this blog. I really wanted to get to the heart of what teens are going through right now, see who or if they KNOW who they are talking to online, and share with you a new cyber law that New York just passed today. Let’s begin with my interviewee, *Kate. (not her real name)
Kate is from a city in Mississippi. She is a junior in a public high school. She is on Facebook, Myspace, and Tagged. Tagged.com is another global social site that I was not aware of until today. It is yet another version of the aforementioned social sites.
I asked Kate strait up if she was sexually active. She said she was not however she was the only one of her friends that was still a virgin. She said most of them became sexually active at 14 and 15 years-old. She said her religious views are what had kept her from crossing that line. Some of her friends also had the same belief system as she did, but that it didn’t stop them. She did say that she talks to boys often on the sites she is on, and it’s a way for her to meet new people around the area she is in.
I asked her if she had ever used these sites to sneak around, and if her parents monitored her use. She told me her mother asks her who she is talking to sometimes, but she just replies that she is talking to her friends. She sometimes lets her mother know if she is talking to a boy, but it depends on who it is. She also opened up and told me she doesn’t worry about her parents snooping around so much because she has these applications on her phone. She just gets on the sites there. She does still use her computer though. She just logs out of her accounts and email and keeps her passwords safe. (Please keep in mind that she had no idea what the interview was for with the exception of her knowing I was doing a piece on teens and social network/media sites.)
When I asked her if she regularly visited chat rooms…she had. She even had to go so far as to “de-friend” or “un-friend” (the act of taking someone off your “friend” list so they can no longer have access to your site.) someone because he was making sexual remarks and advances toward her. She said it “freaked” her out a bit. Kate has over 2000 Facebook friends, most of which she does not know, all of which can see ALL of her information. Here’s is a serious realty though when it comes to having all of these FB friends which you do not know: Just today, in New York, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that more than 3,500 registered New York state sex offenders have been purged from social networking sites Facebook and MySpace in the first database sweep since the state’s new Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (“e-STOP”) went into effect. 3500 registered sex offenders!!!! And that is only ONE state!
It is IMPERITIVE to KNOW what the conversation is about. Most sexual predators know how to lure and say just the right things. They know where your kids and teens are. They play in the same space!
We are going to talk more about the new laws coming out in later posts and will always keep you up-to-date on the newest ones. It’s not just about what your teens are up to and have going on in their life, it’s about protecting them from those who want to destroy their lives. With all of the peer pressure and sexualiztion of today's society, it's not easy for them. And it's a parental reality check for us on many different levels. Know where they are. Know what they go though. McGruff Safeguard is free. Download it today. Help us help you keep your loved ones safe. Labels: chat room, Cuomo, e-Stop Act, Facebook, interviewing, McGruff Safeguard, monitoring, myspace, Sex Offenders, Tagged
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 7:01 PM Link to this Article
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Controlling Privacy Settings: Be safer online
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
We've talked over and over again on this blog about privacy and social media. Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace--some of the most prevalent social media sites on the web--are also the easiest venues for your child or teen to "put themselves out there" in ways they might not have realized, or even wanted. But today, I want to share with you more than just a warning, I have some actionable tid-bits that you and your child can put into place today.
I must credit Nick O'Neal over at All Facebook for putting together an incredibly detailed list of instructions for protecting your privacy on Facebook. I recommend your read his article (http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/) for a detailed break down. Some of my favorites, ones which I've personally implemented, include the following...
Avoid Photo/Video Tag Mistakes.
If someone snaps a shot of you at the last Christmas party, it's not too harmful for them to tag that photo of you. But what about photos that you might not want out there? Or worse, photos that AREN'T you but someone thinks its funny to say that it is. Change your settings to disallow tagging without your approval.
Control what Basic Information is Shown.
This is indeed basic. Under the “Basic Information” section on the Profile Privacy Page, you can control what is seen on your page. Go thru the list and select what you want shown or not shown. You can go to the News Feeds and Wall privacy page as well to control what actions are shown in your friends feeds.
Make Your Contact Information Private.
For certain friends your contact information is known, but for acquaintances you don’t want to give out all that information.
Avoid the Embarrassing Wall Post.
If a friend or contact posts something embarrassing of your child, Facebook has provided you with the ability to customize the posting visibility.
These are just a few of my top picks. Read the full list and detailed instructions at All Facebook blog.Labels: Facebook, online parenting, privacy, social media
posted by Nick Carter at 11:24 AM Link to this Article
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Who has rights to images YOU post online?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I have recently started spending more time on a few of the social media sites. Twitter can be the most addicting, yet it doesn't really give out as much information as some of the others, such as Facebook (at least not yet!)
If you haven't heard of Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace you are on another planet. These are just three of many. Most likely your child is on one if not MANY of these websites. They post anything on these pages from silly photos to quizzes about themselves, which may give intimate information to anyone on the web.
When I was growing up we didn't have this kind of way to reach out to others. You had to go outside or call your friends to do something or tell them anything. Nowadays, they can just get on Facebook and not only post what they are doing right now, but post photos and videos as well. They may think that only their "friends" can see these images and information, and when and if they decide to cancel their page they will just be deleted off the web entirely. This is not what happens.
On February 4th, Facebook made a change to their Terms of Service (TOS) that raised panic among its users. All content ever uploaded on Facebook could be used, modified or even sublicensed by Facebook in every possible way - even if you quit the service. Here is what the Terms of Service (TOS) for Facebook stated as of February 4th:
You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.
Basically they stated that any content, whether it be photos, videos, or posts could be used by them even after you terminated your page. This understandably caused some outrage among Facebook users. Some things could be protected depending on your privacy settings, but most likely your child wouldn't have know this.
Facebook has since reverted back to its original terms of service due to the overwhelming response of its users. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has posted a response on the Facebook blog stating: "Trust us, we're not doing this to profit from you, it's so we are legally protected as we enable you to share content with other users and services."
Even though Facebook has since reverted the changes in their TOS previously noted, the uproar that it caused has opened peoples' eyes to the very real possibility that when something is uploaded to the internet, it may be impossible to retract. We as parents need to be aware of what our children are posting to these different sites and protect kids from unknowingly damaging their futures. Millions of people are uploading information to huge online databases, and by doing so may be opening themselves up to irreversible defamation and harmful misuse of their seemingly innocent content.
It's a very scary thing to realize. This is why we need to let our children know that what they post should not be something they don't want anyone and everyone to see. Help protect your children by learning what they are doing online. Download McGruff SafeGuard for free today.Labels: Facebook, internet laws, internet safety, McGruff Safeguard, photos, Terms of Service, TOS
posted by Nick Carter at 7:43 AM Link to this Article
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Protecting your Child's Privacy Online
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
When my brother and I were younger, our parents belonged to a small social club in the tiny one-horse town where we grew up. Every so often, all the families would meet for dinner at the Lions Club lodge in town. At one such meeting, my brother, all of 3 years old at the time, was being particularly restless in his seat. One parent teased, "What's the matter, you got ants in your pants?" A few people chuckled and conversation went on... until a few moments later when mom turned around to find my brother, pants to his ankles, examining carefully to find these ants that must be there somewhere.
That story was funny from the moment it happened (and as you can imagine, my brother would prefer it be forgotten today). At three years old, children have little regard for their privacy and even less grasp on the far-reaching impact this little event would have for the decades to come. It seems nobody is capable of forgetting that story even today.
What we need to remember in the Internet age is that teens aren't altogether more astute as to the far-reaching impact of their actions. They may not even have an altogether higher sense of privacy than my brother did at three. But, what should be most concerning is this: the social network of those who may be on-lookers is infinitely larger than the quaint pot-luck dinner in our tiny town lodge.
My brother would never have dreamed that at the age of 31, old ladies around town would still remember that cute little boy who took a joke too literally. Does your teenager know how far-reaching the Internet community can be, and how permanent a mark can be made? Emotions posted on a Facebook wall, a careless remark in a Twitter feed, or even a indiscreet photo displayed on a MySpace page... all of these have the instant capability reach millions of viewers and to follow a teen into adulthood with consequences no child could foresee.
Mom laughed out loud (or LOL, if you will) as she redressed her totally oblivious son. No harm done and a great story to tell at family dinners. Are you there, at the social gatherings of today's Internet community? McGruff SafeGuard allows parents to "be there" to watch, see what their kids are up to, and keep them from dangers that they may never even know are ahead.Labels: children safety, Facebook, internet safety, McGruff Safeguard, monitoring, online parenting, photos, privacy, sexting, teenagers
posted by Nick Carter at 5:49 AM Link to this Article
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Internet Predators Traveling to Pennsylvania Busted
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Attorney General Tom Corbett and the state's Child Predator Unit deserves our accolade today, along with all the law enforcement teams who serve to protect our children in the increasingly cyber-active world. Corbett's team is discovering that threats to the children of the Pennsylvania communities they protect are not always local. The Internet has made it easy for predators to solicit minors from several states away, and the predators are willing to travel, it appears. But Pennsylvania has not settled for a defensive posture. The aggressive undercover work of the Child Predator Unit resulted in another arrest today, and we think that's something worth congratulating.
Today, Corbett announced the most recent arrest of one man from Ohio and an accomplice local to Reading, Penn. The two men thought they were soliciting 13-year old girls. They were wrong. Agents from the Child Predator Unit used assumed identities of underage girls and made the arrest in a suburban rendezvous.
The Gant Daily, however, reports that this arrest is the 53rd child predator arrest this year alone. Since it's inception in 2005, there have been 230 arrests to-date with an amazing 100% conviction rate. Their stings have put would-be predators behind bars from as far away as Texas and Florida. Our hats are off to you!
According to the Gant Daily's report, Corbett doesn't want to do it alone. He want's parents involved to:
"Corbett said the best defense against Internet predators is for parents to regularly discuss online safety with their children, to actively monitor their online activity and to encourage kids to immediately report any situation where strangers make sexual propositions."
So, how can you get involved? One way to get started is with McGruff SafeGuard's free monitoring tool. But more than that, take Corbett's advice: talk to your kids. Finally, we want to invite you to connect with other parents like yourself who are fighting to keep kids safe: join the Facebook group "Parents for Protecting Children Online."Labels: Child Predator, Facebook, internet safety, McGruff Safeguard, monitoring, online parenting, predators
posted by Nick Carter at 7:04 AM Link to this Article
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Air Force Airman Caught Soliciting a Minor
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Internet safety took another blow this summer as US Airforce airman Christopher Stevens has been charged with child enticement to engage in sexual activity. The story's details are so frighteningly unassuming, parents shudder to think how this can happen so easily on social media sites intended for harmless fun. But it did. And the quiet town of Stow, MA, will never forget how deep such danger can strike.
Police say the solicitation began on Facebook. In a community where "friends" are easy to find and engage, Stevens began sending messages of a sexual nature to the young girl, only fourteen years old. Based on the content of the messages, it was no misunderstanding that Stevens was interacting with an underage girl. The pursuit continued nonetheless.
When parents reported their daughter missing at 11:00 PM one Friday night in June, the police were fortunate to find a cell phone left behind. It contained text messages with explicit sexual content and exact locations of their rendezvous. "Had we not found her, we don't know how troubling this could have been." commented District Attorney Gerry Leone.
The communication had begun on Facebook, and online communication continued for months before finally leading to the dreaded LMIRL ("Lets Meet in Real Life"). But investigators say it could have been avoided. The content of the messages made it painfully obvious that Stevens was soliciting a minor. But, left to develop without supervision, this secret online relationship quickly grew out of hand.
At McGruff SafeGuard, it's these tragedies which are so preventable which give us passion for what we do. Parenting children online requires the same boundaries and supervision as parenting children offline. We invite parents to become a "fan" of McGruff Safeguard: Take a Bite Out of Internet Danger on Facebook. Share your thoughts, concerns, and questions with us. Let's work together to make the internet a safer community for kids.Labels: Facebook, internet safety, monitoring, online parenting
posted by Nick Carter at 9:26 AM Link to this Article
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Photos and Internet Safety
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I have been speaking to parents lately who differ so vastly in their views of Internet safety. This scares to me to a degree. Here is why. I have quite a few friends on Facebook and I am friends with their kids as well. Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networking sites. There are more than 250 million active users on Facebook, and 120 million of those users visit the site at least once a day. (I am included.) Something that has raised concern with many parents are photos. There are millions of photos on Facebook.
Kids now have cameras on their phones, some have them on their computers, and there is also your regular digital camera that allows you to instantaneously upload photos online. Photos that may be 'harmless' in a teenagers eye could be a playground of eye candy for some audiences, and that's not good.
Facebook also has an application called ‘Bumper Stickers.’ This is an area full of stickers or ‘photos’ that your child can post to their profile page. The stickers chosen usually tell a lot about the personality of the child and what they are ‘into.’ I kind of freaked out over some of the bumper stickers that our kids can choose from. And unless we are on these sites, we don’t really know what they are exposed to. I was shocked to see how easy it is for our kids to see inappropriate photos online.
Now, to a degree, this is not Facebook’s fault. Anyone can upload a bumper sticker and it may be a day or two before Facebook becomes aware of inappropriate stickers and take them down. Facebook also allows you to report inappropriate stickers if you see something before they do.
Now, some parents may just think the solution to this would be to keep them off the site altogether. And though we may be tempted, do we really want to keep our kids in a closet? Okay, perhaps ;-), but is it really HEALTHY to keep them in a closet? One of the most difficult challenges in life can be finding that “democratic” balance. The most successful stories I’ve come across are those parents who have good communication with their kids and also participate in Internet monitoring.
When your child or teenager is given the opportunity to use this, or any other social networking site, it may be a good idea to have a conversation with them about the photos. I would suggest monitoring the photos they post as well as monitor their friends’ photos. If there is something you find that could be a little risque or something you are not comfortable with, have your child take it down. This could also apply to the bumper stickers.
I find sometimes that it is better to hang closer to the ‘safe’ side versus the ‘it’s harmless’ side.
The Internet is definitely a dangerous place, but at the same time, it is also a world of knowledge. I can’t stress how important it is to educate our kids on Internet safety.
Have you ever had to have any conversations with your kids about photos? Please share them.Labels: Facebook, internet safety, monitoring, photos
posted by Lindsay Manfredi at 4:49 AM Link to this Article
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