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Jan 20, 2020
by Larry Magid Numerous articles have been published linking tech use among adolescents with increase rates of depression, suicide and other harms. Back in 2011, an article in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics coined the term "Facebook Depression," but I was able to refute it based on interviews with the author and her sources. Another highly cited article from the Atlantic, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation, was also the subject of much scrutiny, including my own analysis from 2018. But now there is some good news published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry on the question of whether there is a link between teens' use of mobile phones and social media and negative consequences, with the authors finding that "the focus on negative effects has been based on weak correlational data." The research review, Adolescent mental health in the digital age: facts, fears, and future directions, "synthesized data from three sources: (a) narrative reviews and meta-analyses conducted between 2014 and 2019, large-scale preregistered cohort studies and intensive longitudinal and ecological momentary assessment studies" and found that " technology usage and mental health, show that that associations between time online and internalizing symptoms are often (a) [...]
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Nov 21, 2019
by Larry Magid I'm on my way to Washington, D.C., for the Family Online Safety Institute's (FOSI) annual conference. I have attended almost all of these events since they started in 2007, usually as a speaker, in my role as CEO of ConnectSafely.org. Simply looking at the event's agenda gives us an idea what's concerning internet safety advocates, technology executives and government policy makers. The first session, "Online Safety in an AI World" highlights the concern around artificial intelligence. AI can be incredibly beneficial. Along with speech recognition, it powers home digital assistants like Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple SIRI. It enables companies like Santa Cruz-based Full Power Technologies to analyze your sleep patterns with a net-connected device under your mattress to analyze sleep patterns and make recommendations. AI is the driving force behind self-driving cars and a crucial component of face and voice recognition, which can help make us safer and more secure. Indeed, a paper to be presented at the conference points out that AI can be used to "combat the spread of child sexual abuse material through technologies such as Microsoft's PhotoDNA." But it's "not without its risk," pointing to "misinformation such as deep fake content," as an example. AI can [...]
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Nov 08, 2019
ConnectSafely's Larry Magid and Kerry Gallagher are at the International Bullying Prevention Association Conference in Chicago, interviewing speakers and other experts on bullying and related issues.
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Nov 08, 2019
ConnectSafely's Larry Magid and Kerry Gallagher are at the International Bullying Prevention Association Conference in Chicago, interviewing speakers and other experts on bullying and related issues.
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Sep 12, 2019
All young people deserve to grow up in a world where they are accepted, loved and treated with compassion, but sadly, that's not the case for everyone.
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Aug 29, 2019
Click Here For Full Guide (PDF) Saturn is an online platform that allows high school students to track and manage their classes, homework assignments, and activities. Students can keep their calendars private, or share them with other students, which opens up the possibility of sharing notes about homework assignments and other activities. Saturn was created in 2018 by high school student Dylan Diamond, an experienced app builder, as a simple calendar app. The idea for Saturn developed out of his frustration from managing his school's confusing "block schedule." The app grew in popularity among students in Dylan's school, then surrounding schools. Saturn uses notifications to update students on homework assignments, school delays or cancellations, schedule changes, and friend requests. Calendars can be private or shareable with others in a student's school. Communities are closed so only people who go to that school can join that network. Each student's calendar shows their courses, gives them information on when it starts and ends, and more. Teachers and administrators at each school are free to use Saturn to keep track of their schedule and better organize their school days. They may not, however, communicate with students on Saturn. Saturn currently operates on iOS [...]
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Aug 13, 2019
Larry speaks with CNET and Cheapskate columnist Rick Broida, who has launched the Cheapskate Mystery Box 2019 Edition, a bundle of tech goodies from a variety of great companies. 1000 mystery boxes are available, pay $75 to get $250 of tech products with 100% of proceeds going towards ConnectSafely, The Hunger Project and TAPS! Head over to the Mystery Box sign-up page and enter your name and email address for a chance to purchase a box. You have until midnight ET on Wednesday, Aug. 14.
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Aug 13, 2019
Larry speaks with CNET and Cheapskate columnist Rick Broida, who has launched the Cheapskate Mystery Box 2019 Edition, a bundle of tech goodies from a variety of great companies. 1000 mystery boxes are available, pay $75 to get $250 of tech products with 100% of proceeds going towards ConnectSafely, The Hunger Project and TAPS! Head over to the Mystery Box sign-up page and enter your name and email address for a chance to purchase a box. You have until midnight ET on Wednesday, Aug. 14.
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Aug 05, 2019
President Trump links recent mass shootings with violent video games. by Larry Magid Scroll down for podcast interview with Dr. Christopher Ferguson In his address to the nation following a weekend of two mass shootings, President Trump made a reference to violent video games, suggesting that these games may have something to do with shootings such as the ones that took place in El Paso and Akron. "We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence." President Donald Trump, August 5, 2019 As it turns out, there is a lot of research on this issue and most of it found no meaningful link between playing violent video games and committing acts of violence. Sure, there are murderers who are among the roughly 90% of young men who had played violent video games, but the vast majority of those young men never act out. And there is no clear indication that those who do commit violent crimes were influenced by playing those games. The American Psychological Association reported that "research demonstrates [...]
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Aug 05, 2019
In his address to the nation following a weekend of two mass shootings, President Trump made a reference to violent video games, suggesting that these games may have something to do with shootings such as the ones that took place in El Paso and Akron. As it turns out, there is a lot of research on this issue and most of it found no meaningful link between playing violent video games and committing acts of violence. Sure, there are murderers who are among the roughly 90% of young men who had played violent video games, but the vast majority of those young men never act out. And there is no clear indication that those who do commit violent crimes were influenced by playing those games. The American Psychological Association reported a link between playing violent games and increased aggression, but acknowledged that such aggression doesn't typically lead to violence. And even that finding, according to two leading researchers, Dr. Christopher Ferguson and Andrew K. Przybylski is subject to question. In a 2019 research report in the journal Royal Society Open Science Przybylski found that "Violent video game engagement is not associated with adolescents' aggressive behaviour." In an email interview he [...]
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Jul 26, 2019
by Larry Magid The National Center for Educational Statistics is out with its 2016 to 2017 report on bullying at school. Overall, the bullying rate hasn't changed much from 2014 to 2015. In the latest report it's 20.2% of students compared to 20.8% in the previous report. But when it comes to "online or by text" it rose from 11.5 in 2014 to 2016 to 15.3% in the 2016 to 2017 report. Scroll down for the two most recent set of statistics. Cyberbullying among boy is only slightly up from 6.1% to 6.8% but among girls it's up from 15.9% to 21.4%. That means that girls are more than 3 times more likely to be bullied then girls. There is a lot more data in the study (scroll down), including breakdowns by race, grade level, household income and more The overall numbers are actually lower than reported by Pew Research in 2018. More data is available from the Cyberbullying Research Center, which reports that "On average, about 28% of the students who have been a part of our most recent 11 studies have said they have been the victim of cyberbullying at some point in their lifetime. " Analysis The [...]
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Jul 19, 2019
This post first appeared in Mercury News. There are four lessons when it comes to FaceApp. Number one, it's important to understand the privacy implications of it and every other app you use. Number two, don't believe every rumor you hear about horrible things apps might do. Number three, don't assume that every app or piece of technology coming out of Russia is necessarily nefarious and number four: it's fun. FaceApp is a popular iOS and Android app that lets you see how you're going to look when you get older and remind you how you may have looked when you were younger. You can also apply it to pictures of other people. It's a fun app, but it has also raised both real and imagined privacy concerns. Let's start with the imagined one. There were widespread rumors and media reports that the app was sending all of your photos, including screenshots, to its developers in Russia and implications that these images were being turned over to the Russian government. Senator Chuck Schumer called for FBI and Federal Trade Commission investigations because of the app's "national security and privacy risks for millions of U.S. citizens." But both the AP and [...]
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Jun 07, 2019
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to allow phone companies to block unwanted robocalls. Companies will now be allowed to block these calls by default but if you want unwanted calls (which is of course an oxymoron), you can unblock them. The ruling, according to the FCC, "also clarifies that providers may offer their customers the choice to opt-in to tools that block calls from any number that does not appear on a customer's contact list or other ‘white lists.' This option would allow consumers to decide directly whose calls they are willing to receive." Companies will be able to use technology that authenticates the origin of the calls to prevent "spoofing," which scammers often use to disguise where the calls are coming from. There is some concern that the technology could affect legitimate calls such as calls from doctors who deliberately hide their numbers or robocalls from pharmacies telling you that your prescription is ready. I'm sure, however, that there are ways to accommodate these edge cases. For example, a doctor could route calls through a clinic or hospital so that its number shows up instead of the doctor's. For more details, see this post at CNET
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Jun 05, 2019
YouTube is pulling the plug on thousands of videos that promote bigoted views, including "videos that promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory," according to a company blog post. YouTube will also remove "content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place," said the post. The company outlined several categories of videos including those that claim "that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion." Categories include: age gender race caste religion sexual orientation veteran status YouTube also said that seeks to reduce the spread of content "that comes right up to the line, "such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, or claiming the earth is flat." The company began demoting such videos in the U.S. earlier this year and said "the number of views this type of content gets from recommendations has dropped by over 50%."
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Jun 04, 2019
ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher. Click to listen ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and educator and ConnectSafely K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher talk about their use of the Facebook Portal as well as other smart displays and speakers that they have tested. There are privacy and safety implications, but they can be managed. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2019/06/04/safety-and-privacy-of-smart-displays-and-speakers-at-home-and-in-the-classroom.mp3
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Jun 04, 2019
ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher. Click to listen ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and educator and ConnectSafely K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher talk about their use of the Facebook Portal as well as other smart displays and speakers that they have tested. There are privacy and safety implications, but they can be managed. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2019/06/04/safety-and-privacy-of-smart-displays-and-speakers-at-home-and-in-the-classroom.mp3
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May 17, 2019
by Larry Magid There was big news from Paris this week where 18 countries and numerous companies, including Facebook, Google, Amazdivon and Twitter, signed the Christchurch Call, pledging to work together "to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online." The document, which was not signed by the United States, says that "respect for freedom of expression is fundamental. However, no one has the right to create and share terrorist and violent extremist content online." Signed two months after the horrific terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch New Zealand, the effort was led by New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, and French President, Emmanuel Macron. The non-binding "call," was more of a pledge than a mandate and it's aspirational, not regulatory. But it's an example of how governments and big tech companies can come together to agree on how to solve a thorny and sometimes controversial issue. As an internet safety advocate (I'm CEO of ConnectSafely.org, which receives support from tech companies including Google and Facebook), I agree with the Christchurch Call's efforts to curtail violent extremism and I'm also good with Facebook terminating the accounts of known violent, racist, hateful, anti-semetic, Islamophobic individuals including Alex Jones and Louis Farrakhan. [...]
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May 11, 2019
ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher Summer is almost here, which means that kids will be out of school. While that means that they do have more time to use their devices, i's also time for fresh air, exercise and — for many — family vacations. In this episode, ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher talk about how parents can help their kids achieve a balance between tech and low-tech activities during their summer break. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2019/05/11/balancing-tech-and-low-tech-during-kids-summer-break.mp3
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May 06, 2019
ConnectSafley CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher talk about how adults can support youth who have been affected by bullying. Why do some kids have a horrible time after being bullied while others are able to bounce back. The answer lies, in part, with resilience, but also on support from adults and other upstanders ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher
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Apr 29, 2019
ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2019/04/29/helping-students-cope-with-flood-of-presidential-election-news# The Presidential election campaign is heating up. And with it will come lots of claims, counterclaims and, likely, plenty of inaccuracies. In this conversation, ConnectSafely.,org CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director, Kerry Gallagher, talk about how teachers and parents can help young people process it all.
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Apr 09, 2019
ConnectSafely's CEO Larry Magid and K-12 Education Director, Kerry Gallagher talk about how parents and educators can help students better manage the time they spend with their devices. But both Kerry and Larry admit that this is a challenge for adults, too, including themselves. Listen for tips and advice on how to work with kids to make sure they're not using too much of a good thing. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2019/04/09/helping-students--and-ourselves--manage-time-spent-on-devices.mp3
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Mar 28, 2019
Brittan Heller ConnectSafely CEO and CBS News Technology Analyst, Larry Magid speaks with human rights expert Brittan Heller on why Facebook instituted its new policy to ban support for white nationalism and white supremacy. Larry Magid Heller is Human Rights Adviser for ConnectSafely.org and an affiliate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. She founded the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Technology and Society and previously prosecuted human rights violations at the U.S. Department of Justice and the International Criminal Court. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2019/03/28/brittan-heller-larry-magid-on-facebook-ban-of-white-nationalism-separatism.mp3
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Mar 19, 2019
In response to litigation by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and other parties, Facebook is making changes to its ad policy to no longer discrimination based on age, gender or zip code. In a blog post, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg made the following commitments: Anyone who wants to run housing, employment or credit ads will no longer be allowed to target by age, gender or zip code. Advertisers offering housing, employment and credit opportunities will have a much smaller set of targeting categories to use in their campaigns overall. Multicultural affinity targeting will continue to be unavailable for these ads. Additionally, any detailed targeting option describing or appearing to relate to protected classes will also be unavailable. We're building a tool so you can search for and view all current housing ads in the US targeted to different places across the country, regardless of whether the ads are shown to you. "Housing, employment and credit ads are crucial to helping people buy new homes, start great careers, and gain access to credit. They should never be used to exclude or harm people," said Sandberg. The ACLU posted further details about [...]
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Mar 14, 2019
This issue presents a dilemma for Facebook. The company wants its service to be a place where people can express opinions but not a place for spreading false information. Sometimes the designation between truth and fiction is undeniable, like the existence of gravity. But sometimes it's a matter of opinion, even though it's possible for opinions to be based on false information or partial information.
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Mar 05, 2019
ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid and veteran educator Kerry Gallagher look back at Safer Internet Day 2019 and about how teachers can better use social media.
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Mar 05, 2019
Officials from the U.S. and other governments have continued to call for some type of law enforcement access to encrypted data.
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Feb 13, 2019
by Larry Magid Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Federal Trade Commission published a post saying that in 2018, there were more than 21,000 reports "about romance scams with reported losses of $143 million," up from 8,500 reports in 2015, with losses of $33 million. The data is based on complaints compiled by the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network, which aggregates consumer complaints reported to the FTC and cooperating state and local law enforcement agencies, along with businesses and organizations. These are scams that can break your budget along with your heart, and they happen to adults of all ages. The FTC pointed out that "Romance scammers lure people with phony online profiles, often lifting photos from the web to create attractive and convincing personas. They might make up names or assume the identities of real people. Reports indicate the scammers are active on dating apps, but also on social media sites that aren't generally used for dating. For example, many people say the scam started with a Facebook message." FTC data shows how romance scams are on the rise And while you might assume that most victims would be young adults looking for mates, it turns out that people between 40 [...]
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Feb 08, 2019
ConnectSafely staff in front of ‘step at repeat' and SID 2019 (left to right: Patti Regehr, Lynn Lonsway, Maureen Kochan, Larry Magid, Kerry Gallagher, Hani Khan A rare Seattle snow storm forced Seattle Public Schools to cancel school on Safer Internet Day, Tuesday February 5th, so the 200 students slated to participate in the daytime event weren't able to board the buses and attend the daytime event. But that didn't stop ConnectSafely and our partners from holding the event, thanks largely to the quick response by our COO Maureen Kochan, Conference Coordinator Lynn Lonsway and our host, Google Outreach and Education manager, Jeff Dunn. Although modified, the program, which took place at the Google Seattle office, ran as scheduled with about 40 adults and one high school student in attendance along with the students and adults watching the live stream. We will soon release some highlight reels with relevant segments from the program, but you can now watch a replay of the live stream. The evening Family Night program went on as scheduled with numerous children and parents in attendance. Daytime program The daytime program, which was designed mostly for high school students, had to be modified because weather made [...]
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Feb 07, 2019
Weak or compromised passwords are among the biggest threats to online security and privacy. Once cyber criminals get hold of your password, they can not only use it to break into your account but sell it to other criminals - often through the "dark web," making you a sitting duck for multiple attacks, sometimes over the course of years. And you're especially vulnerable if you've used the same password for more than one account. Thieves have access to storehouses of stolen passwords, often harvested from data breaches. These passwords can be stored and distributed for years, which is why it's important to periodically (perhaps once or twice a year) change your passwords even if you're not aware of having been involved in a breach (often you have no clue). Google has a partial solution. On Safer Internet Day, Google released a Chrome browser extension called Password Checkup that checks to see if any of your recently used passwords were detected in a data breach. The extension, which works with all your non-Google accounts, looks for usernames and passwords you use and compares them against a list of over 4 billion credentials that Google knows have been compromised. If there's a [...]
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Feb 07, 2019
by Larry Magid Weak or compromised passwords are among the biggest threats to online security and privacy. Once cyber criminals get hold of your password, they can not only use it to break into your account but sell it to other criminals - often through the "dark web," making you a sitting duck for multiple attacks, sometimes over the course of years. And you're especially vulnerable if you've used the same password for more than one account. Thieves have access to storehouses of stolen passwords, often harvested from data breaches. These passwords can be stored and distributed for years, which is why it's important to periodically (perhaps once or twice a year) change your passwords even if you're not aware of having been involved in a breach (often you have no clue). Google Password Checker Google has a partial solution. On Safer Internet Day, Google released a Chrome browser extension called Password Checkup that checks to see if any of your recently used passwords were detected in a data breach. The extension, which works with all your non-Google accounts, looks for usernames and passwords you use and compares them against a list of over 4 billion credentials that Google knows [...]
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Feb 06, 2019
On Safer Internet Day, Google released a Chrome browser extension called Password Checkup, that checks to see if any of your recently used passwords were detected in a data breach. The extension, which works with all your non-Google accounts, looks for usernames and passwords you use and compares them against a list of over 4 billion credentials, that Google knows have been compromised. If there's a match, the extension "will trigger an automatic warning and suggest that you change your password," according to a Google blog post. Google already offers this level of protection for your Google accounts. Once installed, you'll see the Password Checker logo in the extension area of Chrome, to the right of the URL bar. If you click on it, it will tell you if any of your recent passwords were detected in a data breach. If all is well, the screen will look like what you see below. Google Password Checkup giving the all clear Google said that it will "automatically reset the password on your Google Account if it may have been exposed in a third party data breach," but this extension provides that same protection for your non-Google accounts. The company said that [...]
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Feb 05, 2019
Click here to view our livestream starting today at 10:30 PT / 1:30 ET
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Feb 04, 2019
16 Goals: Click on image to englage More at SmarterInternet,org. Sign up for our mailing list. For the past several months, young people from 35 countries around the world have been articulating and voting on their goals for a smarter internet. And, ahead of Safer Internet Day 2019, we are releasing the top 16 goals — to mark 16 years of Safer Internet Day. These goals were selected by more than 2,000 young people from 35 countries around the world. The goals are coded: Blue relates to the environment, Red is social interaction and Green represents policy challenges. The goals are: Privacy, Data protection Cyberbullying, Shaming Sexting, Sexual Harassment Misinformation, Fake news Social Media/Online dependency Cybersecurity/Crime Getting Help, Reporting Child pornography Inciting to Harm Scam, Unethical Marketing Hate speech, Empathy Online Wellbeing Online Safety Freedom of Expression Gaming, Gambling Catfishing, Fake Profiles, Identity Theft The program has three stages: Stage one was coming up with the goals. That's done, but now it's time to make them real with stages two and three. Stage two is an essay contest for students to provide specific suggestions on how these goals can be accomplished personally, locally, nationally and globally. It's a tall order, but [...]
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Jan 31, 2019
This coming Tuesday ConnectSafely.org, will host the official U.S. Safer Internet Day event at Google's Seattle headquarters plus an evening event for families at a Seattle Housing Authority facility. We're having it at the housing facility, with interpreters for six different languages, in part because it's about time for the internet safety movement to reach out to communities often not served by our messaging.
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Jan 29, 2019
As you may have heard, there is a flaw on Apple Facetime for iOS and Mac that makes it possible for someone to listen in on what the microphone of another user hears even if that person hasn't accepted the call. It only happens if you add someone to a group conversation and Apple has temporarily disabled Group Facetime to prevent it from being exploited. However, in an abundance of caution you can also disable Facetime: On iOS (iPhone and iPad) Click on Settings Scroll down till you see Facetime and click. Toggle off the green button on top On Mac Open the Facetime App Click on Facetime on top of the screen Select "Turn off Facetime."
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Jan 23, 2019
One of Facebook's main sources of fake news and other inauthentic activity are pages operated by unscrupulous or simply careless operators that post poor quality content. Sometimes the entire page is full of questionable content and sometimes a co-manager of a page posts something fishy without the consent of other page managers. To that end, Facebook is initiating two reforms. First, it will provide page operators with a dashboard to help them understand why they may have removed content that violates their community standards. The information that will be visible to the managers includes content that was recently removed for violating a subset of Facebook's Community Standards as well as content recently rated "False," "Mixture" or "False Headline" by third-party fact-checkers. In some cases, that might be all that's needed to get a page into compliance. In other cases, the only thing that might work is to take the page down. Ending recidivism But that brings up the second reform. Policing pages is a bit of a game of whack-a-mole for Facebook because as soon as they remove a page for gross violations of its content policies, the operators often reemerge with a new page. So, Facebook is updating its "recidivism policy." In a [...]
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Dec 26, 2018
A conversation between journalist Larry Magid and veteran educator Kerry Gallagher about New Year's resolutions for educators. They talk about risk taking and how to encourage your colleagues to take risks with technology. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/12/26/new-years-resolutions-for-educators-with-larry-magid-and-kerry-gallagher.mp3
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Nov 27, 2018
The period between Thanksgiving and New Year's eve is a time of giving. One reason is, of course, the holiday spirit. Another is that many charities reach-out during this period, beginning on "Giving Tuesday" — the day after Cyber Monday — and extending till New Year's eve. Another reason, for many tax payers, is that it's the last chance to get a tax deduction by giving to a federally recognized non-profit. For families, consider getting everyone involved. Your children may not know the name of a good charity to support, but they may have a cause or interest that is promoted by a legitimate charity that you can research together. You might want to divide your donation budget into smaller chunks and give to more than one charity or you might want to encourage your children to donate some of their own money to to raise money for a charity through something like a bake sale. You can also donate and raise money via social media, subject to the cautions below. Make sure the charity is legitimate and will use your money wisely You will undoubtedly get a lot of pitches via email but, before you donate, make sure they [...]
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Nov 27, 2018
by Larry Magid The period between Thanksgiving and New Year's eve is a time of giving. One reason is, of course, the holiday spirit. Another is that many charities reach-out during this period, beginning on "Giving Tuesday" — the day after Cyber Monday — and extending till New Year's eve. Another reason, for many tax payers, is that it's the last chance to get a tax deduction by giving to a federally recognized tax-exempt non-profit. For families, consider getting everyone involved. Your children may not know the name of a good charity to support, but they may have a cause or interest that is promoted by a legitimate charity that you can research together. You might want to divide your donation budget into smaller chunks and give to more than one charity or you might want to encourage your children to donate some of their own money to to raise money for a charity through something like a bake sale. You can also donate and raise money via social media, subject to the cautions below. There are some very good causes that advocate political action which are not tax-exempt. That doesn't mean they're not worth giving to, but you won't [...]
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Nov 22, 2018
by Larry Magid (this post has been updated for 2018 from previous posts) With the holiday season underway, a lot of people will be shopping online this year. For the most part, it's pretty safe but there are some basic precautions worth remembering. One risk when shopping online is to be sure you're dealing with a legitimate merchant who is not only honest but also exercising a reasonable amount of security. One option is dealing with merchants you know. But event that's no guarantee when it comes to security. Big names and trusted small businesses Big names like Macy's, Amazon, Target and Walmart have reputations to maintain and policies in place but — as millions of people who shopped at Target's brick and mortar stores in 2013 learned, being big doesn't mean they can't suffer from data breaches. Don't necessarily shy away from smaller and less known merchants, who sometimes offer extraordinary customer service and unique products. Plus, you're supporting small businesses. But if you are dealing with a business you've never heard of, do a little research by typing their name into a search engine or customer review site to see what people are saying about them. If they [...]
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Nov 21, 2018
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/11/21/holiday-tech-gifts-for-kids--whats-fun-and-appropriate.mp3 Whether it's "Black Friday," "Cyber Monday" or any other day during late November and December, parents and other adults are looking for holiday gifts to give to children and teens. And this year you'll find plenty of tech gifts from tablets to interactive toys to smart phones or smart speakers. But just because you can get a tech gift for a child or teen doesn't mean you should. Parents and family members need to think about what's age appropriate and how these tech gifts will be used not just during the holidays but throughout the year. There is a lot to think about but, fortunately, Larry Magid and Kerry Gallagher have given this a lot of thought. Larry is CBS News Tech Analyst and CEO of ConnectSafely.org and Kerry is ConnectSafely's Director of K-12 Education and the Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts. Both Kerry and Larry are also parents. Larry's "kids" are young adults and Kerry has two elementary school-aged daughters. Subscribe to ConnectSafely Podcast
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Nov 13, 2018
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/11/13/internet-safety-expert-john-carr-on-protecting-kids-from-inappropriate-content.mp3 listen to Larry Magid and John Carr talk about children's online privacy rights in the UK ConnectSafely's CEO Larry Magid and Secretary of the British Children's Charity's Coalition on Internet Safety's John Carr talk about internet safety for kids in the UK and newly regulated laws to protect children from inappropriate content and the proper education methods to seek information. Subscribe to ConnectSafely Podcast
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Nov 13, 2018
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/11/13/internet-safety-expert-john-carr-on-protecting-childrens-privacy-online.mp3 listen to Larry Magid and John Carr talk about children's online privacy rights in the UK ConnectSafely's CEO Larry Magid and Secretary of the British Children's Charity's Coalition on Internet Safety's John Carr talk about internet safety for kids in the UK and newly regulated laws to protect children from inappropriate content and the proper education methods to seek information. Subscribe to ConnectSafely Podcast
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Nov 04, 2018
My sons are just as smart. On both occasions they deliberately made mistakes entering their passwords and on the first occasion stalled the attackers long enough so as to raise suspicion. When a passing neighbor shouted out across the street, "Everything all right lads?" the thieves fled.
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Nov 02, 2018
Software/apps Microsoft: Controls for Windows 10 & XBox Apple: Parental controls for Macintosh Apple: Parental controls for iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) Symantec: Norton Family Netnanny: PC, Mac, iOS and Android Google: Android parental controls for Play store Google: Family Link for a parent-controlled Android phone for kids Qustodio: Windows, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, Kindle and Nook. Devices Circle with Disney - Parental Controls and Filters for your Family's Connected Devices Gryphon parental control router Google Wi-Fi router *More resources: Reviews: PC Mag: Lists and reviews of parental control software and apps Fatherly: The Best Parental Control Devices for Safe Internet Browsing Analysis: Internet filters have their place, but not for all kids (from ConnectSafely) ConnectSafely is not responsible for the accuracy of content from external sites
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Nov 01, 2018
Podcast | K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher talk about products aimed at families of young children, including the Relay screenless communication device that Kerry and her two young children are using like a walkie-talkie to stay in touch.
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Oct 31, 2018
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/10/24/ncmecs-coo-michelle-delaune-on-how-facebook-combats-so-called-child-porn.mp3 Listen to podcast interview about this with Nat'l Center for Missing & Exploited Children COO Michelle DeLaune By Larry Magid I've been on the board of directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) for more than 20 years, and since I've joined the board, I've seen a steady increase in the number of reports to the organization's CyberTipline about online child sexual abuse images (child porn) and other crimes against children. Since the CyberTipLine began receiving reports in 1998, it has processed more than 37 million reports and received more than 10 million reports in 2017 alone. These reports are typically about apparent child sexual abuse images, but they can also be about online enticement, including "sextortion, child sex trafficking and child sexual molestation. The organization employs analysts who have the difficult job of reviewing abusive images and attempting to identify the victims. Over the years, these analysts have reviewed more than 249 million images and videos and have identified more than 15,000 victims, according to a fact sheet on the organization's website. NCMEC also works with law enforcement to help find missing children. It also runs a number of education and prevention programs including NetSmartz, which uses animation and other media [...]
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Oct 24, 2018
Podcast | ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid speaks with Michelle DeLaune, senior VP and COO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) about the center's work and new technology being used at Facebook to very quickly identify and remove child pornography.
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Oct 24, 2018
ConnectSafely CEO Larry Magid speaks with Michelle DeLaune, senior VP and COO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) about the center's work and new technology being used at Facebook to very quickly identify and remove child sexual abuse images, commonly referred to as "child pornography."
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Oct 22, 2018
by Larry Magid We've all heard the stories about kids spending too much time with their devices or, worse, spending that time doing things online that they probably shouldn't be doing. It's been an issue since I started writing about kids and tech in the early 90s but with the proliferation of phones and tablets — sometimes now getting into the tiny hands of toddlers — the issue has the attention of the media, policy makers and the public. And, as AP writer Michael Liedtke recently reported, even tech luminaries like Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom worry about their kids' use of technology. "Obviously, like anything — whether it's food, or drink — moderation is key," Systrom told the AP. Liedtke interviewed Urban Airship executive Mike Herrick who, "sees his 13-year-old daughter getting lost in her smartphone and wonders: Is technology messing with children's brains, even as it enlightens and empowers them in ways that weren't possible when his generation grew up?" The message about the potential overuse and misuse of technology has reached the campuses of major tech companies including Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft — all of which have made some moves to help parents moderate their kids (and their [...]
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Oct 18, 2018
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/10/18/kurt-beidler-of-amazon-freetime-on-products-for-young-kids.mp3 Listen to Larry Magid and Kurt Beidler discuss Amazon Freetime and it's features aimed at children Amazon FreeTime is monthly subscription that offers thousands of content titles for children ages three to twelve years old. To find out more about the service, its background and how it handles safety and privacy, ConnectSafely.org CEO and CBS News Tech Analyst Larry Magid spoke with Amazon FreeTime Director and General Manager Kurt Beidler
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Oct 18, 2018
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connectsafely/2018/10/18/kurt-beidler-of-amazon-freetime-on-products-for-young-kids.mp3 Listen to Larry Magid and Kurt Beidler discuss Amazon Freetime and other Amazon products aimed at children Amazon has made a big push when it comes to products for kids. There are special kid-friendly versions of the company's Amazon Fire tablets and its Echo Dot speakers that offer parental controls, lots of extra kid content and even a special "no questions asked" two-year warranty" to protect them from child-induced damage. Amazon also offers FreeTime Unlimited, a monthly subscription that offers thousands of content titles for children ages three to twelve years old. To find out more about the products and services and how Amazon handles safety and privacy, ConnectSafely.org CEO and CBS News Tech Analyst Larry Magid spoke with Kurt Beidler Director and General Manager, Amazon FreeTime, Digital Products for Kids and Families.
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Oct 18, 2018
Podcast | Amazon has made a big push when it comes to products for kids. To find out more about the products and services and how Amazon handles safety and privacy, ConnectSafely.org CEO and CBS News Tech Analyst Larry Magid spoke with Amazon's Kurt Beidler.
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Oct 11, 2018
listen to Larry Magid and Paige Hanson talk about all things security In recognition of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), ConnectSafely CEO and CBS News Tech Analyst Larry Magid spoke with Paige Hanson, Symantec's Chief of Identity Education about all things security. They not only spoke about the threats, but what people can do to stay safe online.
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Oct 11, 2018
Podcast | ConnectSafely CEO and CBS News Tech Analyst Larry Magid spoke with Paige Hanson, Symantec's Chief of Identity Education about all things security. They not only spoke about the threats, but what people can do to stay safe online.
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Oct 04, 2018
Podcast | K-12 Education Director Kerry Gallagher talk about products aimed at families of young children, including the Relay screenless communication device that Kerry and her two young children are using like a walkie-talkie to stay in touch.
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Oct 04, 2018
Click below to listen
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Sep 26, 2018
As part of the Kids Have Your Say project, coordinated globally by ConnectSafely, Insight , our U.S. partner, My Digital Tat2 convened a meeting of high school students in East Palo Alto, CA on September 19th to talk about what they want the internet to look like. Similar meetings are taking place around the world. If you want to participate, visit SmarterInternet.org for more information. The teens were initially handed a form to write-down their top issues and concerns but they quickly abandoned that approach, feeling like the issues were more nuanced, and instead just talked about their concerns. What emerged was the impression that the internet and mobile technology was working for them. They were getting a great deal out of being online. But, as you might expect, not all was rosy. The teens had their complaints about both institutional issues and online behavioral issues. Authenticity Chief among their concerns was a lack of authenticity, which manifests itself in numerous ways including the posting of incorrect information ("fake news"), being acting and posing in authentic ways ("people putting on a facade"), people saying things "even when they don't know what their talking about." The conversation around manipulating your image online to [...]
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Sep 11, 2018
As Hurricane Florence bears down on the east coast, it's important to make sure that your tech is ready and able to operate even in the event of a power failure. The same goes for earthquakes, tornadoes, impending fires and other disasters.
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Aug 29, 2018
Click Here For Full Guide (PDF) NEW! Click Here For Quick-Guide (PDF) Instagram is a social media app used by more than one billion people around the world to share photos, videos and messages. Whether it's through Stories, Feed, Live, IGTV (an app from Instagram that lets users share longer videos) or Direct, teens use Instagram to celebrate big milestones, share everyday moments, keep in touch with friends and family, build communities of support and meet others who share their passions and interests. It runs on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as Android phones and tablets. Instagram lets you follow people and be followed by them, but unlike Facebook it's not necessarily a two-way street. You can follow someone even if they don't follow you and vice versa. Users with a private account can control who can follow them. Unless you change the default to private, anyone can see what you post. Posting on Instagram Posting on Instagram is easy: You take a picture or up to 60 seconds of video and have the option to customize it with filters and other creative tools. Then you hit Next to add a caption and location and tag [...]
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Aug 29, 2018
Instagram is a social media app used by more than one billion people around the world to share photos, videos and messages. Whether it's through Stories, Feed, Live, IGTV (an app from Instagram that lets users share longer videos) or Direct, teens use Instagram to celebrate big milestones, share everyday moments, keep in touch with friends and family, build communities of support and meet others who share their passions and interests. It runs on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as Android phones and tablets. Instagram lets you follow people and be followed by them, but unlike Facebook it's not necessarily a two-way street. You can follow someone even if they don't follow you and vice versa. Users with a private account can control who can follow them. Unless you change the default to private, anyone can see what you post. Posting on Instagram Posting on Instagram is easy: You take a picture or up to 60 seconds of video and have the option to customize it with filters and other creative tools. Then you hit Next to add a caption and location and tag people in the picture and choose how you want to share - [...]
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Aug 27, 2018
Top results from Google search for ‘Momo Challenge' by Larry Magid Several years ago, David Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center gave a talk and wrote a paper called The Internet, Youth Safety and the Problem of "Juvenoia." His argument, based on his extensive knowledge of actual online risks to children, was that there is an "exaggerated fear about the influence of social change on children and youth," which manifests itself whenever new technology emerges. Back then it was the internet, the web and social media. It still is but now we can add games and mobile apps. The latest bit of hysteria is centering around two stories: a deadly game called Momo Challenge and another called Deleted that The Sun, a British tabloid, called "a chilling new online suicide game targeting kids." Momo Challenge According to the Times of India, "the Momo challenge was initially started on Facebook but is now spreading via Whatsapp." The article describes Momo as "a social media account on WhatsApp, Facebook and Youtube." The paper said that "several web security blogs describe the Momo game as a social engineering attack which may not necessarily be real, but [...]
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Aug 27, 2018
Top results from Google search for ‘Momo Challenge' by Larry Magid Several years ago, David Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center gave a talk and wrote a paper called The Internet, Youth Safety and the Problem of "Juvenoia." His argument, based on his extensive knowledge of actual online risks to children, was that there is an "exaggerated fear about the influence of social change on children and youth," which manifests itself whenever new technology emerges. Back then it was the internet, the web and social media. It still is but now we can add games and mobile apps. The latest bit of hysteria is centering around two stories: a deadly game called Momo Challenge and another called Deleted that The Sun, a British tabloid, called "a chilling new online suicide game targeting kids." Momo Challenge According to the Times of India, "the Momo challenge was initially started on Facebook but is now spreading via Whatsapp." The article describes Momo as "a social media account on WhatsApp, Facebook and Youtube." The paper said that "several web security blogs describe the Momo game as a social engineering attack which may not necessarily be real, but [...]
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Aug 21, 2018
Fake sites with web addresses designed to trick people (Source: Microsoft) Microsoft's revelation that websites controlled by a group with ties to the Russian government is not only a warning to political operatives from both parties, but to everyone who receives email or goes to websites. Realistic looking URLs The sites in question used domain names that were similar — but not identical — to prominent conservative think tanks in an attempt to lure people into visiting those sites. One example of a fake site was "Hudsonorg-my-sharepoint.com," which included the the name and URL (web address) of Hudson Institute whose real URL is Hudson.org. Another is my-iri.org, a spoof site posing as the International Republican Institute whose actual URL is IRI.org. Here's Microsoft's blog post about what they found and their continued efforts to "help protect the democratic process." Look at web addresses carefully My warning: Look at the web address of any site before you click or provide any information. If you get an email asking you to visit a site, examine the URL before you click on it. Usually (though not always) the organization's name will be just before the .com, .org or .net. And most prominent organization's [...]
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Aug 17, 2018
1. What's protected by copyright and what isn't? The U.S. Copyright Office says that copyright "protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture." Copyright does not protect "facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation," although it may protect the way these things are expressed. The fact that the war in 1812 started in 1812 is not copyrighted, but a specific article or paper analyzing the war could be. Anything published, recorded or filmed prior to 1923 is no longer covered by its original copyright. 2. What does someone have to do to protect a work with copyright? Create something. Original works are protected by copyright automatically, once they are created and put in tangible form. You don't need to register them with the U.S. Copyright Office, but you can if you want a public record of your ownership of the copyright to exist. A copyright mark © is not required. 3. What is ‘Fair Use' and how does it protect the right to use certain copyrighted material? In an educational setting, "Fair Use" often permits students or educators to use portions of someone else's copyrighted work [...]
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Aug 16, 2018
By Larry Magid When I was in high school, the only way to copy someone else's work was to painstakingly retype or re-write it from a book, periodical or another student's paper. Today it's as simple as copy and paste. That has many publishers and educators worried. Educators worry about plagiarism, lack of integrity and loss of learning opportunity by those who take the lazy way out by stealing other people's work. Publishers, along with those in the music and video industries, worry about the theft of their intellectual property and potential loss of revenue. But unlike most of the ink in books and newspapers, it's not all black and white. There is such a thing as "fair use," that actually protects the rights of students, educators, journalists and others to use copyrighted material without having to ask for permission. There are also works that are not copyrighted or licensed specifically to be reused. I say this not to encourage the mere copying of other people's work, but to point out that one cannot only be legal but also creative by using material from others to add value to what they create. My nonprofit, ConnectSafely.org, has just published a free [...]
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Aug 16, 2018
By Larry Magid When I was in high school, the only way to copy someone else's work was to painstakingly retype or re-write it from a book, periodical or another student's paper. Today it's as simple as copy and paste. That has many publishers and educators worried. Educators worry about plagiarism, lack of integrity and loss of learning opportunity by those who take the lazy way out by stealing other people's work. Publishers, along with those in the music and video industries, worry about the theft of their intellectual property and potential loss of revenue. But unlike most of the ink in books and newspapers, it's not all black and white. There is such a thing as "fair use," that actually protects the rights of students, educators, journalists and others to use copyrighted material without having to ask for permission. There are also works that are not copyrighted or licensed specifically to be reused. I say this not to encourage the mere copying of other people's work, but to point out that one cannot only be legal but also creative by using material from others to add value to what they create. My nonprofit, ConnectSafely.org, has just published a free [...]
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Aug 16, 2018
By Kerry Gallagher, J.D., Larry Magid, Ed.D. and David Sohn, J.D. To print, click for Full Guide (PDF) Whether they're working in class or at home, students are accessing, viewing, creating, and sharing media as part of their day-to-day academic experiences. All of this is made possible by near ubiquitous access to digital devices and internet in schools and homes. While teachers are conscious of plagiarism when student products are in the form of research papers, the complicated areas of copyright, fair use, and open access creative works (such as Creative Commons or public domain) are less familiar but are just as important. Now that our students are creating and remixing audio, video, text and images to "show what they know" it is essential that they are doing all of this with a clear understanding of their own rights and the rights of other creators or owners of content. There was a time when copyright issues were only of interest to media professionals with resources, back when very few people had the capacity to create professional quality video or audio or even printed documents. Now, anyone with a computer or a smartphone has the tools to create, edit and share professional [...]
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Aug 16, 2018
By Kerry Gallagher, J.D., Larry Magid, Ed.D. and David Sohn, J.D. To print, click for Full Guide (PDF) Whether they're working in class or at home, students are accessing, viewing, creating, and sharing media as part of their day-to-day academic experiences. All of this is made possible by near ubiquitous access to digital devices and internet in schools and homes. While teachers are conscious of plagiarism when student products are in the form of research papers, the complicated areas of copyright, fair use, and open access creative works (such as Creative Commons or public domain) are less familiar but are just as important. Now that our students are creating and remixing audio, video, text and images to "show what they know" it is essential that they are doing all of this with a clear understanding of their own rights and the rights of other creators or owners of content. There was a time when copyright issues were only of interest to media professionals with resources, back when very few people had the capacity to create professional quality video or audio or even printed documents. Now, anyone with a computer or a smartphone has the tools to create, edit and share professional [...]
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Aug 14, 2018
This is a test post
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Aug 14, 2018
Tips and advice Tips for Dealing with Teen Sexting Advice on Sexting, Sextortion and Revenge Porn FAQ on ‘Sexting' and ‘Sextortion Articles: Panic over teen sexting is overblown Sexting & the plummeting teen pregnancy rate Researcher sets the record straight on teen sexting
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Aug 05, 2018
Come back soon for some exciting news
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Aug 01, 2018
Facebook has announced tools to enable both Facebook and Instagram users to better manage the time they spend using those apps. That will include an activity dashboard, a daily reminder and enhanced ways to limit notifications. In a post, Ameet Ranadive, Product Management Director at Instagram, and David Ginsberg, Director of Research at Facebook said "We have a responsibility to help people understand how much time they spend on our platforms so they can better manage their experience." They added, "t's not just about the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram but how they spend that time. It's our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people — and we take that responsibility seriously." How to access controls: These tools are being rolled soon and, once implemented, you can access the tools from the setting page on either Instagram or Facebook: On Instagram. tap our Activity," and on Facebook, tap "Your Time on Facebook." At the top, you'll see a dashboard showing your average time for that app on that device. Tap any bar to see your total time for that day. Below the dashboard, you can set a daily reminder to give yourself an alert when you've [...]
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Aug 01, 2018
Facebook has announced tools to enable both Facebook and Instagram users to better manage the time they spend using those apps. That will include an activity dashboard, a daily reminder and enhanced ways to limit notifications. In a post, Ameet Ranadive, Product Management Director at Instagram, and David Ginsberg, Director of Research at Facebook said "We have a responsibility to help people understand how much time they spend on our platforms so they can better manage their experience." They added, "t's not just about the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram but how they spend that time. It's our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people — and we take that responsibility seriously." How to access controls: These tools are being rolled soon and, once implemented, you can access the tools from the setting page on either Instagram or Facebook: On Instagram. tap our Activity," and on Facebook, tap "Your Time on Facebook." At the top, you'll see a dashboard showing your average time for that app on that device. Tap any bar to see your total time for that day. Below the dashboard, you can set a daily reminder to give yourself an alert when you've [...]
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Aug 01, 2018
by Larry Magid A new smartphone app, Goya-Move is "designed to get children off their mobile devices and moving again." The company says that its app allows parents to: Set a daily or hourly step goal for their children. Block specific apps that will be timed out until the desired step goal is reached by the child Set block-out times Set and enforce "fun or challenging" goals The founders of Goya-Move said their "goal was not to punish our children by taking their phones away, rather teach them about screen time moderation and accountability." They further say (and I agree) "by taking our children's phones away as punishment, we have now lost the ability to communicate with our children, track our children and give them access to a secure way to communicate in an escalated situation. By the way, if you do track your child's phone or any of their activities, talk with them about it first. Never do it in stealth mode because, if you have to follow up, you don't want that conversations starting with their surprise that you've "invaded my privacy." There is both an iOS and Android version.
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Jul 31, 2018
Asiseeit/iStock. By Kerry Gallagher, J.D., Larry Magid, Ed.D. and David Sohn, J.D. Click Here For Full Guide (PDF) Whether they're working in class or at home, students are accessing, viewing, creating, and sharing media as part of their day-to-day academic experiences. All of this is made possible by near ubiquitous access to digital devices and internet in schools and homes. While teachers are conscious of plagiarism when student products are in the form of research papers, the complicated areas of copyright, fair use, and open access creative works (such as Creative Commons or public domain) are less familiar but are just as important. Now that our students are creating and remixing audio, video, text and images to "show what they know" it is essential that they are doing all of this with a clear understanding of their own rights and the rights of other creators or owners of content. There was a time when copyright issues were only of interest to media professionals with resources, back when very few people had the capacity to create professional quality video or audio or even printed documents. Now, anyone with a computer or a smartphone has the tools to create, edit and share [...]
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Jun 29, 2018
It's been obvious for awhile that we're starting to experience a tech backlash, with an increasing number of people expressing skepticism over whether our devices and social media are doing us harm. Some of this skepticism can be healthy when, for example, it leads to people tightening up their privacy settings or putting down their phones and stepping away from their computers for quality time with friends and family. But, as a couple of recent surveys have found, it's also starting to cause people to think more about regulating technology companies.
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Jun 22, 2018
This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News by Larry Magid Two recent news stories about cell phone location services recently caught my eye. One was a positive development and the other quite negative, until it was at least partially fixed. The positive story is that Apple's iOS 12 operating system for iPhone will enable users to "automatically and securely" share their location data with 911 call centers and first responders. The negative story revealed that cell phone carriers were selling real-time customer location information to data brokers who sold that information to law enforcement and others, without necessarily going through those annoying and time consuming formalities such as court orders. In response to the controversy, the major carriers are stopping the practice. Locations disclosed without consent or court order In a letter to AT&T president Randall Stephenson, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said that he "recently learned that Securus Technologies, a major provider of correction facility telephone services, purchases real-time location information from major wireless carriers and provides that information, via a self-service portal, to the government with nothing more than a pinky promise." Wyden also went after Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. So far, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have announced that they will [...]
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Jun 07, 2018
By Larry Magid This post first appeared in the Mercury News As the founder of SafeKids.com and co-founder of ConnectSafely.org, I've written volumes about parental controls that help parents limit what their kids can do online or with mobile devices. Apple already offers optional parental controls for iPhones and iPads, but with the upcoming release of its new mobile operating system, iOS 12, the company is enhancing those controls and — more interesting — extending them to adult users. Don't worry grown-ups, you still have control over what you can do with your devices, but with a new feature called Screen Time along with updates to notifications and Do Not Disturb, the company is doing a lot more to encourage breaks and help users understand how much they are using their devices and apps. Google also offers parental controls on its Android phones and, in May, introduced its own set of "wind down" features for adults. What sets Apple apart is that the tools for parents and children are similar to the ones for adults. The main difference is that the parental version allows parents to monitor and limit their kids' usage. I applaud Google and Apple for helping us put a [...]
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Jun 01, 2018
By Maureen Kochan and Larry Magid, Ed.D. Click Here For Full Guide (PDF) If your kids love to play online games, one of the names you may be hearing about a lot lately is Roblox. Launched in 2006, Roblox's popularity among gamers 8-years-old and up has exploded, and it is now one of the top online entertainment platforms for kids and teens, according to comScore. But Roblox isn't actually a game. It's a platform that allows anyone to create their own online games by using its game design tool known as Roblox Studio. In a way, Roblox is similar to YouTube - it gives people the tools to create digital content and a place to share and enjoy content from others. Creators have published millions of games on the platform, which is available on Xbox One, personal computers, iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices, as well as virtual reality headsets. The most popular games attract hundreds of thousands of players each day. Top games like Jailbreak can attract more than 100,000 concurrent players at peak times. Entertainment Platform for Play Roblox games are social, multiplayer experiences. In fact, Roblox could be your child's first experience with digital socializing. Players can [...]
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May 31, 2018
This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News by Larry Magid A new survey from Pew Research found that Snapchat is now the social media app that teens use most often, followed closely by YouTube. A slight majority (51 percent) still uses Facebook, but that's down from 71 percent compared with Pew's 2014-2015 survey. The report, Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018 is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,058 parents and 743 teens. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is growing among teens. It's now used by 72 percent, up from 52 percent in 2015. Nearly seven in 10 (69 percent) of teens use Snapchat, up from 41 percent in 2015. But the more interesting statistics aren't so much the number of users of each service but the number of teens who use them most often. Facebook was once the dominant platform for young Americans, but that honor now goes to Snapchat, which 32 percent of teens say they use most often. It's followed by YouTube, which is the most commonly used app by 32 percent of teens followed by Instagram (15 percent) with Facebook at 10 percent and Twitter a distant 3 percent. Although many teens [...]
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May 31, 2018
By Larry Magid This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News Listen to Larry Magid's CBS News Radio interview with the study's lead author, Monica Anderson A new survey from Pew Research found that Snapchat is now the social media app that teens use most often, followed closely by YouTube. A slight majority (51 percent) still uses Facebook, but that's down from 71 percent compared with Pew's 2014-2015 survey. That's probably no surprise but what I find amazing is that nearly half (45 percent) of teens say they are online "almost constantly." When you add in the 24 percent that say they go online "several times a day," the survey reveals that 89 percent are heavy users. Girls are more likely (50 percent) to be online constantly compared with boys (39 percent) and the report said "Hispanic teens are more likely than whites to report using the internet almost constantly (54 percent vs. 41 percent). The report, Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018 is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,058 parents and 743 teens. Instagram growing Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is growing among teens. It's now used by 72 percent, up from 52 percent in 2015. [...]
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May 28, 2018
The FBI recommends "any owner of small office and home office routers power cycle (reboot) the devices." It's in response to a malware threat called VPNFiler that can render routers inoperable and potentially steal information, according to the bureau. There is also the risk of your home or business network infecting other networks.
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May 27, 2018
Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) kicked in on Friday, May 25th, and its impact will be felt not just in Europe but around the world — especially in Silicon Valley, where many tech companies are based. That's because the GDPR's rules affect any company that touches data from European citizens, which is pretty much every tech company. It could also have a negative impact on some European teenagers.
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May 17, 2018
by Larry Magid This post first appeared in the Mercury News I'm about to report on some interesting numbers from Facebook regarding inappropriate material it deleted from its service, but first I'd like to warn users about the types of materials you may be providing not just to Facebook but to third-party developers. Beware of apps bearing ‘insight' You have undoubtedly heard about the scandal where data from tens of millions of Facebook users were collected by a researcher, via a personal quiz called "thisisyourdigitallife" and turned over to Cambridge Analytica for the benefit of the Trump campaign. And now, according to New Scientist, another personality quiz app called myPersonality exposed personal data of 3 million Facebook users, including "the results of psychological tests." I'll give you the same advice that I give my friends and family. Don't take these tests and quizzes, regardless of whether you find them on Facebook, in the Apple or Android app store or on the web. It may be fun to find out what type of animal you resemble or who among your friends is a true soulmate, but there is a reason that developers of these apps have invested in something they're letting people use [...]
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May 10, 2018
By Larry Magid This article first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News. The common expression "too much of a good thing" can apply to almost everything that we enjoy, including the internet and mobile devices. My grandparents understood that, but apparently, many of my contemporaries don't when it comes to tech. I'm guilty as well. I can think of many occasions when I've sat down at my computer or started gazing at my mobile phone, only to realize hours later that I've just wasted the better part of an evening. Of course, the companies that make those "good things," want you to use them as much as possible, but — whether because of pressure or because of a newfound awareness, Google has gotten the message and soon will offer Android users tools to check how much time they're spending in apps, how often they're unlocking their phones and how many notifications they receive. Android users will also get a more robust "do not disturb" feature, including a "shush" gesture that automatically puts the phone into do-not-disturb mode when you turn it over. Android also gets a "wind down" feature that "gets the phone ready for bed," by either activating [...]
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May 07, 2018
Guidance for parents and young people on cyberbullying, including advice for ending (or preventing) the cycle of aggression. For a more comprehensive look, see A Parents' Guide to Cyberbullying. For kids and teens Know that it's not your fault. What people call "bullying" is sometimes an argument between two people. But if someone is repeatedly cruel to you, that's bullying and you mustn't blame yourself. No one deserves to be treated cruelly. Don't respond or retaliate. Sometimes a reaction is exactly what aggressors are looking for because they think it gives them power over you, and you don't want to empower a bully. As for retaliating, getting back at a bully turns you into one - and can turn one mean act into a chain reaction. If you can, remove yourself from the situation. If you can't, sometimes humor disarms or distracts a person from bullying. Save the evidence. The only good news about bullying online or on phones is that it can usually be captured, saved, and shown to someone who can help. You can save that evidence in case things escalate. Tell the person to stop. This is completely up to you - don't do it if you [...]
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May 07, 2018
"Sexting" usually refers to the sharing of nude or semi-nude and sexually provocative photos via mobile phones, but it can happen on other devices and the Web too. First of all, research shows most teens don't "sext." And most of those who do experience no negative consequences. But for teens who do sext, there are both psychological and legal risks, especially if coercion is involved and the images wind up being distributed beyond their intended audience. Sexting is certainly not just a teen issue, but these tips are specifically for teens and parents of teens. Scroll down for tips for both parents and teens. Various causes: The reasons teens "sext" vary widely. In some cases it's a form of flirting or a way of showing affection for a boyfriend or girlfriend or someone the teen is interested in dating. Sometimes it's impulsive behavior, perhaps at a party or when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. There are also cases where the teen is responding to peer pressure, bullying or even threats. In rarer cases, adults solicit images from teens. Some teens view sexting as a form of "safe sex" because, unlike physical sex, there is no risk of pregnancy or [...]
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May 07, 2018
Some 95% of Americans own cellphones of some kind, according to Pew Research Center - among 18- to 29-year-olds, the number is a whopping 100%. But no matter your age, there are some basic ideas for keeping mobile phone use safe and constructive: Share with care. Use the same good sense about what you post from your phone as from a computer. Once they're posted, text, photos, and video are tough to take back, can be copied and pasted elsewhere, and are up there pretty much forever. Think about the people in them (including you!). Reputations are at stake. Phones are personal. Letting other people use your phone when you're not around is like letting them have the password to your social network profile. They can impersonate you, which gives them the power to mess with your reputation and relationships. Lock your phone when you're not using it, and use strong and unique passwords for all your apps. Keep it kind. Because people socialize on cellphones as much as online, cyberbullying can be mobile too. Treat people on phones and the web the way you would in person, and the risk of being bullied goes down. Be aware, too, of people [...]
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May 06, 2018
Interacting with old and new friends Be kind online. It's OK to disagree, but don't be disagreeable. Be cautious about sarcasm and humor. Something that may be funny in person, could be misinterpreted online If you get together with someone you first met online, have the first meeting is in a public place. Know how to report abuse or block anyone who bothers you and others on social media Be weary of anyone who says you or a family member owes them money, unless you are sure they are legitimate. Security Use strong and unique passwords (more at connectsafely.org/passwords) Don't click on links in emails. They can be fake and lead you to malicious sites. Type in the web address yourself. When in doubt call the bank or other company that sent you the email. Make sure your phone is locked. Secure your smartphone with a PIN (4 digit number), password, fingerprint or other method. Don't respond to anyone who tells you your computer is infected with a virus even if they claim they're with Microsoft, Apple or your internet provider. Shopping, banking, donating and contests If it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true. [...]
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May 06, 2018
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May 04, 2018
The safest way to avoid a picture getting into the wrong hands is to never take it, allow it to be taken, or share it. Sadly, there are cases (sometimes called "revenge porn") where someone shares pictures meant only for them — sometimes after a breakup. Never take and send an image of yourself because you were pressured, even from someone you care about. If there is an inappropriate sexual image of you online, see if you can get it taken down. Many apps and services will remove such images upon request If someone sends you a sexual image, do not share, post or forward it. It's a violation of trust and you could be breaking the law. If it's an image of a minor, you could be committing a very serious crime. If the image isn't meant for you or you feel it's inappropriate or possibly illegal, delete it from your devices and any online storage. If a stranger (or possibly even someone you know) asks you to take a revealing picture, it could be a scam that could lead to further demands and threats ("sextortion"). Do not respond and consider reporting it to the police and, if it [...]
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May 04, 2018
A strong password is your first line of defense against intruders and imposters. Scroll down for a video based on these tips. Never give out your password to anyone.* Never give it to friends, even if they're really good friends. A friend can - maybe even accidentally - pass your password along to others or even become an ex-friend and abuse it. Don't just use one password. It's possible that someone working at a site where you use that password could pass it on or use it to break into your accounts at other sites. Newest advice: Use a pass phrase. Security experts are now recommending a "pass phrase" rather than simply a password. Such a phrase should be relatively long - perhaps 20 characters or so and consist of seemingly random words strung together along with numbers, symbols and upper and lower case letters. Think of something that you can remember but others couldn't guess such as YellowChocolate#56CadillacFi$h. that's relatively long - perhaps 20 characters or so — using seemingly random words strung together along with numbers, symbols and upper and lower case letters. Think of something that you can remember but others couldn't guess such as YellowChocolate#56CadillacFi$h. Avoid using famous quotations that might [...]
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May 03, 2018
In a statement, Twitter urged users to change their passwords after disclosing "Due to a bug, passwords were written to an internal log before completing the hashing process." Hashing replaces the actual password with a version that can't be read by a human being. The company said that it has "fixed the bug, and our investigation shows no indication of breach or misuse by anyone." The company offers the following password advice Change your password on Twitter and on any other service where you may have used the same password. Use a strong password that you don't reuse on other websites. Enable login verification, also known as two factor authentication. This is the single best action you can take to increase your account security. Use a password manager to make sure you're using strong, unique passwords everywhere. You'll find more advice at ConnectSafely's Tips for Strong, Secure Passwords & Other Authentication Tools
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Apr 26, 2018
by Larry Magid This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News Amazon is going after the little-kids' market, and I think that's just fine. The company has long offered a children's version of its popular Fire Tablet and now offers Alexa content aimed at young users. Amazon recently beefed up its parental controls for its FreeTime children's content service giving parents access to activity reports on their kids' internet use. It also allows parents to set time limits and educational goals and shares tips on how to talk to children about the content they access. On Wednesday, Amazon announced that it's bringing its FreeTime service to Alexa and will soon start selling an Echo Dot Kids Edition, which combines an Echo Dot voice activated speaker, FreeTime features and a year's subscription to FreeTime Unlimited. The Unlimited service offers premium content from Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, PBS Kids and Cartoon Network. Amazon calls Alexa "a kid-friendly DJ, comedian, and storyteller." I know several parents whose kids love Alexa not only for her ability to play music but to tell jokes (often pretty bad ones) and stories and turn lights and devices on and off. Someday kids might think of light switches the [...]
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Apr 21, 2018
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Apr 09, 2018
Facebook is in the process of notifying users whether their personal information may have been accessed by Cambridge Analytica. Starting today, users will see one of two notices. The one on the right will go to people if one or more of their friends used the app This is Your Digital Life," which passed the information on. The notice on the left will go to other users to help them determine what apps they've used and what information those apps may know about them.
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