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Things to tell your Kids about Privacy Online

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Those were the days when all parents had to worry about was the creepy guy lurking near the playground. Now parents have to worry about creeps all over the world reaching their kids via computer. And there’s more to worry about. Here’s what to teach your kids: 2P

  • Screen names should not be revealing about location, age or even gender. Never use the full name. Choose a name that would never outright point to the user, such as “Chris J,” when everyone knows the user as Tina Jones. “Chris” can make Tina (Christina) still feel connected to the screen name. And “sweetcheeks” isn’t a good screen name for anyone, especially a kid.
  • Before posting anything, make sure the answer would be “yes” if asked if your grandmother would approve.
  • Deleting an image or comment doesn’t mean it’s removed from cyberspace. While it was up, it could have been shared and recirculated. The No. 1 rule is: Once it’s online, it’s permanently there, no matter what you do with it afterwards.
  • Don’t assume that just because the privacy settings are high, that only a very limited audience will view the posting. Somehow, some way, there’s always a way for something to “get out.” An example would be an authorized viewer sharing the image or posting.
  • Racy images and offensive posts may seem harmless now, but down the road can return to haunt the user when they apply for college, a job or are in a lawsuit.
  • Never impersonate anyone.
  • Discourage sharing personal things online; it’s better to just yak about it in person or over the phone. As for things like address and Social Security number, this information should never be given out unless for a job or school application.
  • Be polite online. “Speak” coherently, use punctuation, don’t ramble, don’t swear and don’t use all caps. Use spell check when possible.
  • Avoid sex talk online at all costs. A predator can pose as anyone and win the trust of kids.

Parents should learn about how privacy settings work so that their kids aren’t left to figure it out themselves. Otherwise, uninformed kids might just let it go and not bother. This approach will let the whole world see what they’re posting. Privacy settings for all accounts should be high, including chat and e-mail accounts.

  • Keep the lines of communication open with your kids.
  • Peruse the social networking sites your kids use to see if they’re posting anything risky or inappropriate, such as announcing vacation plans (something that burglars search for).
  • Tell your kids to report anything suspicious online, just as they’d report to you if someone was hiding in the bushes outside your house.
  • Review the friends list of your kids.
  • Install Hotspot Shield VPN. This is security software which, in addition to antivirus/phishing software and a firewall, will help prevent hacking.
  • Make the non-negotiable rule that you can check your kids’ devices at will, and that any online “friend” your child wishes to meet must meet you first.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

A Quarter of all Underage Kids Will Meet with Complete Strangers

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According to a new Intel Security study, more than 2,000 American parents and kids ages 8-16 were surveyed to unveil some interesting things.12D

  • 79% of the juvenile respondents learned online safety from their parents.
  • 35% of them said they’ve been a cyberbully.
  • 27% of them said they have met, or would meet, a person in real life who they initially met online.

Technology is often blamed for all of this. But what drives these behaviors is the same force that drives the schoolyard bully to trip the bookworm and steal his lunch, or the lonely girl to get into a stranger’s car after school: parenting!

Parents need to get more involved and bone-up on their cyber smarts! Because, according to our kids, 79% of them learn online safety from you —the parent

  • Your kids want a social media account? Great—you get to have their password in exchange. Leave no other deal on the table.
  • Did you know it’s legal for parents to use monitoring software on their kids’ devices? Monitoring isn’t a break in trust. It’s simply an exercise in smart parenting.
  • Parents think because they are on Facebook with their kids, that they are “informed” about their kids’ activities. Facebook is like going out to dinner with a tween. They tolerate it, but are embarrassed by you. And while they behave in public, they may not be so well-behaved when unsupervised.
  • Apps such as Kik, Snapchat, Instagram and many others are potential platforms where risky business can take place. And these are some of the sites parents are less familiar with. Which is why you should be there.
  • Discuss with your kids the sites you do not want them visiting —including “pro-ana” sites that give tips on how to waste down to skin and bones, and other sites that give advice on how to cheat on tests. If you’re not familiar with these sites, search for them.
  • Tell them they should never reveal their password to a friend any more than they would give that friend the key to their diary (if they had a diary, of course).
  • Reinforce with your kids that anything they post online will outlive the galaxy. Digital is forever.
  • Make sure your kids are made to feel at ease approaching you about online worries or concerns. Never make them feel they’ll be judged, criticized or blown off over any questions or comments. Don’t set yourself up to be a “Why didn’t she come to ME about this?” type of parent.
  • Cover your bases: Educate your kids about common hacking scams, install parental control software and make sure your entire family’s devices have security software installed and that it’s always updated.

Digital lives are no different than physical lives and need to be treated with the same care and concern. While parents may think they have a handle on their kids’ online lives, they probably don’t. It takes a bit of denial to function as a parent because if a parent actually thought through all the horrors a kid can get into, they’d cease to function. As a result, some parents go the complete other direction and fool themselves into thinking everything’s just peachy.

Understand this: It’s not the same today as when we were kids. We know this. But the big difference is when kids fall today, they fall harder and it’s on a national and sometimes international scale that can impact the whole family.

Robert Siciliano is an Online Safety Expert to Intel Security. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked!

Company proves why you shouldn’t post Kids’ Pics online

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What if you knew there existed a possibility that some company, without your knowledge, grabbed a photo of your child and put it on their product and then put their product online for sale?

2PKoppie Koppie sells coffee mugs with photos of kids on them—and YOUR child could be one. Though this begs the question, who on earth would want a coffee mug with a photo of a stranger’s child on it, there’s actually a market for this.

Koppie Koppie has taken photos of kids from Flickr. Koppie Koppie is actually more of a social experiment, says the duo who run the site at koppie-koppie.biz. The pair claim that the drive was to raise awareness of privacy issues, yet at the same time, insist that they haven’t done anything wrong because they haven’t violated Flickr’s rules.

The images that Koppie’s founders use come with the Creative Commons licensing rights: Commercial re-use is not restricted.

Though what Koppie Koppie has done is actually legal, it still counts as a violation of the rights of the parents of those kids.

Writers use these photos for their articles, for instance, an article about parent-child relationships, but with professional child models, the parents of the young models know this. So is taking the use of the photos up a notch (or two or three?) by putting them on mugs as a display crossing the line or is to create awareness that maybe you shouldn’t be positng pictures of your children online?

These guys found a loophole and slithered through it, since the privacy policies of social media fall short with explaining the context of how images can be shared online. But they make a good point.

Going further down the continuum, we may have a company sooner or later selling T-shirts with YOUR child’s face on them—without your knowledge.

Koppie Koppie says it will take down a mug of your child within two weeks of your complaint. But think of how many parents will never read this article and know what Koppie Koppie has been up to or anyone else for that matter.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

Having the Privacy Talk with your Kids

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Years ago, having “the talk” with your kids meant telling them where babies come from. Nowadays, “the talk” has a whole new meaning. Your kids may be able to explain in detail how a baby is created, but may be clueless (because so many adults are) about something called “data permanence.”

2PDon’t beat around the bush. Tell your kid outright, “If you post any racy images of yourself online—it will be there for the next million years for anyone to see. And it can be used against you.” Give this same warning about comments your child might post to an article. Things that your kids put online can come back to bite them many years later when they’re applying for employment. Tell them that.

Of course, warning your adolescent that something they post could come back to haunt them 20 years from now might not have much of an impact on them—kind of like telling your kid—who has endless energy—that smoking could cause heart disease 20 years from now. So how can you get through to your kids?

  • The more open the lines of communication are between parent and child, the more likely your message will get through about data permanence. Don’t make communication one-sided.
  • When your kids ask you how things work, even if it’s not related to cyber space, never act annoyed. Never make them feel it was a silly question. Never show impatience or judgment. If you don’t know the answer to their techy question, say, “I don’t know; let’s find out.” Don’t fudge a half-baked answer in an attempt to sound smart. Admit when you don’t know an answer, then hunt it down.
  • If you think it’s time to have “the talk” with your child, it is.
  • There’s never a perfect time to have “the talk.” Stop putting it off. Stop saying, “I’ll have it when…” Just do it.
  • Emphasize that raunchy images or nasty comments can come back to bite them in the near For example, they might have a crush on someone in a few years. What if that person googles them? What might they find? Ask your child, “What would you like them NOT to discover?”
  • Don’t be all lecture. Get your child thinking and talking opportunities. Ask them open-ended questions, such as the example in the previous bullet point. Get their brain cells working.
  • The privacy talk should be a process, not an event. That is, it should be a work in progress, ongoing, rather than a single event.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention.