November 2010
1 post
MTV launches "Draw Your Line" to combat... →
October 2010
4 posts
A Bill for Asher Brown →
Gizmodo article about third party sharing on... →
Analysis of Phoebe Prince Case in Newsweek →
Thoughts on Tyler Clementis Suicide →
August 2010
1 post
Facebook Privacy Settings: Who Cares? →
July 2010
2 posts
Another consequence of social networking? →
Berkman Center releases sexting report
The Youth and Media Policy Working Group Initiative, a subset of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, recently published a report entitled Sexting: Youth Practices and Legal Implications.
This report looks at a few things: 1. The definition of sexting 2. Review of the research 3. Discussion of child pornography and obscenity laws 4. Description of current and proposed legislation
...
June 2010
2 posts
Online Comments- good or bad?
Recently I’ve heard and seen several stories about online comments. You’re probably familiar with the section at the bottom of most articles on your favorite news websites or blogs. Probably one of my favorite sections to read, they are oftentimes nasty, cruel, and downright offensive, thus very entertaining. I use the example anonymous user comments to discuss why we’ve seen...
May 2010
2 posts
Facebook Privacy Settings
Facebook has unveiled newPrivacy settings in response to the loud protest of many users. Though they won’t be revealed to the general public for several months, it’s a great reminder that what you post isn’t as private as you might like. Users will “still have access to the more detailed settings, but that the simplified controls would be more prominently...
Are students learning their lesson?
Interesting NYT coverage on the “Tell-All” generation. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/fashion/09privacy.html
April 2010
1 post
New Facebook features
Interesting article about Facebook safety features.
March 2010
1 post
Sext-Ed by Rosalind Wiseman
Excellent analysis of sexting: http://rosalindwiseman.com/2010/01/12/sexted/
February 2010
1 post
Update on TxSSC
If you’re new to this blog, here’s a bit of background information about TxSSC as well as some observations I’ve made since joining the staff in April 2008. The Texas School Safety Center was created in 1999, partly in response to the Columbine school shooting, as a centralized location for technical assistance and training for Texas school districts concerning topics related...
December 2009
5 posts
NPR article about Sexting
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121461349
Attacks on red-headed children in California...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/ginger-attack.html
Facebook to install panic button
Facebook will be placing a panic button on their site for youth to report inappropriate content or cyberbullying based on a recommendation by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety.
Facebook updates privacy settings
Check out this letter from Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, about the changes in privacy settings. Included: the ability to control who sees each individual piece of content you create or upload remove regional networks http://www.blog.facebook.com/
Girls Now! and Cyberbullies
Recently I hosted two workshops at the Girls Now! conference at the Ann Richards School for Girls. Several other presenters covered the topic of cyberbullying and Internet safety. Please listen to this KUT story about the event. http://kut.org/items/show/19021
November 2009
1 post
Online Safety 3.0 by Anne Collier
Recently in the School Library Journal, Anne Collier wrote an article about the path Online Safety needs to take in the future. It’s a great article. She talks specifically about the four types of safety necessary for youth to participate online in a healthy way: Physical—freedom from physical harm Psychological—freedom from cruelty, harassment, and exposure to potentially disturbing...
October 2009
3 posts
Texas girl arrested for online harassment
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/101409kvue_teen-arrested-charges-eh.214f548af.html We’ll talk more about this new law in the next blog post.
Social networks are mostly good for us...
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-09-27-social-networking_N.htm What are the implications for educators and students?
online safety working group met 9/24
Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act created a working group to discuss Internet safety education. The group met again last Thursday and here’s a recap of the meeting: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/01/scitech/pcanswer/main5354648.shtml My and the author of the linked new story’s favorite part was a quote from a DC middle school student who said, “The only person...
September 2009
4 posts
A Positive Place- Cyberactivism
My colleague brought to my attention the “cyberactivist” section on New Jersey’s Tobacco Prevention/Anti Tobacco Industry website for youth. As a cyberactivist you can commit to anything from sending an e-card, getting 10 friends to play Rebel’s online game, to becoming a blogger. We hear so often about the negatives of social networking and how often youth mess up online...
On the lighter side...
Emoticons deciphered! http://www.radicalparenting.com/2009/09/07/emoticon-translations-top-teen-emoticons-defined/
MySpace Back to School Internet Safety
http://www.myspace.com/pressroom?url=/article_display.cfm?instance_code=myspace&article_id=1062
Texting while driving
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/technology/01distracted.html
August 2009
3 posts
Model Fights Anonymous Blogger in Court and Wins -...
Model Fights Anonymous Blogger in Court and Wins - ABC News Shared via AddThis
Overreaction to Cyberbullying?
http://techliberation.com/2009/08/25/la-times-on-the-overreaction-to-online-harassment/
Executive Summary Point Safe, Click Smart
http://pointsmartreport.org/executive-summary.html Best practices in Internet Safety
July 2009
7 posts
In Depth Look Insider Twitter's Exponential Growth
http://www.sysomos.com/insidetwitter/
Back in October 2008...
Interesting! Will facebook change our Relationships? Has it already?
What Houston's doing about cyberbullying
The Reality of Cyberbullying
Internet Safety expert Larry Magid fleshes out cyberbullying. http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_12839453?nclick_check=1
A little different from my usual story
Though this blog is primarily about Safety on the Internet, occaisionally I see a story that brings up the greater implications of social media. Here’s One from the Huffington Post.
Interesting Perspective
Love this commentary about student-led parent nights! http://connectsafely.com/Commentaries-Staff/should-schools-end-internet-safety-nights.html
Causing quite a stir...
Lori Drew’s conviction is overturned.
June 2009
1 post
Top Six Ways to Kill Piper
This story was covered on CNN last week. Pretty horrific, especially considering the age of the girls. Embedded video from CNN Video
May 2009
1 post
Students taking the lead
I love stories that showcase student-led solutions, and today I have two for you. The first is a group of high school students in Bowling Green, who worked with the police department to talk about cyberbullying. Many of the teens have experienced cyberbullying firsthand and decided to do something about it. Check out their page. Girl Scouts of the USA have also taken Internet safety to heart. ...
April 2009
1 post
Sexting Video!
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/28793204#28793204
March 2009
3 posts
Texas lawmakers examine cyberbullying
http://www.the33tv.com/pages/content_landing_page/?Texas-Lawmakers-Take-Aim-at-Cyberbullyin=1&blockID=251384&feedID=460
Cyberbullying suit
A teenage girl is suing Facebook for a private group hosted on the website created by the girl’s classmates to cyberbully her. Alledgedly the group’s page said she has AIDs, is an intravenous drug user, and acted inappropriately with animals. Here’s the link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10187531-71.html
Texas lawmakers introduce S. 476 and H.R. 1076
Two Texas lawmakers introduce bill that would require ISPs, including coffee houses that provide free Wi-Fi, to log user activity and store that information for two years. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128823
February 2009
4 posts
KidZui wins 2009 Best of the Web Award from Wired...
The KidZui browser was designed to offer kids the same experiences adults have on the web. KidZui brought together a team of over 200 teachers and/or parents to scour the web in search of the best content for kids. KidZui recently won a WiredKids Best of the Web Award, along with 13 other websites. Check it out: www.kidzui.com
New Privacy features on Facebook
Facebook has finally updated their privacy features to make them user-friendly and easIER to read. Enjoy! http://www.facebook.com/policy.php?ref=pf
Girl Sues Over Cyberbullying Record
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/02/08/0208cybercontroversy.html
From the AP: Teen accused of sex assaults in...
Click here to read the full story.
January 2009
2 posts
Findings from Task Force Report
Below are a few of the fascinating findings from internet safety task force. This report reinforces the idea that it’s not the technology, but the risky behavior of our youth that causes many safety problems. If we focus more on preventing risky behavior our ability to positively affect our youth’s choices exponentially increases. Minors are not equally at risk online. Those who are most at risk...
New Report from Internet Safety Task Force
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/pubrelease/isttf/ Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies is a report from the Internet Safety Task Force. This task force is made up of industry members, attorneys general, academia, public policy and child safety advocates and technical development members. I’ll post key findings from the report in my next blog entry.