Internet Safety Blog
Schwarzenegger vs. the Video Game Industry
by Lynette T. Owens On April 26, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take on the case of Schwarzenegger vs. the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA). The outcome of this hearing has great bearing on how age ratings will be enforced for video...
Phoebe Prince-Tragic Case of (Cyber)bullying
By Lynette Owens On Monday of this week, nine high school students of South Hadley, Massachusetts were charged in the case of 15-year old Phoebe Prince who, after months of being bullied online and in school, took her own life on January 14 of this...
The “What’s Your Story?” Campaign
By Lynette Owens Today marks the launch of “What’s Your Story?”, a campaign designed to help educate kids, parents, and teachers about staying safe online. We are inviting anyone over the age of 13 in the U.S. or Canada* to submit a short video and...
YouTube’s Attempt at Parental Controls
By Lynette Owens You may not have noticed, but earlier this month YouTube made available a new feature that is intended to help users block others from viewing videos that might be inappropriate for them. It doesn’t remove any content from their...
What you can do about Child Identity Theft
by Lynette Owens Child identity theft is on the rise. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, child identity theft occurs when a child’s personal information is used by someone for that imposter’s own gain, such as to obtain financial...
Brittany Murphy, Curiosity, and You
By Lynette T. Owens As the end of 2009 draws near, many of us are consumed by the preparations needed to close out one year and open another. Kids are excited by an impending lengthy school break (some parents less so!); shopping, cooking,...
Privacy is in the Eye of the Beholder
by Lynette T. Owens I know several parents who within the last year became frequent users and heavy recommenders of social networking sites. Most use it as a way to stay in touch with far flung friends and relatives (to share photos and updates of...
You Are What You (Don’t) Post
by Lynette T. Owens A couple of weeks ago, I decided to search my daughter’s name on Google. I was curious to see what the results might be for someone who has not yet established an online presence. I was amazed, worried, and amused all at...
Internet Safety at home, at school – Part 2 of 2
by Lynette T. Owens This past July, on my way to meet with the IT Director of a local school district, I walked the halls of the high-school where his office was located. The building, like so many public schools, appeared structurally fatigued,...
