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Symantec is developing a Web-based service that will let parents control almost all aspects of their child's Internet activity from anywhere in the world.\n\nThe rising use of instant-messaging programs and social-networking sites by children has posed new challenges to parents seeking to prevent kids' access to inappropriate content or contact with creepy online adults. A demo seen by IDG on Friday showed the application gives parents sweeping control over their child's activity.

It was one of Clinton's many huge errors that she bypassed Silicon Valley's fundraisers in favour of more traditional areas of Democratic support. And she missed the key element of the new politics: social networking. She was still AOL; Obama was Facebook. Clinton was the PC; Obama was a Mac.

Pictures allegedly were uploaded to her MySpace profile, and then apparently leaked by the type of friends who make it unnecessary to have enemies. They've since made the rounds to all the typical tabloid style blogs out there, and of course all the folks posting them have made the appropriate amount of dismay and analysis on how this is going to ruin her career.

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, originally established as a research center at Harvard Law School, has been elevated to a University-wide, interfaculty initiative: the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. This transition enhances the University's capacity for interdisciplinary exploration of issues involving information technology.

"Marketing in higher education is really at a crossroads," said Nora Ganim Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "Those that don't engage and manage social media are going to be left behind."

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that a Texas girl's family filed against MySpace and its parent company, News Corp. The family said MySpace didn't protect young users from sexual predators.The court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 "bars such lawsuits against Web-based services like MySpace."

Convenient links to dozens of educational and nonprofit groups working on CyberSafety Issues and the education of teachers, students and parents.

Links to over 80 education, government and nonprofit groups providing cybersafety and digital citizenship resources.

John Palfrey & Urs Gasser [Berkman Center] identify 9 myths about Digital Natives and offer succinct interpretations based on research and observations of youth. Educators involved in digital citizenship efforts may find a shift in thinking is necessary in how we educate students about issues related to online safety, copyright, privacy etc....where their confusions are and what they do/don't understand. It's also important to understand the significance of social groups and online communities on our youth and how they motivate development of friendship-driven and interest-driven content.

I'm surprised by this review of the Frontline program. I would have thought Eric would have been more critical. I agree that it's an important show to watch; however, I was concerned with a few things. One, I was concerned with the portrayal of a "helicopter" mom who wanted her kids' social networking passwords in case of emergency and I was also concerned about the kid who very cavelierly said he never read books. I also really wondered about parents who complained that their kids never turned off their cellphones at dinner time. I need to re-watch this program, but I think there is much here to be discussed that's not about the technology. It's about how we talk to and engage our students and children. It's really easy to blame bad behavior and scary incidents on technology.

[February 08] A summary of each chapter and commentary provided by Eric Grant.

Twice this month, students at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda have used their fists to settle disputes that arose on Facebook. It might be the first case in the Washington region of school officials publicly linking a fight to words exchanged on Facebook. Rival MySpace, which many students regard as more juvenile, has been linked by authorities to gang posturing and fights.

Media technology is an integral part of children's lives in the twenty-first century. The world of electronic media, however, is changing dramatically. Television, until recently the dominant media source, has been joined by cell phones, iPods, video games, instant messaging, social networks on the Internet, and e-mail.This volume examines the best available evidence on whether and how exposure to different media forms is linked to child well-being. Contributors to the volume consider evidence for both children and adolescents and consider the quality of the available studies.

Amid all the initiatives in which Internet companies are supposed to make friends with each other-such as Facebook's Platform and Google's rival OpenSocial initiative-the announcement today by MySpace may well be the most useful to ordinary people and thus the most important: Users will be able to share their MySpace profile with other sites. MySpace has a good list of initial sites that will use some version of this feature: Yahoo, eBay, PhotoBucket, and yes Twitter.

It only takes a minute to change your life. In this collaboration with the Kaiser Family Foundation, the PAUSE campaign recognizes that in a minute, everything can change. Impulsive behaviors are part of being young. Through the campaign, Fox Networks Group and Kaiser hope to encourage young people to "pause" - even if just for sixty seconds -- when confronted with a difficult or risky decision, consider the best option, and reach out to get more information and help if they need it. In that minute, they have the choice to make a good or bad call. As PAUSE indicates, "it only takes a minute to change your life." For a young person, that kind of power can be intimidating, yet also very empowering. Site includes PSA's targeting youth and informational resources.

steps to protect children on the Internet

Facebook, the world's second-largest social networking Web site, will add more than 40 safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies. The changes include banning convicted sex offenders from the site, limiting older users' ability to search online for subscribers under 18 and building a task force seeking ways to better verify users' ages and identities.

U.S. moms and dads estimate that their children spend only two hours a month on the internet, but kids say they actually spend 10 times more time - or 20 hours - according to a recent study, the first Norton Online Living Report by Symantec (via MarketingCharts). 41% of respondents age 13-17 say their parents have no idea what they do online, and only 33% of parents worldwide say they set parental controls and monitor their children's online activities.

Another source for the MacArthur video, From MySpace to HipHop: New Media in the Everyday Lives of Youth -- a public forum on how digital technologies and new media are changing the way that young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life.

On April 23, 2008, public forum, "From MySpace to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth," reported on the interim findings of the ethnographic project funded by the MacArthur Foundation, "Kids' Informal Learning through Digital Media," conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California. This event addressed how digital technologies and new media are changing the way that young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life. The forum was presented by Common Sense Media, the MacArthur Foundation and the Stanford University School of Education.

Cyberbullying, online predators, and other Internet-related dangers make headlines almost daily. Fear of what lies beyond that glowing screen at which our kids so love to stare dominates the current perception of what the Internet has become. In this climate of perceived threat, schools do what we all do with that of which we are afraid. We avoid the threat and try to forget it's out there.

Experts warn users to be careful about what they post...and download Using those cool little applications designed to enhance social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook can make personal information as public as posting it on a billboard.Trouble is, most students (and educators) never have a clue.

Cybersafety expert and Internet Law Attorney, Nancy Willard, has some ideas for schools as they develop and adapt safety strategies to address Web 2.0. She also offers some questions that school staff can discuss to assess and improve the manner in which they are addressing these issues in their building: