August 4th, 2022
It isn’t your kid’s job to influence anyone but you. So think twice before making your kid the star of your social media feeds. This recent CNET piece points out the perils of turning your kid into an influencer. It sacrifices their privacy and it puts them at risk. “Sharents,” parents who regularly share information and images about their kids, need to be aware of those risks. As one expert cited in the piece put it, “When… Continue reading >
July 30th, 2022
Digital privacy is finally on the minds of lawmakers in Washington, but they can’t quite figure out how to act on it. According to the Washington Post, the Senate is considering a pair of bills focused on protecting kids. The House, meanwhile, is working on a bill that would address digital privacy for all Americans, regardless of age. Perhaps not surprisingly, each side thinks its approach is best. As a result…nothing? We’ll see.
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July 28th, 2022
TikTok’s “Blackout Challenge” is the kind of trend you hope your kids steer well clear of. Dangerous and sometimes deadly, it’s the dark flipside to the comparatively innocent viral challenges—remember the ice buckets?—of years before.
Unlike those video memes, often started as
publicity-awareness campaigns, this one has nothing noble in its roots. It
does, however, offer an important reminder: Social media can be as risky as it
is engaging.
TikTok, in case, somehow,… Continue reading >
July 26th, 2022
Is the end of the social networking era on the horizon? Is it here already? A piece by Scott Rosenberg on Axios makes the case that the social networking model—after more than a decade at the top of our digital experience—is kaput. Following Tik Tok’s lead, Facebook now plans to “shape your online life around the algorithmically sorted preferences of millions of strangers around the globe.”
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July 22nd, 2022
Facial recognition technology is everywhere. Well, almost. And it’s becoming increasingly common. Officials in New Orleans just authorized its police force to employ it. And in London, police used the technology to scan more than 36,000 faces in just one busy weekend. Face it: This is the new face of surveillance.
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July 20th, 2022
To understand the Dark Web, understand this: The Internet can be a weird place. So weird, that it’s got a bizarro version where none of the normal rules apply. You can think of it as a parallel universe or an alternate dimension, but it has a name: The Dark Web. Here’s what you should know about it.
The Dark Web is a shadow version of the Internet, where there are good actors and bad… Continue reading >
July 19th, 2022
If your Instagram feed is like everyone else’s, it’s gotten pretty messy lately. Suggested and recommended posts that have nothing to do with your interests. Video after video, each less interesting than the last. One solution: Quit Instagram! Another, less drastic option: clean up your feed. You’ll like it better, yes, but the big benefit: It’ll be more private. Cleaning up your feed gives you a bit more control over what you see. And that gives you… Continue reading >
July 13th, 2022
The scam economy—fraudulent emails, robo calls, spam texts—cost victims nearly $6 billion last year. But it’s not just our dollars at risk. It’s our emotional well-being, too. A recent article in the Washington Post describes how the incessant intrusions from unknown numbers, and the need to guard against their entreaties, takes its toll on our mental health.
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July 8th, 2022
An interesting piece from Wired about the increasing importance of end-to-end encryption. The article uses recent Supreme Court rulings as a jumping-off point, but goes on to highlight the widespread benefits of incorporating the technology into daily life. The piece cites studies that refer to end-to-end encryption as a “human rights issue in the digital age.”
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June 19th, 2022
We aren’t the only ones trying to blow the whistle, raise the flag, and holler from the hilltops. NPR and the Washington Post are sounding the alarm, too: App-builders are finding ways to track your kids, even though they know they’re not supposed to. On a recent episode of NPR’s Fresh Air, Washington Post columnist Geoffrey Fowler explained just how tech companies exploit loopholes in privacy laws to gather data on kids.
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