ArticlesAn archive of Privacy Parent’s original content designed to help increase your privacy literacy.
An archive of Privacy Parent’s original content designed to help increase your privacy literacy.
November 25th, 2022
It can be wild out there, with a galaxy of websites competing for your dollars and data. Here are seven quick tips to make your Black Friday and Cyber Monday safe(r).
Be skeptical. If a deal looks too good, it probably is. Move on. Use a VPN. If you’re visiting more sites than usual, you’re also leaving more footprints than usual, scattering your personal all over the internet. A VPN will help…... Continue reading >
November 4th, 2022
Is Messenger Kids OK for your kids? Sort of. Here’s what you should know.
Messenger Kids is an app designed for children for messaging and video calls that runs on Fire tablets and iOS and Android phones and tablets. This free app is from Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), which designed Messenger Kids so parents can control its settings.
The target audience is kids, which Meta wants to bring into its platform…... Continue reading >
October 21st, 2022
Video games can be fun, entertaining, and educational. But gaming also has its problems, exposing young players to health risks and introducing them to bad habits that can be difficult to break. Taken to excess, they can become the Danger Games.
Parents of kids who like to play video games—either on a console or on their phones—should be aware of those risks. At the top of the list: addiction. The founder of a company…... Continue reading >
October 14th, 2022
Here’s one smart and easy move to bolster your privacy that you can make right now. On your phone, go into your settings and look for Privacy. On iPhones, you’ll find a Tracking button. Tap it. And then you’ll find a toggle and the phrase “Allow Apps to Request to Track.” Switch that toggle to the off position. As in “No.” Tracking doesn’t benefit you. On Android phones, you should find the option to “Delete advertising…... Continue reading >
September 28th, 2022
Be honest, parents. You’ve heard of Twitch, but you have no idea what it is. That’s OK. You’re hardly alone. Here’s a primer.
The basics
Put simply, Twitch is a gaming platform that allows users to livestream the video games they’re playing. According to Windstream, Twitch hosts at least 15 million visitors on average every day, with more than 3 million of those being creators sharing their gameplay.
... Continue reading >
September 6th, 2022
Keep this in mind: They can track your texts, too. Texting may feel private—just a little typed out conversation between you and a friend for your and their eyes only. Would that it were so. Your text chains contain mountains of information about you and your habits and preferences. It’s valuable, which means someone out there wants it. At times, they get it.
Ever visit a website to browse some products only to then…... Continue reading >
August 26th, 2022
TikTok, it was recently revealed, can track your keystrokes. Sounds sketchy, right? It is. If you or your kids use TikTok, here’s what you need to know.
First, a reminder of a universal rule: Free isn’t free. Apps that don’t cost money to download may appear free, but they’re not. There is plenty of value to harvest from data generated by your use of the app. Some of that data is innocuous, some…... Continue reading >
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 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 >
June 22nd, 2022
Do you know about in-app purchases? If your kids are using a phone or tablet and have access to the apps on it, you definitely should. In-app purchases can escape your notice and cost you real money. The good news is, they’re easy to block.
Some apps, in particular gaming apps, allow users to buy things within the app. No need to log into a separate store—one you’ve vetted, say. The user just…... Continue reading >