Parent Tips
October 7th, 2021
The “delete” key doesn’t exactly live up to its name. In fact, in the digital world, delete doesn’t mean delete at all. It’s just another twist in the great digital experiment.
You can trash your emails, but the person who received your messages still has them and can store them as long as he or she wants. Even if you convince your correspondents to delete their copies, your email host can archive data…... Continue reading >
July 16th, 2021
The FBI has a warning for parents: Online gaming isn’t all fun and games. Too often, the anonymous people on the other side of the screen are adults, preying on kids.
Parents need to know that while kids and teens are having fun playing with each other or against a machine, adults are also there. And some of them are lurking with bad intent.
The Internet Crime Complaint…... Continue reading >
July 15th, 2021
Every generation benefits from the advances and suffers from
the mistakes made by its predecessors. Many of the problems we face today were
created decades, if not centuries, ago. Climate change, social disparity,
racism—messes we didn’t make but messes we live with and try to clean up
nonetheless.
Our generation is no different, though the mess we’re leaving for our kids is entirely without precedent. The Digital Age, which dawned with the Internet and blossomed with the advent…... Continue reading >
June 4th, 2020
If you think switching from one device to another makes you less track-able, then you haven’t heard about cross-device tracking.
You are already aware that when you’re online, companies are trying to learn all about you and what you’re doing. Most of the time, they’re looking for better ways sell you things that you might need as well as things you definitely don’t. That’s tracking. Cross-device tracking is, as they say, on another…... Continue reading >
December 22nd, 2021
The holiday shopping
season is upon us, and people are increasingly turning to the Internet to find
the gifts that they want for themselves, their family and their friends. With
every search for the perfect present and with every purchase, people are divulging
information about themselves, their family and friends to the Internet. This is
a problem for several reasons.
Devices are interconnected. Our phones, tablets, laptops—they’re all linked to the profiles the Internet (or the tech firms…... Continue reading >
January 26th, 2021
COPPA—the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act—was supposed to help guard our kids’ privacy on the internet. More than two decades after its passage, the results are mixed. Yes, COPPA protects some kids, but it is too narrow in scope and needs to be updated.
Congress enacted the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998 to give parents control over what kinds of information companies can gather about their kids and improve…... Continue reading >
July 22nd, 2020
Is it a good idea sign in to other websites with your Facebook or Google accounts? Some say it’s safe, some say it’s not. It’s certainly convenient. Still, is it a good idea? We say a better idea is to bolster your passwords or use a password manager.
The Good
The Sign In With Facebook/Google system saves you time and spares you the chore of creating a new…... Continue reading >
May 28th, 2020
Many parents today became adults during the advent of social media, sharing and oversharing personal information and photos. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are so familiar to them, they overshare photos of their children, too, without pausing to think of the dangers.
Know the Risks
There are several risks that parents should be aware of when posting images of their children or sharing anecdotes about their personal lives online. These…... Continue reading >
March 28th, 2020
With schools closed for the foreseeable future, your kids
will be spending more time online than ever, completing school assignments
remotely, playing games and staying in touch with friends. It will be largely
up to you to keep them safe. Seekadoo, a kid-friendly search engine, can help.
Install it on your kids’ device for free and know their searches won’t lead them to wildly inappropriate results. You can download Seekadoo here.
Seekadoo is…... Continue reading >
December 18th, 2019
Privacy Parent’s founder has taken to the radio recently to emphasize the importance of protecting your family’s digital privacy and security. “Information is power,” he told WKIP’s Uncle Mike. “And once you can collect information and create profiles of people, it’s easy to serve them ads, manipulate them, whatever it might be.” Click here to listen to that interview and here for a conversation with Tom Sipos, host of Hudson Valley Focus. “We’re the Guinea…... Continue reading >