I’ve been a long-time proponent of creating an adult area for those who want access to pornography. It’s one of the best ways to segregate adult content, keeping it accessible to those who want access, but letting filtering software quickly determine the appropriateness of a site.
For years the counterarguments have been:

Pornography is too hard to [...]

Kids are getting an A for effort and bypassing their parents in learning how to manage their online reputations. According to a Pew Internet study, kids who use social media do, in fact, care about their reputations. “Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers in [...]

If you’re 17 or so and getting ready about to say goodbye to high school  prom night might figure high on your to do list this week.  The ultimate sign of digital times are the numbers of kids who’ll invite their dates via a text message.  The conversation might go something like this, says Margaret [...]

A 55-year-old woman in broad daylight has no business visiting Chatroulette, where the population seems to be restricted to 18- to 30-year-old hormonally charged boys on the other side of the world.
For those who don’t know, Chatroulette is the latest form of social media—social voyeurism. You sit (or not) in front of your PC’s webcam. [...]

Google needs to have a student version of its popular search software.  It’s not because of pornography. It’s not because of meeting weirdos online.  It’s simply a matter of being able to concentrate on things that kids need to concentrate on without any distractions.
The classic example is Ethan Allen.  Enter the term into Search and you’re [...]

I don’t know about you, but from my vantage point the signs of some virus/malware/bad guy troubles are everywhere. The first whiff came from a note sent by Avast!, a free (for basic protection) anti-virus program with a large user base.
The company cautioned that malware gangs have become adept users of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). [...]

Facebook turned six this week and so did my relationship with it.  Initially, at its creation, I was a voyeur on my kids’ sites because I didn’t have the requisite college .edu address to access to the site.
Soon after, when it expanded to include high school students, it dropped the .edu address requirement. It wasn’t [...]

What if your life were just an example to be parodied? That’s how I felt when I watched this perfectly executed parody of an earnest mom explaining how she can keep tabs on her college kids. If you’ve ever been part of the Internet safety discussion you’ve got to see this clip from The Onion.

Now that school is back in session, kids will be spending inordinate amounts of time staring at their usual screens, but parents typically have no idea whether the kids are looking for homework help or looking for trouble. Some of the newest products available for kids give them a chance to do some really cool [...]

In the US alone there are dozens of well meaning organizations and companies that have made Internet Safety their bailiwick. Internet security companies like Symantec, Trend Micro, and McAfee for example, are but a few that have concentrated efforts on giving parents tools to monitor their kids’ Internet behaviors.
Organizations like WiredSafety, FOSI, getNetWise, NetSmartz, Pause, [...]