children and privacy online

[JJ]

Wow, just watched the TEDx talk from Cory Doctorow on children and online privacy:
bit.ly/fGPpHw

Some ideas I hadn't heard before and I think I agree with a lot of them...

My starting point for my sons (13 and 9 yo) is that anything they write anywhere - emails, texts, facebook, even print - will be public. There is no privacy.

The eldest in on FB btw with very tight controls which I set up, so it's not that I've given up, it's that I don't want him to feel that those are secure. Because they're not!

I'm sure one reason I like this is that it gives them a way to be private from snooping. But it doesn't really address the worry of accidental release of information from trusted sources (eg a friend forwards an email to someone who forwards it on to two people, etc).

I suppose you have to ask if they have much private information at that age that would be disastrous if it got out. They could pass on a phone number, address etc, but that could be overheard in the street too.
There's probably no way to rule out passing on information. All you can do is teach them why they shouldn't. If they understand it then that will do more good in the long run than any precautions you can take.

That reminds me of something related. be careful of passwords for your things that the kids might know about. Don't use the same password for their sign ons as your own. Be prepared to change their passwords if they have let it out. You may need a master list hidden away somewhere or it can get messy.

At my eldest's age, I worry most about things said /sent in confidence getting out. I've told him that anything he writes about anyone else can easily get back to them. We had a discussion about this article on sexting www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/27sexting.htm?_r=1 - something that went so horribly wrong so quickly. (It's a good way to explain exponential growth, too. )

He's been "fraped" which pissed me off incredibly and probably irrationally, so now I tell him to log off when he has friends over. It's probably a good habit full stop, isn't it? Log off when you're done, I mean.

Agree about passwords. Also, if you get a password reminder with your actual password in it, that's bad - it means its being stored in plain text in a database. Use disposable passwords for that. I've just bought one of those password managers... need to start using it.