DADministrator Internet Safety - Dulles South and South Riding Online Information, VA

More Dads Joining the Internet Safety Club

2008-06-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

It appears more tech-savvy Dads are getting involved both by themselves and with company support, in advancing the resources, information-sharing and cause of Internet Safety. "Cyber Dad" joins the original "Dadministrator" online as a purveyor, instructor and participant in the Internet Safety battle....

Myspace and Online Gang Activity

2008-06-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a review of a recent Loudoun County, Virginia Gang Awareness Seminar (Northern Virginia, outside of Washington DC) - one interesting item to note, was the comments about the significant gang activity online with Myspace - while not necessarily, overtly criminal, it certainly provides a lot of fodder to keep law enforcement interested and engaged, and can only promulgate offline gang activity and behavior. All the more reason to keep your kids away from Internet Social Media until (1) they're thoroughly trained, aware, responsible and can prove it, and (2) their Internet Access is fully understood and monitored by you.

Keeping Predators off Social Networking Sites

2008-02-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

You've heard about them, places like Myspace, Facebook, etc., the "social media" sites built to allow people to share their world and friends with each other. You've also heard, no doubt, of sexual predators using these anonymous mediums to hone their craft. Now there's new legislation proposed in New York -

From Media Daily Online - "The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, would require sex offenders to register their email addresses and instant message screen names. That information would be turned over to social networking sites, which could then prevent people from creating profiles. Several weeks ago, MySpace said it was ousting convicted sex offenders from the site by comparing names of users with state databases."

This is good legislation, that should truly become national legislation, though obviously there are worlds of issues with respect to enforceability - we believe these sorts of convicted or charged felons should simply not be allowed to use online, electronic communications medium. In fact, all of their phone calls should be either recorded, or intercepted by proxy for approval. Just like if they tried to walk into a school, they'd be intercepted by security officials.

Web 2.0 Safety

2008-01-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

This morning's WAPO article about Megan Meier's suicide after a "web of deceit" developed around a cruel Myspace prank is very tough to read. The story ruefully ushers in the next phase of Internet Safety risks that parents and their children must be aware of and prepared for, Web 2.0 Safety.

While Megan's parents seemed to have done most of the right things, like monitoring her online activity, proctoring her Myspace account, doing their best to manage her school and friends environment - an intruder slipped through and wreaked first virtual, then mental and physical havoc. Being safe while using the Internet, i.e. Internet Safety, meant making sure strangers couldn't and wouldn't take advantage of, harm or otherwise intrude on one's physical and personal life. This was about protecting the identity of you and your children from strangers seeking to harm you, on or offline.

Now the danger is in the rapid growth of collective intent to harm, accelerated by easy Web 2.0 multimedia postings, generated from among one's own and extend online social media group. Basically, your child's in danger from the collective and perhaps unintentional explosion of social anger and resentment, generated from within their own peer group. This isn't unlike "ganging-up" happening on the playground, but it's much more quick to develop, much more intense in the faceless vitriole, and can extend quickly to other networks of "trusted individuals" leading to a very widespread and influential "online gang".

How do you stop it? Practiced Internet Safety techniques are just one tool; much more important now are (1) direct Parental involvement in knowing and understanding exactly whom you child is corresponding with, by name, and (2) rapid reaction from an Internet-saavy parent in the physical world, i.e. as soon as signs of online "gang-up" activity develop, moving into full disaster management and protection mode.

Megan's parent's only clear mistake was not shutting off access to her new online friend "Jason", whom they (or Megan) had never actually physically met.

Know each of your child's friends by name and sight, and those are the only ones with whom correspondence should be enabled online - if social media participation is allowed at all for middle schoolers.

Parent Site to check out

2007-12-05T03:21:00.000-08:00

Check out the new Parent's site through our link at Dadministrator.minti.com.

Coming Soon - Kindergarten Computer Training and Internet Safety Lesson Plans!

2007-12-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon!

Downloadable Kindergarten Computer Lesson Plans

We will soon be offering computer training lesson plans downloadable for teaching Kindergartners and Adults computer skills. Over 30 Kindergarten classroom lessons will be made available, spanning and synchronized with the entire Kindergarten school year. Adult lesson plans for teaching and learning basic computer skills, Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint will be available. All lesson plans include modules and information regarding Internet Safety and proper care and maintenance of your computer.

These computer training lesson plans are perfect for home schoolers, teachers, day care centers, after-school programs, Summer camps, Girl and Boy Scout programs, YMCAs and YWCAs, and any other forum where Kindergartners and Adults are provided computer training skills.

Contact us to sign up in advance for theses copies.

These unique and classroom-proven computer training lesson plans have been used and updated over many years in our very popular computer training programs, and have helped hundreds of Kindergartners and adults in our community get a start on mastering safe computer use in school, daycare, work or home environments.

Patch your computer before online holiday shopping!

2007-11-29T05:40:00.000-08:00

A huge network of search-indexed fake domains, loaded with hacks designed to take over your computer and steal information, has been discovered buried in the Search Engine results of Google, MSN, Yahoo, according to this posting.

Download and update your machine's Msoft patches, if nothing else, BEFORE shopping online (especially if using Search Engines to search!).

Over 50% of County 3rd graders have unrestricted Internet access

2007-11-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

This post speaks for itself - not a good state of affairs in Loudoun County, VA, or likely any other county around the US...

Vanessa Hudgens - High School Musical

2007-09-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

If your kids are like ours, and "High School Musical" is the be-all and end-all of this year's movies and kid movie stars, just make sure your content protection software's up to date. More likely than not right now, when searching for "Vanessa Hudgens", you're just as likely to end up with a nude picture of this teen star, as end up at the fan club site. Appears Ms. Hudgens mistakenly let a naked picture of herself out into the email system, and, naturally, it ended up making the Internet circuit. We actually know persons with children who've ended up staring at the less-than-innocent depiction of their otherwise wholesome star. Keep an eye on things.

Back to School Internet Safety Checkup - Again!

2007-08-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Just like last year...

At this moment, you and your kids are likely either (a) out and about, and not using the computer at all, or (b) holed up in the air conditioning playing endless games of Millsberry (totally addictive for 8-year old girls) or Soduku on the computer. Certainly not any sort of schoolwork or research. It's probably been a while since you really took a close look at all those "updates are ready for your computer" messages, lurking down in the task bar or hidden beneath 15 browser windows full of Webkinz games and characters.

Take a couple of hours, before the Fall school and activity rush begins, and whip your computer and young Internet users back into shape!

1) Windows and Java updates - check for updates, and keep Microsoft and Sun happy.

2) Back up all your stuff - especially all the photos from Summer vacation, plus last year's tax forms. Also, re-locate all your application software installation CDs, especially the stuff that came with your computer, for system restore purposes.

3) Take a quick troll through your junkmail/bulk mail folders - maybe something's been missed, but then clear it all out.

4) Is your perimeter protection still active? Firewall on, Pop-ups being blocked, Anti-virus running, updated and with a recent full scan?

5) How about wireless - view local wireless connections, does your SSID show up as an unsecure connection in your neighborhood?

6) Content protection - is your adware and/or content filter software still running, and been updated recently? Is Google still set to SafeSearch?

7) Might be a good time (in Internet Explorer) to empty the cache (temporary files), clear the cookies and offline files, re-check your privacy settings. (Before you do this, think through all the userids/passwords you use, and write down all you know.)

8) Review your checking and visa account for the past few months....any strange transactions? Maybe it's a good time to pull your credit report.

9) If you're really motivated, and your kid's computer and/or printer hasn't seen an adult in many months (ugh, please don't let this happen!), protect your investments and run things like Registry First Aid, Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter, and take a look through the active processes (under Task Manager), noting whether a bunch of junk or suspicious programs are eating up cycles and memory. About twice a year, I actually write down all running process names, look 'em up on the Internet, and follow any guidance I find to remediate, remove or otherwise fix issues. I usually find plenty of parasites to remove. Run the diagnostic self-test and cleaning routines for the printer, and get some extra ink cartridges now!

10) Review Internet Safety guidelines and your expectations/agreement with your children, for them to use the computer. (Go to Whizkids Computer Training for more information).

Bring on the school year!

National Cyber Security Alliance Calls on States and School Districts to Teach Internet Safety and Security in Schools

2007-08-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

....per this press release: "Today, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), with support from companies including CA, McAfee, Microsoft, and Symantec, as well as education organizations such as the Consortium of School Networking and, State Education Technology Directors Association called upon state leaders across the United States to work with their states' education leaders to ensure cyber security, safety and ethics lessons are integrated in every classroom.

The “No Child Left Behind Act” requires students to be technology literate upon completion of the 8 th grade. Accordingly, the National School Boards Association reports that 96 percent of school districts say that at least some of their teachers assign homework requiring Internet use. However, there is still no formal education on how to stay safe, secure and ethical online."

"Called on states' education leaders?" They've been "called on" many times, both by industry and legislative initiatives....I think the term is "remind".

As a Mom working at home, are you concerned...

2007-07-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

....about protecting your computer, and maintaining Internet Safety protocol for both you and your children? You should be, and you're in a good position to manage this while working at home in sight of your children.

Want to actually BE a work-at-home or career-at-home Mom? (WAHM/CAHM). Here's a new eBook chock full of good information, that will help you actually stay at home to keep an eye on the kids' Internet habits. Dadministrator and Whizkids LLC both support the Mom-Force and members' online Internet Safety requirements.

The Mom-Force.

Myspace found 29,000 more sex offenders

2007-07-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

...amazing, but really not surprising - 'nuff said; BE SURE you know whether your child's on Myspace or a similar social site, preferably they're not.

From the various new sources:

"MySpace.com has found more than 29,000 registered US sex offenders with profiles on the popular social networking website - more than four times the number cited by the company two months ago, North Carolina officials said.

North Carolina's Roy Cooper is one of several state attorneys general who recently demanded the News Corp-owned website provide data on how many registered sex offenders were using the site, along with information about where they live.

After initially withholding the information, citing federal privacy laws, MySpace began sharing the information in May after the states filed formal legal requests.

At the time, MySpace said it had already used a database it helped create to remove about 7000 profiles of sex offenders, out of a total of about 180 million profiles on the site."

Pass the Time with Webkins and Club Penguin this Summer

2007-06-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Two very kid-friendly and utterly addictive sites for our kids (ranging from 3-9 years); Club Penguin and Webkinz.

These sites promote very safe environments, filters, no advertising, and altogether really great fun for kids now looking for diversions during summer thunderstorms.

The only problem with Webkinz, we've found, is the "keep up with the Joneses" mentality around the block (and yes, with some Parents), regarding how many Webkinz and Lil'kinz they've actually purchased. We actually tried to purchase some from Ebay; it's amazing how fast and active the bidding is; most reasonable purchases close under $20, but you have to be fast on the bidding trigger.

School for the Gifted gets Internet Safety Education

2007-05-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

Following is a recent newsletter entry by Ken Nysmith, of the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, VA - regarding a recent presentation on Internet Safety by the local company Whizkids LLC, supported by Dulles South Online.

"Technology is a wonderful part of our curriculum at Nysmith. I never cease to be amazed at the seventh and eighth graders’ films or the third graders’ Power Point Presentations. The children seamlessly incorporate their ideas and present them with such creativity that I still find myself surprised, no matter how many times I see them. But, even though I love the wonderful things our students can do with technology, it is important to realize that there are also many malignant and dangerous elements.

Recently we had two parent education seminars about internet safety. One was presented by one of our parents, Mrs. McLaughlan of Whizkids LLC. Although we have been concerned about internet safety for a long time and began using a content filter many years ago at Nysmith, I was shocked to hear the statistics Mrs. McLaughlan presented
Here are some statistics gathered from various sources and shared with us at their workshop:

- 2 out of 5 missing children, between the ages of 14 and 17, are missing due to internet activity

- Law Enforcement officials estimate that as many as 50,000 sexual predators are online at any given moment (Dateline, 1/2006).

- There is a 100% chance of your child meeting a predator in a chat room. (FBI 2004)

- 1 in 7 children who use the internet are approached by online predators (NCMEC)

How do you protect your children? Where is the line between spying on your children and protecting them? Many parents think that having the right software is the answer; others believe that checking the computer’s history and registry ensures success. While both of these and a dozen other tools are important and helpful, they are not foolproof, and your children are not easily fooled! There are websites set up to show children how to defeat each and every protection tool, and children are very resourceful. Please take the time to become aware of the magnitude of this problem. As one child recently informed us with a grin, his parents asked him to set up their computer and install the parental controls.

For those parents who were not able to attend this eye opening seminar, the key to protecting your children is to place the computer your child will be working on in a central, highly visible area of your home. If you place the computer in an isolated area of your home, or worse yet in the children’s bedroom, you are begging for problems. It’s not that the children are bad; the problem is that they are curious and there are bad people on the Internet. No one would let their child walk into a dark alley at 2:00am in a bad part of town by themselves, yet if you look at the statistics, it is highly likely that almost every child who has internet access has come into contact with a child predator. We are doing everything that we can do at school to protect your child, however we are helpless to protect them when they sit down at their computer at home.

One of the best ideas that I have heard about internet safety is to let your children know that at any instant you could ask them to lift their hands show you what is written. Then do it often. Is it spying? I do not believe it is if you inform the children of this policy beforehand. This is the policy in our home, and, I have seen the children remind each other that their conversations could be read if they were Instant Messaging one of my children. It was apparent that the children were more mindful of what they said because of this policy. I could not help but wonder, however, what was being said when my children logged off. This is a very important point, because no matter how private these conversations feel or how ephemeral, they can be printed or stored for years; the Internet is a public space, and all of us, child or adult, need to be reminded that what we say via email and IM is public speech.

Every parent has to make many choices; my choice on Internet use may not be the same as yours, but I urge you to please be aware, and be proactive. I think it is exciting to think how technology is going to change our children’s world for the better, but there is a dark side that we need to be aware of so that we can protect our children. The only unacceptable choice is to be unaware."

On Guard Online

2007-03-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

(This was launched the end of 2005, but bears a new mention here)..

http://www.onguardonline.com

The Federal Trade Commission and a partnership including cybersecurity experts, online marketers, consumer advocates, and federal officials have launched a new multimedia, interactive consumer education campaign to help consumers stay safe online. A comprehensive OnGuardOnline.gov Web site has tips, articles, videos, and interactive activities that will address topics such as:

- How to recognize scams on the Internet;
- How to shop securely online;
- How to avoid hackers and viruses; and
- How to deal with spam, spyware, phishing, and peer-to-peer file-sharing.

Check it out at www.onguardonline.com

Virginia Internet Safety Task Force Report

2007-02-04T05:38:00.000-08:00

This is a very good report, chock-full of issues, approaches and a really nice appendix of web links to Internet Resources for parents, teachers, kids and otherwise.

http://www.vapta.org/Health/ReportYISTFfinal.pdf

Attorney General visits AOL for Internet Youth Safety

2007-02-04T05:25:00.000-08:00

Right here in our area, the Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell visited AOL headquarters in Ashburn, VA, as part of his campaign to enlist Internet Service Providers and others to help with Internet Safety issues. This was a meeting of the US ISP Association, meeting at its 5th anniversary at AOL. He reported on a Youth Internet Safety Task Force formed last June (for which we requested participation, but to no avail) - the primary outcome of the Task Force was to urge more effective education programs and awareness for parents (Dads!). In addition, the Task Force recommended harsher penalties, new forensic tools, more law enforcement training and quicker responses. In our opinion, what was missing from this report, was actual new technologies and processes to implement on the part of the ISPs themselves - they appear to be left off the hook, at least as far as this Task Force was concerned. Where's the new government-funded public/private partnership among, for instance, the FBI, DHS and this ISP Association, to collectively perform some R+D?

The primary outcome is a "new foundation" accepting private dollars to promote child Internet safety, educating parents through public service advertising on radio and television, free DVDs for parents and youth, and to promote more common sense. Perhaps this "foundation" ought to closely align itself with existing online educational efforts - like ours!

Upgrading Your Microsoft Tools

2006-11-16T04:06:00.000-08:00

I noticed a big advertisement campaign by Microsoft on the Yahoo Portal lately, to upgrade to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 Browser. It's somewhat self-serving, as the IE browser you get comes fully-loaded with customized Yahoo tools and links. However, it's a good idea. The frequency of patch updates and time on the market continues to make older versions of IE a pain to update, and still somewhat vulnerable to intrusions and security exploits. The new IE 7 has many great and updated security features; if you also take advantage of Microsoft's automated update feature, you're browsing will be much easier to secure and protect. Paired with an updated operating system (Microsoft Vista), Internet Safety should become much easier to deal with...though will never be a passive activity. You must continue all other safety and privacy measures, including firewalls, anti-virus, monitoring and good common sense.

While IE 7 is a great step in the right direction, I would still advise using either the Firefox or Opera browsers instead; these have a good track record of stability, safety, immunity to hacking and have many of the features IE 7 only now is releasing.

Screen your home windows like your computer's

2006-10-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

Don't forget about the physical windows your children are looking through; these need protection every bit as much as the "virtual" ones to the Internet! Here's a brief article on "Alarm Screens" courtesy of National Security Screens, an alarm screen manufacturer and retailer.

A very interesting product many homeowners elect to install on houses they've just bought are "Alarm Screens" (otherwise known as "Security Screens" to Security Industry professionals). Typically one changes the door locks when moving into a new home, in a new neighborhood; less typically do people change window locks or security mechanisms. Alarm screens are visibly the same as a typical window screen, however, embedded detection wires will alert you and/or your central alarm system that an intruder is beginning to break into the home, through the window. The best feature of these devices is that you're still protected against intruders even though your windows may in fact be open, with the traditional window alarm contacts disabled!

As you assess your next home purchase, or in fact prepare to sell your existing home, consider Alarm Screens as a wise investment. National Security Screens is a Virginia-based, leading national manufacturer and dealer of alarm screens, alarm screen products and other window security systems; they can be contacted for more information about how alarm screens can help protect and sell your home.

Why is his Mom "Computer Dumb"?

2006-10-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

In this recent scandal coverage called "Foley-Gate", a comment from one of the victims of lascivious IM correspondence made our heads spin, though you could see it coming from a mile away. Foley asks whether anyone else can see the chat, and the Page essentially says "no, my Mom's computer dumb".

Absolutely inexcusable, and hopefully a very-well publicized wake-up call to parents of little and big kids, and in fact all adults. DO NOT BE "Computer Dumb"! There's no reason to be. A little time spent reading some very simple resources can make all the difference in the world, and also help project your status (to your children, hopefully) that you are not in fact "computer dumb". The quick results of your computer safety education may not make you a computer scientist, but may just provide enough control and guidance to protect your children (and your family's reputation!) from predatory activities like this.

For example - no computers in the bedroom, and limit usage. Sounds simple, doesn't it - or perhaps fraught with conflict the way restricting TV privileges does. Just recently, an extend family member admitted an 11-yr. old stayed up to 3AM every night "playing computer games", in his room. An utter recipe for disaster; this sort of thing should be controlled in no uncertain terms....otherwise you can essentially label yourself "computer dumb".

Toddler Computer Protection

2006-09-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Among the many actions you can take to keep your Toddlers out of the "Internet/PC Danger Zone", is this nifty software brought to my attention from a recent ParentHacks posting. ToddlerKeys when activated will lock your keyboard, mouse, power button and cd drive doors from pounding and abuse, and will provide a bit of a sound/light show to satiate curiosity.

Squibbles: Parent Resources

2006-09-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Check out this new online site for kid-friendly sites, called "Squibbles". It's based on user submissions and votes, and caters to Parents and their knowledge/understanding of what's good and safe online for kids.

New rule: NO using someone else's computer

2006-09-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it finally happened...Didi (8 yr. old) was over her friend's house (Kim), and her friend invited her to play on her computer (in her basement, unsupervised). Of course, the computer was totally unprotected, and, regardless of the fact Kim's parents had told her only to go to the "favorites" links, someone had told Kim in school that "www.hannahmontana.com" was a cool site (or something similar). This led to the appreciation that "www.yournamehere" might be interesting, so she tried that. A few tries and mispellings later, naturally up popped a porn site, that the girls laughed over for a while before Kim's Mom intervened and shut the party down.

Suffice it to say Dadministrator had to let Kim's parents know of this blog, and other information like it....plus, the new rule is: Our children are simply NOT allowed to play or touch a computer in someone else's house. Period. End of story.

Spam Blogs and AOL Search Universe

2006-08-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well, that's a new one on me....one of my other blogs was recently locked by Blogger, because their automated spambots thought it was actually this sort of online, delectable, gelatin-encased lunchmeat. I think this is actually a good idea, but a bit over-zealous or perhaps mis-implemented and tested. Their promise to review the site and unlock it (by a real human!) in 1 day didn't come true, in my case or for just about anyone else it appears. Big problem for active blogs, and those supporting businesses. This simply goes to illustrate how pervasive SPAM is, i.e. make sure you and your children grow SPAM-dar (i.e. radar) real quick, and avoid any kind of blog, email or forum that looks suspicious or simply nonsensical.

On another note, AOL mistakenly released 20 million search terms entered by 650,000 subscribers; many of whom are able to be tracked down from their search habits. Point one: think before you search; everything you type may come back to haunt you, or be used to invade your privacy.

Safe Websites for Children

2006-08-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of safe websites for Children, as posted by a very well-respected elementary school with lots of smart kids (presuming, therefore, that these kids would quickly discover flaws and backdoors out of the secure content and links if the sites weren't thoroughly reviewed!)

Search Engines

Google for Kids and Teens
Search Education
Education World
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence Yahoo for Kids
Ask Jeeves for Kids
Kids Click

Reference

Cambridge Latin Course & Resources
Dictionary.com
Britannica Online School Edition
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Scholastic.com
Britannica Online Training
Country information from around the world.
Awesome Library
Froguts.com
World Almanac for Kids
Microsoft Access Websters Dictionary
America's Story - of the Library of Congress

Preschool through Elementary

Story Place
School Express.com
Arthur The World's Most Famous Aardvark
PBS Kids
Learning Planet Free Online Games & Activities for Kids
The Perpetual Preschool Free Games
Billybear 4 Kids
Kids Freeware
Toddler and Preschool Activities
Fisher-Price Sesame Street Workshop
TampaRead's Grade 1 Books Online
Alfy
Seuss Ville
Scholastic.com Activities
Noggin
Starfall
Kids Domain Games
Primary Games - Storybooks
Enchanted Learning Software Homepage
Between the Lions
Primary Games - Reading

Games and Activities

Kids Domain Games
Primary Games - Storybooks
Enchanted Learning Software Homepage
Between the Lions
Primary Games - Reading
Story Place
School Express.com
Arthur The World's Most Famous Aardvark
PBS Kids
Learning Planet Free Online Games & Activities for Kids
The Perpetual Preschool Free Games
Billybear 4 Kids
Kids Freeware
Toddler and Preschool Activities
Fisher-Price Wicked 4 Kids
FunBrain
Kids.com
Seaworld
Fun School
Sesame Street Workshop
TampaRead's Grade 1 Books Online
Alfy
Seuss Ville
Scholastic.com Activities
Noggin
Starfall

Back to School 10-point Computer Checkup

2006-08-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

At this moment, you and your kids are likely either (a) out and about, and not using the computer at all, or (b) holed up in the air conditioning playing endless games of Millsberry (totally addictive for 8-year old girls) or Soduku on the computer. Certainly not any sort of schoolwork or research. It's probably been a while since you really took a close look at all those "updates are ready for your computer" messages, lurking down in the task bar or hidden beneath 15 browser windows full of Yugioh cards and characters.

Take a couple of hours, before the Fall school and activity rush begins, and whip your computer and young Internet users back into shape!

1) Windows and Java updates - check for updates, and keep Microsoft and Sun happy.

2) Back up all your stuff - especially all the photos from Summer vacation, plus last year's tax forms. Also, re-locate all your application software installation CDs, especially the stuff that came with your computer, for system restore purposes.

3) Take a quick troll through your junkmail/bulk mail folders - maybe something's been missed, but then clear it all out.

4) Is your perimeter protection still active? Firewall on, Pop-ups being blocked, Anti-virus running, updated and with a recent full scan?

5) How about wireless - view local wireless connections, does your SSID show up as an unsecure connection in your neighborhood?

6) Content protection - is your adware and/or content filter software still running, and been updated recently? Is Google still set to SafeSearch?

7) Might be a good time (in Internet Explorer) to empty the cache (temporary files), clear the cookies and offline files, re-check your privacy settings. (Before you do this, think through all the userids/passwords you use, and write down all you know.)

8) Review your checking and visa account for the past few months....any strange transactions? Maybe it's a good time to pull your credit report.

9) If you're really motivated, and your kid's computer and/or printer hasn't seen an adult in many months (ugh, please don't let this happen!), protect your investments and run things like Registry First Aid, Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter, and take a look through the active processes (under Task Manager), noting whether a bunch of junk or suspicious programs are eating up cycles and memory. About twice a year, I actually write down all running process names, look 'em up on the Internet, and follow any guidance I find to remediate, remove or otherwise fix issues. I usually find plenty of parasites to remove. Run the diagnostic self-test and cleaning routines for the printer, and get some extra ink cartridges now!

10) Review Internet Safety guidelines and your expectations/agreement with your children, for them to use the computer. (Go to www.whizkidsllc.com/links for more information).

Bring on the school year!

Baby Safety Month...

2006-07-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

...is coming, this September. It's promoted by the Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association, and focuses on baby/child products and their safe use. http://www.jpma.org/industry/BabySafetyMonth/BSM_2006/index.cfm.

We just finished the Internet Safety Month (June)- designated by unanimous vote of the US Senate this year (May). One of the outcomes was a lot of extra material showing up on websites, including this nifty little test....

Parents Summer Safety-Net Test (developed in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

http://www.incredibleinternet.com/onlinesafety/Index.cfm?cid=261,267

What's really nice is that it's also en espanol (Examen para Padres sobre Seguridad en Internet).

Porn on a Playstation

2006-07-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

Just saw this posting: "Our 11 year old accessed Porn on his PSP (Playstation Portable)."

http://www.familylife.com/community/forums/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=002666

Bit of a wakeup call, to regularly check your logs on your home router and/or firewall - simply look at some of the outbound IP addresses accessed (especially if you can see from which machine they originate).

Also, I'd say just don't let any old machine use browsers/the Internet (even your phone); just those that you've got good parental control on, good oversight of, and that aren't hidden away in your child's room.

Safe Sites for Kids

2006-07-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a good way to find safe sites for kids....we actually volunteer to help add to this list.

http://www.wiredkids.org/safesites/index.html

Brought to you by Wiredsafety.org.

Virginia Youth Internet Safety Task Force...

2006-06-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

....was formed last Monday, by VA Attorney General Bob McDonnell. It claims leaders from the community, AOL and Yahoo, law enforcement. First meeting is July 14th - all the press has simply been about the group and the meetings, probably not a lot will actually get done (outside of nice press releases) unless there's a good bit of funding to be appropriated and controlled by this group.

Other news: MySpace was sued last week by a teenager alleging she was assaulted by a man she met on the social networking site...that should force them to get tougher about "opt-in" restrictions.

Myspace SNL skit

2006-05-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Really funny skit on SNL this weekend - Julia Louis Dreyfuss is in a Learning Annex class as a mother, trying to understand how to help control her daughter's Myspace activities. About 8 other men are in the class, posing as "students", while ostensibly learning exactly how to leverage Myspace themselves (as erstwhile child molesters). It's pretty funny, especially when a Police officer walks in and they all scurry out like roaches. The way the instructor presents guidance on establishing a screen name, with "your name, birthdate and something you like" incorporated isn't exactly promoted anywhere, especially Myspace (now), but it's certainly advice you find out and about among those parents who aren't aware or paying attention. I'll try to find a link and post it.

Interesting Filtering Reviews with Teen Help

2006-05-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

Ran across some Internet Safety-related reviews of PCPandora and TUKI: The Ultimate Kid's Internet. The reviews and tests (performed by a Teenager!) are pretty good, from the folks at www.perverted-justice.com (yup, the folks who helped Dateline NBC nab sexual predators). The reviewers "want you parents to have a good idea of what these programs do", but I was more informed about "exactly how my teenager will likely circumvent my own controls".

Remote Control

2006-04-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a new, though not totally surprising conundrum for me. Parents we know in our extended family, with a pre-teen (let's call her Annie), are hard-working, committed family providers. But Annie's left to her own devices much of the day (both parents work, and Annie's a latchkey kid), operating a shared computer at will without supervision. Full-on Internet access, available to a 12-year old. A recipe for all kinds of problems, of course. But how do we intervene, help or otherwise promote Internet Safety into this circumstance without overstepping the bounds of our relationship, or typical civil boundaries?

This will be a tricky balancing act, between our offers to help (which come with underlying agendas), direct and indirect communication with Annie (and some subliminal education for her), and outright intrusion on our part into the activities and privacy of another family (perhaps only partially invited). You might say we're taking the "community protector" role, which obliges us to act in the face of danger and ignorance, on the behalf on an innocent - but not going so far as to cross boundaries of family, civil or legal protection and guidance already surrounding the child. Above all, we must maintain the trust and privacy of the family and child, otherwise, the relationship dies and there's no chance of helping as we could.

So, where to start? I've written a newsletter where the metaphor is driving a car (http://www.whizkidsllc.com/downloadable_files/Newsletters/Feb%202006%20Newsletter%20Print%20v2.doc); for both the parents and child, there's significant awareness and education first, training and trial under protected circumstances second, and monitored use third. What the family gets is another driver, the community gets a responsible participant, and the child gets an amazing experience in personal freedom, within limits.

So how do you teach someone else's kid to drive, in their car? We'll explore this in upcoming posts, as this activity develops. Let me know what you think. Believe me, I'd like to immediately access their computer remotely, install monitoring and filtering software, and participate as the "third-parent". Perhaps even volunteer to buy and manage their ISP services for them, so long as they use the parental control options. But that takes an enormous amount of trust and acceptance of the dangers - and we're not there yet. But we are at a place where we can start the drumbeat.

New game experience for the kids

2006-04-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

This blog isn't only about protecting kids on the Internet, it's about what's out there that's really neat for them, but also starts to teach them about Internet communications protocol. Right now Didi, Monker, Axl and their visiting cousin are utterly consumed with a virtual town game called Millsberry.com. You can create a character, get "Millbucks" by playing games, buy things to furnish your home, etc. It's basically a pretty blatant product placement set for General Mills cereals and such, with a good privacy policy and protection for children. In the sign-up, just make sure not to let your children use their real name or zipcode/state. What's really neat, is the kids can send little email-type greetings to each other, privately. All of the Junior Administrators are mesmerized by the game - we've started to set limits on how much time they can play it! Didi learned how to delete her "inbox" of all the "spam" her brother sent her today.

I know where you live or work

2006-04-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

There are services out there called "Anonymizers", which shield others from determining information about you, and where you are, based on low-level computer information in the communications you use while surfing the 'net, or sending emails.

Why should you consider this? Some (not all) connections to the Internet are from IPs (Internet Protocol Addresses, essentially the online address of your computer) that are unique or peculiar to your own computer, or a server very close to you. If you have dial-up, a small, local ISP, or a static IP address (many company Internet connections do this), it is fairly easy to determine your physical location with this IP address (or the name of the company you work for).

For example, I can set up a fake blog, lure some people into it, use "statcounter" to determine what IP address they're coming from, go to "http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/website-country/" and do a geotargeting search with that IP address, and then get a nice auto-generated Google satellite map of your neighborhood where you live or work (if your IP address is one that isn't anonymized, proxied, or otherwise not one of the types I list above). A little scary? You tell me.

How do I fix this? Well, you need to determine if you've got an IP address that's relatively unique, static and traceable. Ask your computer support person, or perhaps I can help. If it is, you'll need to determine whether the kind of IP address you have is absolutely necessary for your kind of Internet connection and usage. If it is, well then anonymizer products are for you. Ugh.

Circumventing Locally-Installed Filters

2006-04-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

There's a way to fairly reliably circumvent locally-installed filtering software, like CyberProtect, ContentGuard, NetNanny, etc. Saw this on peacefire.org. It involves booting into Ubuntu (a free, Linux-based Operating System) BEFORE your machine boots up Windows, by booting from a CD. To protect against this, you need to set your admin settings to boot FIRST from the hard drive, and then from a CD..(this is done by pressing keys like F10 while the machine is booting up; it's different for different machines)...and obviously, you'll want to password-protect Bios administrator privilege on your machine, so your kids can't reverse this setting.

I'm not going to mess with this just yet in my household, as only 2 of the 4 can yet spell "BIOS"; I'd expect to probably deal with this by the time Monker's 11 or 12, and is likely hacking up the computers on many levels. Didi just won't care about circumventing things online; all she has to do is circumvent parental authority in real life, and get what she really wants.

Great Site with Summary Administrator Stuff

2006-04-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.netsafe.theoutfitgroup.co.nz/
security/security_default.aspx

An outfit in New Zealand called "NetSafe"; this section on Computer Security was put together by some IBM folks.

Virginia Internet Safety in School Law Passes

2006-03-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

It's about high time - now Virginia schools are required to teach students (and therefore presumably administrators, teachers and parents by association)Internet Safety...the Virginia Dept. of Education will issue guidelines to schools by July 1st.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032900705.html

RAM costs money

2006-03-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

Well, our laptops are complaining now. At least the cheap ones. In our eagerness to create the perfect "walled garden" for our children to play on, and try out all the variations of Internet Safey filtering and blocking, somehow the RAM (physical memory of the computer) got used up. So things are slllooowww.

It's not too difficult to spot the culprits, turn things off, and optimize the performance, but I don't really have the time - at least to keep on top of this each week. I'm not a LAN administrator, but a DAD administrator - there's ant colonies to be destroyed, piano lessons to be taught, and cars to be washed.

So, my unofficial guideline is this: for each user ID on the computer, allocate about 50 Megabytes worth of memory that'll be consumed (this isn't too scientific, so check it out yourself). The laptop I'm typing on now....has ContentWatch, Registry Aid, Ad-aware, and some other things running, as processes for each User ID logged in and active. I've got 4 User IDs active at times, ergo my 250 M total RAM for the computer gets really thin, really fast. Especially cutting and pasting large graphics, like the Kindergartners like to do.

Time to just get more RAM, if I'm serious about Internet Safety. Another 500 M should do nicely (at about $40 a pop!). Plop it in, be safe and fast.

Meet the Junior Administrators

2006-03-29T04:59:00.000-08:00

To help me in my R&D, user testing, marketing and entertainment departments, meet the JA's:

Knicknack: a toddler, she likes to sit and watch her brother zap things on the computer, and spill Apple Jacks on the keyboards

Axl: a preschooler, he is definitely a surfin' fiend, and learning to type disney.com in hundreds of variations (d8zzzfdky...cm)

Monker: a Kindergartner, his online and offline world is nuthin' but mini-science experiments, volcanos, robots, Bionicles, Yugioh, and other things I can't spell or pronounce, thank goodness for del.icio.us.

Didi: a 2nd-grader, she's out on the front line, asking for email and IM accounts, selling her Barbies on eBay, creating her own online Avatar, asking for our passwords - I'm in full court press with this one, hopefully her siblings are paying attention.

Good crew - need somebody to learn HTML soon....

Local Sherriff's Departments

2006-03-29T04:21:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed around your community, local Sherriff's departments definitely have the front-line, real world perspective on Internet Safety and what's going on in the community, especially with respect to child abductions or other cyberstalking issues. In my own community, a particular Deputy has made it his mission to educate the county, school by school, on Internet Safety (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032402324.html).

He actually looks for local postings around the social networking sites like Xanga and Myspace, and then informs the schools and parents of what he finds! Pretty embarrassing for the parents of the children he points out, like the 17-yr old with drinking, partying and semi-clothed pictures well represented on her myspace site, along with her address and high school location. My wife (who runs a Computer Training and Enrichment business, at http://www.whizkidsllc.com) actually did a presentation with this Sherriff at a local PTA meeting on the subject - boy was it good conversation.

Make sure to check out your local PTA scene, or ask the Sherriff/Police Dept. if they're engaged in any community outreach - I'm sure you'd be interested in attending, they'd want you to attend, and you may even be able to help out/contribute and make their presentation even more valuable. I recently had a conversation with the head of a large volunteer Internet Safety organization, and was treated to all kinds of horror stories plus positive and negative results, mostly compliments of the local Sherriff/Police Depts who reach out for help. One interesting thing they're involved in, is the launch of yfly.com, an 'opt-in' safety-conscious social network for teens - very safe, very private, something parents could probably deal with.

New Reason to Back up Your Files!

2006-03-29T04:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a new reason I hadn't seen before to back up your personal (and business!) data - data hostage-taking. I saw this on the FBI site. Certainly you wouldn't want someone getting onto your computer and copying or taking your private data. Nor copying/taking/destroying data on a service provider of yours. But how about someone installing malicious code that simply encrypts the data, to be unlocked only if you go somewhere and provide an anonymous source and automatic payment? Seems like you'd then be in an endless loop of harrassment and blackmail, plus have identified yourself as a recurring source of revenue for the "business".

If the data was important enough, I'd be tempted to pay....when your data is copied/moved/destroyed (with no recourse), there's nothing to do but cope. In this situation, there may be some hope, so I'll bet more people than not would. If the 'business' were smart, they'd take the payment and return the goods, setting themselves up as a reputable and trustworthy (!) business partner - one that I would likely continue to pay, to get my data back. At least until I managed to control the security/privacy leak on my computer. Solution - back up your important data, or at least encrypt and hide it, with a non-descript label, somewhere inconspicuous on the hard drive. Better off, do this on removable (scanned) media.

Categorizations

2006-03-29T04:13:00.000-08:00

I've heard stories of DADS faced with Internet Safety issues from the other side of the generation gap (from children), i.e. parents. This is an extremely current and mostly underground issue, helping your family members and neighbors navigate and control the Internet-attached computer, protecting personal privacy, the computer asset itself, and blocking or filtering unwanted intrusion. Heck, I've installed PCAnywhere on my Sister and Brother-in-Law's computers to be able to "fix 'em up" remotely. Lots of trust involved there; one can certainly uncover interesting tidbits about a person's online and offline activity with unrestricted access to their computer.

This brings up the need to examine a taxonomy of sorts, by which the top level subject area "Internet Safety" (both words used as an aggregate term or idea) should probably be addressed. While "Internet" connotes online, virtual activity and information exchange, "real life" obviously intrudes and is impacted sometime by online events. "Safety" has a broad set of sub-classifications and meanings, and contexts, from your personal, physical safety to the safety of intellectual property. Perhaps we start to define the Internet Safety taxonomy (as a 'subject' classification scheme) in terms that will help guide and categorize discussion. All 'sub' categories must wholly contribute to the high-level category.

For example: Personal Internet Safety: Here's my definition of the subject category: "the knowledge domain, practices and products related to protecting one's (and those associated with) physical person, physical or intellectual property, personal relationships, personal reputation and profile from actual, perceived or unknown negative consequences caused or facilitated by events, messages, information or software involved or exchanged during the course of one's computer-based activity while attached to the Internet".

So, it's a broad area, but might not get into more specific (or broader contextual) topics such as "General Computer Maintenance", which would include a lot of things not necessarily related to Internet Safety (like optimizing your hard drive). It would include Computer Maintenance-related items such as Firewalls, Anti-Virus, etc. that are related. Note also the use of "personal" - businesses and governments have a lot to do to protect themselves on the Internet, but my focus here is on the individual first as a member of society and family (vs. an employee or business owner).

Here's an initial high-level category listing, that I'm dealing with.

· Internet Networks and Sites
· Internet Access and Control
· Safety - Personal and Private
· Safety - Physical Assets
· Safety - Public Assets or Memberships

By the way, I've started an eDocument (eBook?) series covering many details of executing the DADministration system - it'll be posted soon in various places (either free, or something like $.99 - need to start saving for college!). Other general Internet Safety information can be found at http://www.whizkidsllc.com/links.htm.

How DADS can help

2006-03-29T04:11:00.000-08:00

As a parent of 4 new users to the Internet, and a volunteer with Wiredsafety.org, I and my wife have been spending a lot of time learning and educating others in my community (Northern Virginia, USA) and school system about how to help families maintain their privacy, avoid harrassment, stop personal or automated intrusions and generally provide a safe communications and surfing environment for themselves and their children when using computing devices.

A child's access to unmoderated and unsolicited material from the Internet is typically quite easy. Whether on unsuspecting parent's computers, over their cell phone, at their friend's houses or simply on their own computers in their bedrooms, children need a lot of assistance from their parents, friends, community, school, law enforcement, local businesses and the technology industry in general in keeping them safe. There do exist many interest groups, technologies, law enforcement-supported programs, online knowledgebases and software products to help parents and businesses maintain a safe online experience for those who need it.

But there's perhaps too many things a parent or family member needs to deal with, to 'lock-down' an environment that wasn't meant to be, and probably shouldn't be, for the general public. A virtual and physical safe haven or "walled garden" can certainly be established by families, governments and businesses for their children, but it takes a lot of work and help. Us DADS can help, both ourselves and others. It starts with education. There are lots of opportunities to participate in the broader Internet Safety effort, as volunteers, parents, business owners and employees - here's where we can come up with good ideas and leverage our collective experience, interest and drive.

Let me know how you'd like this blog to develop - what topics, how much detail, what input you may have. For starters, go to www.wiredsafety.org, and poke around a bit. I think you'll be surprised and the depth and breadth of the issues, plus the kinds of resources available to help.

DADministrator online!

2006-03-29T03:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first posting of DADministrator. The blog gets into depth and detail of topics relating to managing Internet Safety for your family and loved ones. As a Father of 4 myself, with 8 computers in the house, there's a whole lot to do and not much time to do it. So organization, planning, foresight, flexibility, common sense and a little expansion of my Dad's toolbox and skillset is called for.