Safe and Secure

Safer Internet Day focuses on Net safety for families

Larry Magid — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 PST

Today is the ninth annual Safer Internet Day, a European initiative designed to "make the Internet a safer and better place."

Mostly good news about kids online, study finds

Larry Magid — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:01:24 PST

Research shows that unwanted sexual requests and unwanted exposure to pornography have declined, but there's a slight increase in reports of online harassment.

Facebook throws potentially suicidal users a Lifeline

Larry Magid — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:34:41 PST

Facebook announced today that it's working with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on a program designed to help save lives.

The new service will enable Facebook users to click on a link and be taken to a page where they can enter into a live chat with a suicide …

Man behind XXX domains says they'll help parents protect kids

Larry Magid — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:29:34 PST

After years of being debated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), .XXX was approved earlier this year and is now a reality. Approximately 100,000 XXX domains are going live on Tuesday.

The new top level domains (TLD) are not without controversy. Some free speech advocates …

Sexting far less prevalent than previously reported

Larry Magid — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:15:00 PST

A study published in Pediatrics finds that only about 1 percent of teens have sent nude or sexually explicit images of themselves to others, which is far fewer than some studies have suggested.

Most kids who break 'Internet house rules' have bad experiences

Larry Magid — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:30:00 PST

A 24-country study conducted by Symantec found that 82 percent of kids who've broken "Internet house rules" have experienced something negative online." That compares to 52 percent of kids who "follow house rules."

More than six in 10 (62 percent) of kids reported that they have had a negative …

Online bullying: Still way less common than in real life

Larry Magid — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:00:00 PST

In fact, a new study reports that teens mostly find their peers being "kind to one another" on social networks.

Survey: Many parents help kids lie to get on Facebook

Larry Magid — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:00:00 PDT

A significant chunk of those millions of underage Facebook users are on the social network with their parents' blessing, according to a new survey.

Study: Youth social media use relates to free speech support (podcast)

Larry Magid — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:39:21 PDT

A study conducted by the Knight Foundation has found that "students who use social networking daily to get news and information" are more likely to agree that 'people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions'," than those who don't use social networks. And the more kids use social network,

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Originally posted at For the Record Podcast

Cyberbullying 101: Fact vs. fiction (podcast)

Larry Magid — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:00:21 PDT

A great deal has been said and written about cyberbullying, but not all of it is true. As Cyberbullying Research Center co-director Justin Patchin said in an interview recently, it's "a concern that we need to take very seriously," but "it's certainly not an epidemic."

Cyberbullying, said Patchin, …