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I caught CNET Editor at Large Brian Cooley on the CBS Evening News report last night, "The Secret Lives of Teens." In the second installment of this three-parter, which featured a tug-of-war between a daughter and her mother concerned about her risky online behavior, Cooley observed that, "This is just the return of the Cold War, with different players. Instead of the U.S. and Russia, it's Mom and Dad versus Joey and Bill." Cooley talked about parental control technology but added that, "In the end, this points back to the parenting relationship, and it moves away from technology when you really have to make a difference in their lives...you cannot rely on software."

I agree with Cooley's conclusion. Online safety for teens is a complex issue that cannot be covered in one blog post, but the CBS Evening News series gave me a lot of food for thought. They posed the question, is parental spying on teen Internet use an "invasion of privacy or smart parenting?" and I wish the CBS series had given more consideration to the possibility that digital spying is a misguided parenting practice.

Teens may be reacting with horror to the idea that Facebook is now open to everybody, so their parents may be showing up to butt into their social network.

I find myself on the other side of that equation, wondering "Why would I bother joining Facebook?" Fast Company recently discussed Facebook's growth, noting that "60 percent of the site's users are not in college networks, and the fastest-growing demographic is 25 and over." I had to laugh a bit at the broad swath covered by this statistic. Age 25 is a relatively recent college grad who is probably experiencing social networking as part of their peer experience.

As for those of use who are over age 30...well, let's say that no matter how wired we are, we did not exactly make a seamless transition from a yearbook to Facebook.

No doubt, parenting has changed in the Internet Age, and a new study tries to reflect on how mom and dad are dealing with it.

Proving that parents are tackling new issues, a majority of those surveyed (roughly 400 parents in the United States) said that in the last year they've had an "Internet-related issue" with their child, according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive for the nonprofits Common Sense Media and Cable in the Classroom (PDF). At least half of the parents reported that their child was exposed to advertising or commercialism online; a third of parents said the Internet sucks too much of their child's time; and a quarter said that the Web prevented their child from exercising. The results of the study, which was conducted in August, were released Tuesday.

One in four parents said their child was exposed to either adult content, violent material or coarse language online. One in five parents said the Web takes away from homework.

That aside, adults who are active in their kids' online activities tend to look on the bright side of how the Internet helps instead of hurts. The majority of parents--85 percent--have talked to their kids about how to be safe online in the past year, and 93 percent have taken some action to ensure their protection or to approve visited sites. (Yet only one in four parents of children ages 6 to 10 have talked to them about online safety, despite more kids getting online at younger ages.) An overwhelming majority of parents said that the Web has helped their child learn new skills, discover different cultures, express themselves creatively, socialize better and get information that helps them succeed in school.

"The results suggest that most parents balance the Web's dangers and benefits--they talk to their kids about the issues they encounter and work to make the Web a helpful tool," Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer said in a statement.

AT&T confirmed Monday that it has suspended a new service that lets parents limit usage on their kids' cell phones after the company realized that there was a potential issue with 911 emergency services.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that the "Smart Limits" service, which was launched on September 4, has been temporarily suspended. Smart Limits is a new parental control service that allows parents to restrict phone calls to and from their kids' phones during certain times of day. This feature allowed parents to limit or block cell phone use on their children's cell phone during school hours, for example.

Even when call restrictions are in effect, the service still allows phones to reach 911 operators. But during a routine review of the service, AT&T discovered that if restricted users were disconnected during their 911 call, that the 911 operator was blocked from calling back the phone.

The company has said that it isn't aware of any specific incidents where this has occurred, but it has suspended the service until a resolution can be worked out. Parents who subscribed to the service were credited the $4.99 monthly charge. But they are still able to use other parental control features as part of the service, such as setting restrictions on the mobile Web or downloadable content.

"The service was very well received by customers in the first few weeks it was available," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel. "But the safety and security of our customers comes first. We plan to reintroduce the service as quickly as we possibly can."

The battle between parents, school, and teens over cell phones involves many levers to push and pull. Now AT&T has added a new twist: for $4.99 per month per line, parents can add on customized controls through the new "Smart Limits" service. Phone options include limiting talk time, text messages, instant messages, and Web content and downloads.

Teens naturally balk at the idea of limits, but there are many advantages to making these controls available.

English company is considering adding satellite tracking devices to its line of school uniforms.

(Credit: Trutex)

Parents already have a way to monitor kids' phone calls and text messages, and soon they might have the means to track children wearing school uniforms.

An English manufacturer of uniforms is considering adding satellite tracking devices to its line of school clothing so that parents can locate their child's whereabouts at all times, according to an article from the Daily Telegraph in Australia. The manufacturer, Lancashire-based Trutex, believes there is a demand for such clothing. In a recent survey of its own, the company found that 59 percent of 800 parents surveyed were interested in buying uniforms with embedded Global Positioning Systems.

Still, it seems unlikely that a teenager would willingly wear a GPS-laced outfit. According to the article, only half of kids 12 and under (who were surveyed) said that they wouldn't mind wearing the clothes.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the nonprofit that last year earmarked $50 million toward the study of kids and digital media, said Tuesday that it will set aside some of that money for an innovation competition.

The Chicago-based foundation plans to award as much as $2 million for ideas and technologies related to digital media and learning. The contest has two categories: innovation in new digital environments for informal learning, with prizes of $100,000 or $250,000; and networking in education, with awards worth as much as $75,000.

"We do not yet know how much people are changing because of digital media, but we hope that this competition will help support the most innovative thinking about learning, the formation of ethical judgments, peer mentoring, creativity, and civic participation, all of which are increasingly conducted online," MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton said in a statement.

The Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC), a network of educators based partially at Duke University, will administer the competition. Cathy Davidson, co-founder of HASTAC, said that kids' social lives and education are increasingly intertwined, and educators need to catch up quickly.

"We are already teaching a generation of students who do not remember a time before they were online," Davidson said. "These students bring fascinating new skills to our classrooms, but they also bring an urgent need for critical thinking about the digital world they have inherited and are shaping."

Applications are due Oct. 15, and the winners will be announced in January 2008.

Download a photo screensaver, and potentially save a missing child. That's the message from the child-safety group behind the Amber Alert system.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) released in the last week a "Missing Kid Saver," downloadable software for people running most Windows operating systems. The application will draw on idle computer power to display updated news, information and photos on missing or abducted children from the NCMEC.

The software is opt-in, and it takes a page from the nonprofit's wireless initiative, in which people sign up to get Amber Alerts via cell phone. In contrast to the Amber program, which typically reports on new missing children cases, the screensaver delivers a continuous news feed on cases that are both new and older. (The application was developed by Pennsylvania-based Global Software Applications.)

The nonprofit hopes that the screensaver will buoy efforts to find more of the nearly 800,000 kids who are reported missing each year in the United States, according to Bob O'Brien, executive director at NCMEC. "We're offering this new tool because we know that photos work. In fact, one in six of the children featured in our photo distribution effort is recovered as a direct result of the photo."

The first time I saw Education.com a few weeks ago, I immediately thought I was looking at a work of genius.

With articles titled "Getting Your Pre-Kindergartener Ready to Read" and "Scientists Say Kids Need More Video Games" the site hones right in on the fears and anxieties of the modern parent. "Look. An article on 4H programs. I think that'd be a good way to round out the extracurricular activities." "Is there any information on a home spectroscopy system for trans fats testing?"

I know this target audience. I am one of them. They are compulsive readers and spenders and rarely stop worrying about finding enough constructive activities for their kids. (Contrast that to my own childhood, where you could drink Fresca and light things on fire.) The ad potential reaches to the sky.

The site is part of an effort to revitalize the tech education market, says Mike Kwatinetz, a general partner at venture firm Azure Capital. Kwatinetz incubated the site and has been investing in other education companies. (Disclosure: I drew my conclusions about the site weeks before I met Kwatinetz or knew he had anything to do with the company. I went to his office as part of a meet-n-greet tour I'm doing with various VCs.)

The push into education is driven by two factors. First, like a lot of people in Silicon Valley, Kwatinetz has strong opinions about the decline of the U.S. school system.

"Our country is on the wrong path. We are under-investing in education," he said.

Second, there's a mismatch between customer demand and what tech companies are selling. Over the past 25 years, the reasons people buy PCs haven't changed: Most consumers buy PCs to help their kids in school. Kwatinetz was a PC analyst for various investment banks in the '80s and '90s and says that motive has rarely varied.

Entrepreneurs, however, have steadily lost interest in education. The first stroke came with the collapse of the software channel. Education titles did better when software stores existed. Now, these titles have to compete for shelf space against games at big-box retailers and superstores. Retail staffers aren't taught how to sell the products.

On the Web, there are scattered sites with educational features, but social networking and games have been bigger draws.

So far, Kwatinetz says, he's happy with the response the site has received. Interestingly, half of the hits are coming from India, China and the U.K. The next challenge will be how to introduce features like social networking and expand the advertising base without alienating parents. The site will also try to bring in more content from research universities and possibly host forums with professors on child development, etc.

"We expect within two years to be in the millions of uniques a month," he said.

Azure is also trying to revitalize Knowledge Adventure, the "edutainment" software company that got spun out of Vivendi. The company recently updated both its Jumpstart and Mathblaster titles. Expect to see two bundling deals with major PC companies for Knowledge Adventure in the fall, Kwatinetz said.

Knowledge Adventure also persuaded John Lithgow to serve as a narrator of a title called Books for You, where 8-year-olds (and up) can create books. Lithgow, Kwatinetz added, took less than his usual fee.

Coming up with a hit in this market may not be easy. Knowledge Adventure, after all, was a much bigger company years ago. If Education.com takes off, it will be sure to spawn imitators.

Nonetheless, the arguments Kwatinetz makes for education investing seem to make sense. And others are jumping in as well. One of the big surprises this year at the Think Tomorrow Today conference sponsored by investment bank ThinkEquity Partners was the unusual number of educational companies.

Educational companies appearing at the conference included Brightside Academy (child care centers), Experiencia (immersive learning programs), Flashpoint (digital media arts colleges), The Savvy Source for Parents (social network for families on things like preschool and summer camp) and SchoolNet (school performance management systems).

So something seems to be up.