Age restrictions and privacy policies protect youth

by Sue Scheff: Both age restrictions and privacy policies are put in place for our protection and the protection of the young. The issue: • A PEW Research poll recently found that half of Americans who spend time online don’t know what a privacy policy is. •...

Online safety is not just 'about life’

One of the sessions at the Family Online Safety Institute conference that was held in Washington last November focused on re-defining online safety. During the session, a couple of smart people suggested that we should drop the word “online” from online safety and...

A YouTube for the littlest video viewers

By Anne Collier Think of YouTube Kids as digital training wheels for the little video viewers at your house – something a lot of parents have been wanting for a very long time. We all know how popular but not always appropriate YouTube is for kids. Problem...

Banning Yik Yak from colleges is counterproductive

No doubt about it: There are some vile posts on Yik Yak and other social media platforms. But just because some people use these platforms to intimidate and spread hate is not justification to ban them from college campuses — Instead, people should (and often...

'Tread carefully' before regulating Internet of Things

I was not surprised to learn that the Senate is looking into the Internet of Things. Senators are concerned about safety, privacy and security issues now that the tech industry is focusing on ways to connect devices to the Internet and to each other. There are just...