The Famundo Blog

Kidsafe.com

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Sat, 27 May 2006 04:27:00 GMT

Here is a new web site that calls itself the “Ultimate Parenting Resource Website” Kidsafe.com is a product of Children’s Educational Network(CEN).

CEN also makes a kid safe browser Tuki geared towards kids ages 4 through 10.

If anyone has used this, we’d appreciate your feedback. .

As I mentioned, this web site is new so there isn’t a lot of information or posts yet, but as I’ve said many times, we parents can use all the help we can get. Kidsafe is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

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ChatChecker for Home Users

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Thu, 18 May 2006 11:34:00 GMT

I wrote about ChatChecker an Instant Message monitoring application in an earlier post.

Imbrella Software has now released a home version that allows the monitoring of one computer for FREE.

Posted in Internet Safety, Setting Limits | 2 comments | no trackbacks

Online social networking for kids

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 17 May 2006 02:09:00 GMT

Following the lead of MySpace, FaceBook and other social networking sites, YippeeKids has just unveiled what they claim is the internet’s first online safe place for children.

According to their press release:

YippeeKids.com, is the first online social networking community built to protect children ages 5 to 12 from online predators. Multiple layers of protection include ID verification of parents, parent-only accounts, monitored live chat rooms, monitored live help for kids and parents as well as other internal technology based filtering solutions. Parents are able to monitor their children’s activities within the YippeeNet community. Included are community pages viewed, login and logout times, email sent and received and their children’s profiles, blogs, online photos, calendars and friends. Children and parents have access to 24/7 live chat support monitored by YippeeKids employees. Live Chat rooms are available for children to use on the YippeeKids community. Chat rooms are monitored live in real time by YippeeKids employees during chat room hours to ensure a safe experience.

The goal of YippeeKids is to keep children safe, informed, empowered and entertained with parents involved and in control.

There isn’t a lot of information about the company, FAQ, or even a trial period, so it’s hard to get a real feel for the program without signing up for the $4.95 monthly membership.

If anyone has any insight into YippeeKids.com, please let us know.

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Don't Believe the Type

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 03 May 2006 02:01:00 GMT

I just saw an ad on TV for this cybersafety website where teens can learn about online dangers and how to make the web a safer place to surf.

It is sponsored by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Looks like a great resource.

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Internet Filtering

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:14:00 GMT

With internet filtering becoming a greater concern there are a number of solutions out there that claim to be the answer.

I’ve tried a number of the software solutions available, but I haven’t found one yet that doesn’t slow down the machine and require an annual fee.

I heard about a new product on a local radio technology show that might be a great solution. It is called iBoss from Phantom Technologies. It is actually a hardware device that sits in between your modem and your computer.

I haven’t tried it out, but will report back when I have. If anyone has tried the iBoss, or knows of another solution, please let us know.

Posted in Internet Safety, Setting Limits, Technology | no comments | no trackbacks

Instant Messaging

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:03:00 GMT

Instant messaging, along with text messaging, has become one of the social communication modes of choice for a large number of today’s teens and pre-teens. While banning it entirely may be impractical, if not impossible, it is important for your child to understand its proper use and etiquette as specified by your family or school rules, and that abuse of these rules may result in the restriction if not banishment of its use.

How to monitor its use is an ongoing dilemma. Some instant messaging services do have archiving features but others, including one of the most popular, AIM, do not (at least as far as I have been able to discover).

One solution I found is a product called IMbrella ChatChecker Pro. Priced at $49.99, ChatChecker installs on YOUR PC and lets you remotely monitor, block or record instant messaging on 2 other PC’s in your home or small office. No one will know how their IM is being checked and it will never stop working until you shut it off!

IMbrella ChatChecker will allow parents to: • Check up to 3 PCs (including the PC it’s installed on)

• Record or block all AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Trillian and ICQ conversations

• Set up special time windows for permitted IM use

• Discover inappropriate or sexual content

• Search messages by keyword and date

• See live messages as they occur in real time

• Block harmful viruses hidden in IM file transfers

• Reveal both sides Instant Messages

• Save conversations for 30 days

If there are any other solutions that anyone knows of, please let us know.

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Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:33:00 GMT

Parents should be aware that there are laws relating to the practice of collecting information on children under the age of 13.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, was enacted by the Federal Trade Commission in 2000 and states that websites directed to children must put a link to its privacy policy in a “clear and prominent” place on the home page and at every area on the website where children are asked to provide personal information.

The privacy policy must be written in a manner so that an average person can understand it and must explain what types of personal information are collected, how it is collected, and how the website will use the information. It also needs to tell the visitor whether the website gives the personal information to anyone else. If so, the policy must identify the third parties and tell the visitor how the third parties will in general use the information.

For additional information on COPPA and resources on protecting children on the internet, please visit the FTC’s Kidz Privacy website

Famundo would like to assure you that your family’s privacy is a extremely important to us. We are fully COPPA compliant and have made sure that our website and privacy policies clearly outline how your information is used.

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My Space

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Tue, 17 Jan 2006 23:47:00 GMT

The online service Myspace.com and other similar social networking services have become a hot topic of discussion at our school recently. So hot that that our headmaster school has forbidden any of the students to have their own MySpace page.

I had heard about Myspace.com but wasn’t really familiar with it, so I started to investigate Myspace.com for myself.

What I found out is that our school is not alone in raising these concerns. For an idea as to what others are saying take a look at this article from The Seattle Times or this one from USAToday .

All parents are concerned about their child’s safety on the internet and it seems that everyday there are new enticements to lure our young ones into this Pandora’s Box. This isn’t by accident as is evident from this article in Wired .

One website that seems to be a very good resource for internet safety tips is WiredSafety.com . Run by Parry Aftab, cyberspace privacy and security lawyer and children’s advocate, has a wealth of tips and advice on cyber safety, instant messaging and cell phone use by children. One thing that is very important is that each family decide for themselves what their family guidelines should be. Please check it out.

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