Blog topic: Protect Kids Online

A Toolkit by Any Other Name

If you’ve come to OnGuardOnline.gov looking for the Stop.Think.Connect. Toolkit, look no further than the Net Cetera Community Outreach Toolkit. That’s right: It’s one toolkit with two names, which might seem strange, but there’s a method to our madness.
 

Prepping Kids to Go Online? Send Them to the Mall.

Kids have busy lives. To keep up, they may begin spending time online: creating profiles, sharing photos, chatting with friends. The freedom to socialize on the go is great, but there are some risks, too.

New Research: Parents Matter

For years, the Pew Internet and American Life Project has been doing high-quality research on the online experience. Now, in Pew’s most recent study, “Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites,” researcher Amanda Lenhart takes a close look at teenagers’ experiences on social networks. 

All Cookies Are Not Created Equal

Today, the FTC announced a settlement with ScanScout, a video ad network that uses cookies to track people’s online browsing and deliver targeted ads to them. This is the first FTC settlement addressing a company’s use of flash cookies to track people’s online behavior.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

In October 2009, the Federal Trade Commission and OnGuardOnline.gov released the first edition of Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online, a guide to help parents and other adults talk to kids about being safe, secure, and responsible online.

From Georgia to Maryland to Washington, school districts across the country requested thousands of copies of the booklet. In fact, in just two years, the FTC distributed 9.5 million free copies in English and Spanish to schools, libraries, local and national conferences, law enforcement offices and other community groups.

A Revealing P2P App

What would you think of millions of people having the ability to download the pictures and videos on your smartphone, or copy documents from your tablet computer, without your even realizing it?

If that sounds like a problem, you might want to take a look at the FTC’s just-announced settlement with a peer-to-peer (or P2P) file-sharing software developer. The company, Frostwire, offers free P2P file-sharing applications for Android devices and desktop and laptop computers.

FTC Testifies on Protecting Children Online

The Federal Trade Commission today told a House Subcommittee that it is committed to protecting children online, and that the agency recently proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule to make sure the Rule keeps pace with fast-changing technology.

October Is National Cyber Security Awareness Month

The digital revolution has enabled us to connect to the internet virtually anywhere at any time. Even when we are not directly connected, the internet supports our everyday lives through our financial transactions, transportation networks, emergency response systems, personal communication and more. This reliance on the internet will only continue to increase as technology advances and access to the internet expands. To maximize the potential of a digital society, we must protect the resources that make it possible.

Proposed Changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule took effect more than a decade ago — a lifetime in tech years. That's why the FTC asked for feedback on whether developments in the online world warranted changes to the Rule.

Zap Acne with Your Smartphone? Your Phone’s Not That Smart

We use mobile apps to order dinner, organize our to-do lists, check the forecast, and relax with a quick game. Could an app that treats acne be the next step?

Not likely. Marketers who advertised that their apps – AcneApp and Acne Pwner – could treat acne have agreed to stop making this baseless claim to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission. According to the FTC complaint, marketers claimed that people using their apps simply had to hold the phone’s display screen next to the affected area of skin as colored lights treated the acne.

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