The Philippines needs to move quickly on the approval of the cyber crime laws that would effectively deter organized crime syndicates. It was disclosed by a top Philippine National Police (PNP) official that the country appears to be a favorite sanctuary for this breed of criminal. These groups have been involved in cyber pornography, illegal online gambling, cyber sex dens, credit card fraud, and identity theft. The official said that criminals are taking advantage of the “weak laws and poor technical know-how of law enforcers”.

A report said that cyber crime mafias, who are mostly foreigners, are gradually making the Philippines their base of operations. According to the top official, the PNP at present has no organizational and technical capability to fight cyber crimes. These syndicates use sophisticated technology, while law enforcers fall behind in terms of training and equipment. In fact, he said he has asked for support for immediate organizational and technical capability in order to build-up the concerned unit.

The arrest of a foreign national hacker in the country exposed the wide network of cyber crime. There are mafias working behind the operations of illegal online gambling and credit card fraud activities in the country. The operations of these groups seem unhampered as evidenced by the fast growth of their connections.

We know that young children need to be protected online, but who should take responsibility over their safety? Parents and government have always been trying to find answers to these questions. In the middle of controversies about online safety for children, the fact remains that there is a need to safeguard them. Children enjoy too much freedom in today’s internet technology. They can gain online access from anywhere – at home, on the street, or in the schools. This exposes children to possible harm because of their fascination in interacting with the technology.

Participants in a free discussion, mostly between concerned groups, shared various observations. One research result showed that 60% of 12- to 15-year-old children use the internet on their own. This leads them to the internet’s prime danger – exposure to pornography. Their inquisitiveness could start with access to sites that show offensive images. They would then start to explore for more images, until they become addicted to pornographic sites.

This age group of children is the most susceptible to risks and they need to be protected. At the same time, these children need to use the internet to make use of the huge abundance of knowledge that it offers. To solve this problem, children should follow some regulations in their interaction with the online world. It appears that parents have the best qualifications as delegates of regulation over their own children. Complicated online safety technology for children can never replace the parents’ authority.

Social networking sites are always looking for ways to offer new features and services. There is a competition in giving better online experiences to their users. From time to time, controversies arise about privacy issues, which have always been resolved. Facebook, Twitter and Google+1 are very popular sites and were created to cater to all groups of users. Almost anybody, regardless of age, can make friends with anyone else and from anywhere in the world.

MyYearbook is a relatively new social networking site that is now gaining wide popularity among teens. This site was created for teens ages 13 and up who want to meet new friends online. Its creators were two high school students, brother and sister David and Catherine Cook, and started in 2005. The two asked the help of their older brother, Geoff to help them with their project. This site was finally launched at Montgomery High School, which was the school they attended.

It is not easy for parents to set rules on internet use for children when they themselves do not know about the dangers of its irresponsible use. They have to first educate themselves about the internet’s positive and negative effects on children. This will enable them to set clear and attainable rules on their children’s internet activities. In essence, children should be conscious about the limits of the kinds of sites that they could visit, online decorum, length of internet use, data that can be shared online, etc.

Each of my four children is using the internet. I have teenage girls, aged 14 to 18, who use it mainly for research but also for social networking. The fourth one, an 11-year old boy, is fond of playing online games and other applications. My eldest daughter was 14 years old when she was first exposed to the online community. That was when our family had its first access to the internet through a dial-up connection. Her first activities were done mostly out of curiosity, until she discovered the opportunities of research and the joy of social networking.

I could say that my having more knowledge of the internet than my children was an advantage. It put me in the right position to manage their online activities. As I reflect, I can say that the most demanding area of control among my children is for them to set limits on their time of use. Social networking and online gaming can be addicting to most children their ages and it is very difficult for children to say “stop” once they get hooked on these.

There is a continuing increase in the number of data breaches. With this development, more users realize that they themselves are to be blamed for it. They readily share information online without thinking about its results. Many users were surprised to find out that many sites “knew” too much about them. They wondered how this happened, but then later admitted that they shared that information some time ago. Now, they want to regain their privacy, but they have to face the reality that it is difficult.

Only now did they know that every time they are online, there are third parties watching their online behavior. There are online marketers, game developers and search engines, working for their own purpose. They only agree on one common thing – they are collecting as much information as they can from every online user. This useful information can provide third parties with lots of money, but users are not aware of this.

One user was very surprised to find that he has uploaded so much personal information. He did a simple search about himself on one site. He could not imagine where the site got his address, knew about his household members and food preferences. Other users are becoming more aware of this, so they want to regain control over their own identities. They believe that the best solution is removing their information from the internet.

If you are one of those social media buffs who mindlessly share information, then you’d better start thinking about what you are doing. Chances are that you have uploaded some sensitive information that might cause you to be denied future employment. Those online mistakes that were innocently done can actually harm you. How painful would it be that when the time comes, what you once thought of as just a game could cost you a good job. You’d better start being careful.

At first this matter was seen as another privacy issue, so it started another clamor of media hypes and criticisms. There were those who were scared knowing that their social media activities could pin them down. Speculations emerged here and there, but it turned out that most of those were wrong. What is the issue under such scrutiny? The FTC has given one company the authority to run background checks on job applicants using their internet and social media history!

These background checks would be done on job applicants without their consent. Employers can put in a request for a report of the search done on job applicants through the authorized company. This report would tell whether the applicants “PASSED” or “FAILED”, as a result of what the search found in their social media files. It is clear that the speculation circled around the previous report that the authorized company stores seven years’ worth of social media data. However, the truth is that it only looks at up to seven years of the applicants’ history and stores nothing.

Users of all ages have been infected by the social media craze, and there’s one interesting topic that deals with social media rules for new moms. Babble.com has suggested some rules of etiquette that parents are encouraged to follow when it comes to their posting. These rules specifically deal with the use of some information about their children. New moms in particular have the habit of sharing anything that they consider as their child’s highlight or happy moment.

These moms don’t have any idea that posting these pictures could involve privacy issues. They would unconsciously share their child’s photos and other activities on a social network. While this could be safe to some degree, Babble.com recommends that parents be cautious when doing so. Rules have been given for sharing information because some of this information could cause some questions on etiquette and privacy.

Moms should be extra careful not to share details about their babies’ bathroom habits. There is no way to tell the story in a manner so that it would appear in good taste. The truth remains that they are posting something ridiculous. Moms should not join those who poison the web with trash content.

Children cannot help but be fascinated with the vast resources that they encounter on the internet. About 90% of school age children have access to the internet either at school or at home. With this accessibility, children have become so skilled that they can search many different sites. However, they forget that there are privacy and safety issues to think about. Internet surfing is different from going to the park where you see different things without anything to worry about.

Parents fear that the more their children explore, the more they are prone to encounter online criminals. Children below 18 years old are most vulnerable to this. They have become very careless about giving out important personal information. They believe it is normal for them to submit personal data to websites. They give no second thought to uploading photos, posting comments, giving out their email and/or home addresses, and other personal information.

It is important that parents get personally involved with their children’s internet activities. Child privacy on the internet works well only when parents make an effort to keep them safe. When children understand that their parents only want to protect them, then internet exploration becomes family time. Children will welcome their parents as allies rather than as intruders. This way, parents have firsthand information about which sites their children get into and the dangers they can encounter.

SafeKids.com is here to calm your fears about internet safety and to provide advice on how kids can stay safer online. As one of the oldest internet safety sites, SafeKids.com has been building good relationships between parents and children regarding online experiences for quite a long time. It contains a lot of important information that parents need to know when it comes to keeping kids safe on the internet.

Technology journalist Larry Magid created and founded this very useful site. He is known for his outstanding work and contributions, one of which being the 1994 brochure “Child Safety on the Information Highway”. His online safety articles have helped parents to keep their child’s online activities relatively safe.

Online safety of children has been the focus of SafeKids.com. This issue is mainly the concern of parents, but also concerns children. The site recognizes the fear felt by parents, and it addresses this by providing articles that give good advice. Topics range from safe search, safety tools, safety guides, social networking privacy tools, and more.

Children of today have access to the internet, which is full of opportunities they can discover and explore every day. They can find new ideas, online friends, challenging frontiers, and a lot more. All these are accessible to them anytime, and to some, anywhere. There are times when they become so engrossed with what they are doing that it results in mindless exploration. This exposes them to the dangers of the virtual world, much like the real world.

Parents should not forget their responsibility of maintaining the online privacy of their children. Only very few websites do not collect personal information from children. Information is gathered in various ways, depending on the purpose. Most often, web sites ask them to register, join a club or enter a contest, fill out a questionnaire, and others. Having this information, web sites can use it to identify a person and make something more out of it. Children become innocent targets of advertisements, or they end up on a customer list and become commodities of data marketing.

Children will always be easy targets of privacy invasion in the virtual world. It is a fact that technology-based solutions are not sufficient to put an end to this problem. Only parents and guardians can provide the best guard against privacy exploitation of children. Parents should not be too permissive of their children’s online activities. This starts with parents spending time with their children and actually seeing their online activities.