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.

The Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested a 38-year old Korean national hacker. He was on the list of those wanted by Interpol for large-scale internet fraud. Investigations revealed that the Korean group had hacked the servers of the country’s top telecommunication companies. Further investigations uncovered the group’s intrusion into the accounts of some private corporations.

Although the CIDG has been successful in raiding seven of the group’s illegal online casinos, the country’s capacity to counter cyber crime has not improved. There are also reports that Filipinos are being used as “e-mules” for their transnational money laundering and credit card fraud operations. It seems that these criminals can get around Philippine laws so easily that they prefer to build their refuge there than in other countries.

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.

Parents only need more education in dealing with their children’s online safety. One of the ways of implementing this is through collaboration with schools. Digital literacy can be included in the formal curriculum where parents can help a lot. Together with this is the need to strengthen the programs for parental awareness by adding resources. At the start, parents should be made aware of the risks their children are up against whenever they use the internet. This is very vital because it would be hard for parents to control their children if they don’t know where the danger lies.

Working with the schools, other institutions need to join the effort. There are charities, companies, and legislators, which have plenty of resources and expertise to share. Children cannot protect themselves from online dangers without outside help. While the internet can help them a great deal, children need the loving care of their parents in order to stay safe online.

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.

But there is now an indication that the site is being abused by some users. A parent reported how his 12-year old daughter, who uses the site, was endangered. She was receiving messages from older men that contained vulgar language. This caused him to suspect that the site is being used by some older men who are looking for sex. According to the parent, older men can fake their ages the same way and just as easily as younger children can just so that they can register on the site.

This occurrence is not entirely different from what other social networking sites have experienced. More intense efforts have to be made so that the online safety of users is not compromised. A spokesperson for the company said that the online safety of its users is taken very seriously. A monitoring team is always working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week just to keep watch. The point that needs to be stressed is that parents should take an active role in defending their children against online predators.

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.

As a family, we make sure that we talk to each other about internet privacy, especially the sharing of personal information. My writing contributions to privacy blogs helped me a lot. Because all 4 of them are using Facebook, we talked about how to set limits as to sharing of information. The girls particularly, have the tendency to upload photos without any limitations.

I have also observed that they accept “friends” who are total strangers. I reminded them to accept only those whom they really know. In truth, you cannot be sure about “knowing” somebody on a social network. Anyone can take the persona of somebody else. One way to find out the identity of a person is through their mutual friends.

For me, the most important thing that I taught them is using the ideal privacy settings. Although this cannot assure 100% freedom from privacy problems, at least they are protected to a certain degree.

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.

The problem is that the “removal” is more difficult than sharing that information in the first place. Another user, who took the initiative to remove her information from one site, was asked to give a long list of personal information. Although she wanted to get back privacy, she did not want to go through the tiresome procedure. She asked the company if she could do it in an easier and faster way. A representative said that detailed information needed to be given so that the site could remove information about the correct person.

To avoid undue privacy issues, users should check how much information about them there is on the internet. They should do an inventory of information that they have shared online. For sure, many would find out that innocent information shared many years ago is now threatening their privacy. The lesson here is that users must always be careful when giving away personal information. Everyone should be on guard because it is very difficult to regain privacy once it is threatened.

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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.

Another speculation was that the process would be seeking embarrassing photos of the applicants and would submit these to the prospective employer. It was also found out that this information was false. The process would only search photos that show acts of aggression or violence, and unlawful, discriminatory or explicit sexual activities. It is also important to understand that the company does not include photos in its reports. The only possibility of including a photo is when it falls into any of the categories that were previously mentioned.

The main objective of having this kind of background check is to reduce the chances of employers hiring individuals that could later cause legal problems. The reason is evident as to why the promoters have thought of using social media history as the hiring process. It contains such a vast amount of information that people freely share. In addition, their so-called friends can also contribute so much information about an individual. In light of all of this, social media activities can give a wealth of information that cannot be found on a job applicant’s resume.

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.

Another thing that moms should remember is to keep private what they do from sign on to sign off. There are those who brag about what they do by posting their every action. On the contrary, routine household chores are normal and should not be shared with the public. They should find happiness in doing these things without having to let the world know that they had another stressful day.

Child photos could be shared, but moms are advised to choose only the “best of” variety. What’s the point in posting 20 photographs, all of which are showing a kid crying? As mothers, every photo of their child is unique and deserves display, but they should be prudent. They should select only those truly significant pictures for friends to see.

Many moms have birthing photographs which they consider beautiful. No matter how beautiful moms believe the experience, they should not share it in a social networking setting. Posting these pictures would not give anyone more knowledge of childbirth. Instead of thinking about such an absurd idea, moms should be curious about other moms’ social networking. They may post encouraging comments about other kids. Many other moms would be elated when their children are appreciated too.

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.

It is impossible for parents to always be on hand to protect their children from online dangers, but once the family agrees on the rules, and children accept them as important for their welfare, there is a commitment to stay on the safe side. Children will know the boundaries as to which activities are relatively safe and secure.

Helpful sites have sprung up as a result of the increasing number of violations of child privacy on the internet. Parents are given tips on how to manage their children’s internet activities. There are subtle ways of intrusion that parents need to inform their children about. Parents must be quick at reminding their children to stay away from those sites that use slimy speech.

Children must be taught to be alert to the danger signs of internet sites. There are those that ask children to register, join a club, enter a contest, or fill out a questionnaire. They should understand that before doing so, parents must be notified. Parents then should be patient enough to read and understand the privacy statement of that site. They have the final say whether or not to give consent to their children.

It may take some time to work things out between parents and children when comes to internet exploration, but this is not much of a problem with those who show real concern for one another. Parents must admit that their children have to use the internet. In their school work, they need it to easily access information that would normally take a long time when going to the public library. Parenting for the internet is an emerging new facet of raising children in the information age.

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.

The site maintains a simple layout, which makes it fit in with parents’ preferences. This style eliminates the tendency of visitors to just randomly move around the page. The use of more text and less graphics adds to the seriousness of the subject that it conveys. Furthermore, it makes following the links to different areas easy by allowing the use of the back button on your browser.

For parents who want to be more “legal” about their safety agreement with their children, SafeKids.com has a Family Contract template that can be downloaded. Parents may ask their kids to fill in and sign the contract. The document can then be posted near the computer, making the contract between the parents and children more binding and enforceable.

The dangers of the internet are not difficult to avoid with proper rules for children and guidelines for parents. SafeKids.com provides these much needed resources. Parents just need to be open with their children about their concerns over their privacy and safety. The site has contact information which any concerned mom or dad can use. Start shopping for internet safety materials and give your child the protection he or she needs while enjoying the benefits of the internet.

For more information please visit www.safekids.com.

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.

Parents should see to it that they understand the privacy policy statements of the sites that their children visit. There is a need to know what information is collected and how it is used. Does the site have an option whether the child’s information can be collected? There should be no approval without reading carefully the whole of the privacy policy and terms of service. Does the site have a seal of approval? Look for this on the first page of the privacy policy. Sites with this seal are those that agree to be audited and to provide dispute resolution services.

It should be clear to children that they should never give out information that is personally identifiable. These could be home address, family information, phone number, school name, family photos and more. They should be taught that passwords must never be given to anyone. They should avoid and ignore messages that threaten, suggest, and demean, or those that make them uncomfortable.

For children that are into social networking, they should be taught that not all people who claim they are friends are telling the truth. One cannot be sure that if a child who claims that she is a 13-year old girl isn’t actually a 30-year old man. For parents to effectively guard their children, they should be knowledgeable themselves. There are parents who make the extra effort to learn to explore the internet themselves.