Strollerderby : harassment

Yet Another "Kid-Safe" Version of Facebook Launched

Kate Tuttle — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Now entering the growing market of social networking sites aimed at making parents feel like their kids are safe, safe, safe: Kidswirl. Clearly modeled on Facebook, Kidswirl won't fool your older child but might help you keep your younger kids (say, under 11) from figuring out about the real thing. It's hard to figure out, though, what the real differences are. The interface is a complete lift from Facebook -- unless they have prior legal permission, I'd bet it's likely they'll be sued soon. But the site's PR wants to assure you that it's, like, a zillion times less potentially offensive and dangerous:

The number one priority of the site is KID SAFETY! As a result, we have blocked all bad language, inappropriate and suggestive phrases, and any other word usage that is requested by the parents and users.

So, what if some parents request that word usage like "trans-kid" or "gay teen" is blocked? How "safe" is the space then? Is profanity itself dangerous to kids, and if so, how? I'm pretty sure bullying and harrassment (the main sources of danger to kids online as well as offline) don't require profanity to work.

And what about the other danger so frequently cited in pleas for more kid-safe online spaces -- that of creepy adults who would want to interact with kids online? As much as the research I've read indicates this is a tiny, tiny problem, I actually can't tell whether Kidswirl provides real safety from it -- I just signed up and got an account and all of a sudden my newsfeed features updates from dozens of real live kids who I don't know! And I can see their entire profiles! As a mother who actually doesn't find the online world any more dangerous than the offline one, even I find this a bit troubling.

Bottom line: if you think protecting your kids from "bad words" is among your highest parental duties, Kidswirl is for you. Otherwise, maybe you should do what the experts suggest: talk to your kids about how to manage their online relationships, make sure you understand what they're doing and set appropriate limits, and more than anything, listen to them. It's kids themselves, not grownup marketing types, who can really educate parents about what's going on in their worlds, virtual and real.

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Prank Calls, 21st-Century Style

Amy S.F. Lutz — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:08:00 GMT

Ah, the prank phone call. A rite of passage, some would argue. Even my mom remembers making prank calls when she was a kid. She and her friends would call local stationery stores to inquire about a particular brand of tobacco: "Do you have 'Prince Edward' in a can?" they would ask. When the clerk would answer in the affirmative, they would scream, "Then let him out!"

Too bad my mom didn't have the technology available today, like www.itellas.com. For $25 a month, users can make unlimited prank calls, using a voice changer to disguise their voices. Men can be made to sound like women, and vice-versa. Naturally, the website also blocks caller ID.

But, as a Pennsylvania woman recently discovered, these amazing advances don't amount to a free pass to say, make over 20 obscene calls to the same person. The police department - which obviously has some clever technology of its own - tracked down Joy Freeland and arrested her for harassment. She was charged with a misdemeanor.

This is one of those situations my husband, a libertarian, and I argue about all the time. I'll say something like, "Gee, it's hard to imagine anyone using this service who doesn't have some obnoxious purpose in mind. I wonder why the authorities can't shut it down." And he'll accuse me of being some kind of big-government-loving communist intent on destroying our free-market economy.

Fine. Let's see if he changes his tune once I join itellas and call him on his busy trading desk 20 times a day, asking, in my unrecognizable computer-distorted voice, "Is your refrigerator running? Then go on out and catch it!"