Why Identity Protection for Kids Matters
Posted by: ID Guardian on March 31, 2010
People blog. That may sound like an obvious statement, but it is worth repeating. From TheFutureBuzz blog, the statistics from the beginning of 2009 were as follows:
- 133,000,000 blogs were indexed by Technorati (a search engine specific to searching blogs) since 2002
- 346,000,000 people globally read blogs (from comScore March 2008)
- An average of 900,000 blog posts went live in a 24-hour period
- 77% of active Internet users read blogs
- 81 languages are represented in the blogosphere.
- 59% of bloggers have been blogging for at least 2 years
One statistic that is absent but TheStatesman.com found worth noting is that, according to research firm Nielsen Online, “women ages 25 to 54 with at least one child now account for 19.2% of the active online population.” These women are part of the influential community within the community referred to as “Mommy Bloggers”.
TheStatesman.com also reports that “…it’s tough to determine how many mom bloggers are actually out there. In 2005, Technorati estimated there were about 8,500 blogs where parents were writing about their kids. Now [in 2009], the number is certainly larger, but hard to ascertain because so-called mommy blogs (and daddy blogs, too) are classified as something else (craft blogs, coupon blogs, product review blogs).” While their numbers may be hard to pin down, their influence is clear. (Just ask Motrin following a failed 2008 “viral ad” campaign.) Currently in 2010, it can be expected that more moms and dads will enter the blogosphere or some other Social Media outlet (Facebook, podcasting, Twitter, etc.) to join a community of parents working together to raise their children.
What is alarming, though, are the instances when parents reveal too much information about their child and their lifestyles. A recent article in The Washington Post reported that 8% of Twitter users were teens, while comScore reported that the average user on Twitter is between the ages of 45-54. This insinuates that while the younger generation isn’t actively tweeting, updating their Facebook statuses, or blogging about their week, their parents may very well be, and in the process revealing the name of their school, their current whereabouts (soccer game, basketball game, etc.), or even more alarming, their names and names of friends. What may appear as innocuous details on the surface is a treasure trove of information that, at the very least, identity thieves can get a hold of and exploit. Perhaps we wouldn’t want to consider the worst case scenarios, but these scenarios are undeniable and slightly frightening truths that should not be dismissed.
By no means, though, are we endorsing or suggesting that mommy or daddy bloggers stop posting, that parental podcasters shut down their productions and delete their various accounts across social networks, or that children be quarantined from technology. What we do suggest are a few things to make your online communities and communications safer and stronger:
- Avoid using you child’s name online. When you are in a discussion online or putting together a commentary on a current issue, try to refer to your child by a code name. (Superhero names are particularly fun.) Do not punish yourself or others for the occasional slip, but do ask that close friends adhere to these code names when online.
- Disable GPS Location services when attending school or family events. It’s been a hot topic across the Internet. From the New York Times to CBS to this very blog, the debate over how much information is too much information continues. When sharing your status with social networks, keep places and events broad and generic. You can still share a picture of your son or daughter attending the event, but avoid posting coordinates or checking in with location-based vendors. Instead, post a photo and say “At my daughter’s concert. I’m so very proud of her.” That will convey the same message and carry the same sentiment without sharing your exact whereabouts.
- Keep your child’s computer in a high traffic location of the house. We have to take precautions with tools like computers, and accept that while kids know how they work, they may not grasp how vulnerable they can make themselves when going online. By placing a computer or laptop in an open area of your house, you can monitor your child’s online whereabouts. This includes:
- Chat rooms
- Forums
- Online shopping
While some (including “tweens” and teens 13-15 years old) may look at this as “spying” keep these statistics in mind:
- One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information. (Crimes Against Children Research Center)
- 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. (eMarketer)
- 77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older. Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13. (Crimes Against Children Research Center)
And to keep in mind at all times…
- Only 1/3 of households with Internet access are actively protecting their children with filtering or blocking software. (Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
You aren’t spying. You’re being a responsible parent.
- Understand How the “Wonder Widget” Works. Part of being a responsible parent also means getting a grasp at what “cool tech” is out there and how it works. This is probably the most difficult aspect of parenting as kids’ interests change almost as quickly as technology itself. (And usually, something is considered “uncool” when Mom and Dad figure it out.) However, it is a good idea if you know your child is getting into MySpace, asking for a smartphone for their birthday, or joining an MMO game (and if you don’t know what MMO stands for, this is part of understanding the trends in tech), you should have a basic idea of what the widget is, how it works, and more importantly how vulnerable it could make your child. No, you don’t have to be a Social Media expert, or a Level 41 Wizard in World of Warcraft; but a grasp of the basics can take you far.
It is very easy to regard identity protection as something exclusive for grown-up’s, but our children’s identity is equally as important. By not considering where key points of personal identifiable information (PII) are revealed and shared within online communities and in everyday exchanges in the real world, we could be inadvertently placing our kids within harm’s way. From fraudulent credit card accounts to character-damaging actions online to the worst case scenario — personal danger — all are possible if parents do not stop and think before they blog, tweet, or post a Facebook update status. Predators and identity thieves do not discriminate by age. We are all susceptible and as adults, and parents, it is our responsibility to protect our children.
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6 Comments to "Why Identity Protection for Kids Matters"
1 | Identity Theft Protection » Blog Archive » Why Identity Protection for Kids Matters « ID Guardian
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3 | Odin1eye
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your posting this well written and well researched post.
I have three children. An 11 year old son, a 3 year old son, and a baby girl that is not yet 2 weeks old.
None of them have ever been identified by name online. I never intend to do so. My son’s computer, while in his room, is only allowed to access websites that I’ve preapproved. (If you think this is an inconvenience for the parent, you are right, however, he’s my son!)
Parents reaching out through social media to other parents is a wonderful thing, but my children’s safety is even more important to me.
4 | Michele Price
Great in depth post. When I raised my son none of these things were a concern. I appreciate my son being concerned about his children. How life changes and we must change with it.
5 | Tony Mast
Great article!
While it’s important to keep our children safe online, I don’t believe that the absolute stricture of information is necessary. For me and my children, it’s more important that I raise them to think for themselves and learn to protect themselves online, at friends’ houses, at school, and at home. There are two sides to the online security coin when it comes to children.
First, there is protecting them from what they might see on the web. This is a sticky subject as everyone has a different view of what they believe is right and wrong, acceptable and not. For some scary images are OK, for others nudity is fine, for some swearing is acceptable, for others violent acts are OK for their children.
For my oldest, KiddoPrime, we have taken the approach of exposing him to different things and seeing what he is able to handle and not. We’ve seen other children in our family so coddled and ‘protected’ that the announcement that the Easter Bunny was in the store almost sent the kid screaming into the parking lot of the store they were in. We didn’t want to have extra bodies in Mommy and Daddy’s bed everytime the skies rumbled in the spring and summer (which happens A LOT!) There are some things that he can watch or consume without batting an eyelash. He was raised on Superheroes and Star Wars, neither of which tend to show heroes solving problems over cookies and milk. He’s got enough toy lightsabers to choke a Rancor and enough Bakugan to fill a ball pit. Yet during Coraline when the music got intense he wanted to leave. Mind you, the scene on screen wasn’t scary, just the music. That was enough for him. We stayed, we talked it through and we still haven’t seen the movie since seeing it in the theater. During Ironman he LOVED the film… until the scene where it’s necessary to reach into Tony’s chest to fiddle with his ‘heart’. Just the mention of that scene gives him the willies, though he does want to see the movie again now that he’s “older” and Iron Two Man (Iron2Man is how the logo for the new movie reads) is coming out.
That said, we also have given him icons on our laptops that he can launch to get to the internet and to specific sites that he enjoys. I haven’t installed ‘nanny’ software on the computers yet, and he does sometimes access those sites when we aren’t in the room. Though the laptops are both in public areas of the house and will stay there. I know I’m going to get to a point where I’ll need to monitor his online usage more, but for now, He’s only 7, it’s not necessary. I’m more concerned with the questions he’s coming home from school with. In his before and after school care programs he (a 1st grader) is in the mix with 5th graders. Some of the questions have been… interesting… to say the least. He’s never in trouble for asking and we answer his questions honestly and succinctly. This is the same approach which we’ll use with the internet. He knows there are television shows, video games and drinks that are only for grown-ups, and he’ll learn that there are places on the internet that are exactly the same.
Protecting children from predators online doesn’t really factor too heavily into my life at this point. He’s 7 ½, and she’s 2 ½. I don’t really have to worry about THEM giving away too much information at this point.
On the other hand, I have included my son on my podcast. He’s given his real name on the podcast, my family and I use his real name on Facebook, but I keep his name off of twitter and off of the website I’ve set up for him (I have one for each of the kids where someday I’ll scan/photograph some of their artwork and post that.)
I have taken the approach in my own life that I’m not anonymous, I am a known quantity. If I want to be taken seriously in the things I do, I should put my name out there. If I’m on a messageboard, on a social networking site, or when I comment on blogs, I use my real name. Tony Mast. It’s out there. It’s not my birth name, but it’s the name I’ve gone by since birth. If anyone REALLY wants to know my birthname it would take them all of 5 minutes to find it…. If they are on dial-up and a really slow typist.
The fact is that I know enough about the internet and about security and how information travels on the net to realize that if a bad guy wants the info and has the know-how and the patience, the information is available. Someone, somewhere along the line can slip, be it in a comment on a facebook picture, an errand mention on a podcast, a notation in a news article, etc. The information is out there. If you hide it you just make it seem that much more juicy. So I give you my name. And I give you all sorts of information about my likes and dislikes in movies. And I give you information about my weight and my weightloss. And I use my real name on twitter, and I use my real name on every forum I haunt. So if you want to find information on me, there isn’t a little bit of data that is hard to find but once found is obviously about me… there is a TON of data and apparently Tony Mast is becoming more common a name on the internet, if my vanity searches are any indication. Also I don’t even own tonymast at gmail dot com. Some guy who is shortening his name to ‘Mast’ swiped that before I had the chance to.
So, yeah, I’m concerned about security, and I worry about my kids and what they are exposed to, but at the same time I want to make sure my kids are going to be able to handle the real things they are confronted with and will know how to protect themselves rather than rely on every parent of every kid they visit for the next 10 years having super-uber nanny-tech 3000 software.
6 | Candid Kids Can Be Safe…Even in 2011 « ID Guardian
[...] using you child’s name online. We gave this advice back in March 2010, but it bears repeating as people still reveal their children’s names in open, [...]
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