Slashdot Mirror
MySpace to Offer Spyware for Parents
mrspin writes "Following continuing pressure from politicians (and parts of the media), MySpace is planning to offer parents the chance to download software which will monitor aspects of their children's activities on the social networking site. From a business point of view, the move appears to be a highly risky one. The young users of social networking sites are notorious for their lack of loyalty — and history suggests that a change like this could tempt many to abandon MySpace for the 'next cool thing'."
for not liking being spied on. Or mass spying of other. Sure seems everyone else is gun ho for it.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
My wife and I just demanded the myspace password for my step-daughter's account (she's 12). I kick myself for not paying any attention to that damned site, because of it's sheer obnoxiousness and ugly designs. If I had paid attention I'd have a better feel for all the "ins-and-outs" of the stupid site. I was glad to see this information brought up on the local news here; but like I said to my wife: :P
The kids will just go someplace else.
So who wants to fund the next "myspace killer" with me?
put the what in the where?
Not your space anymore, son.
Children are innovative. Even if they don't move to different social networking sites, they'll find some way around this spyware.
I'm sure the developers of this software spent much time during their youth trying to hide and protect their ill-obtained, yet sacred, copies of Hustler, Penthouse and Playboy. Just as they succeeded then, the youth of today will no doubt succeed in protecting the Web activities they hold sacred.
I thought that MS was the only company that could so effortlessly shoot themselves in the feet. Parental monitoring should pretty much put an end to much of the MySpace userbase.
Interestingly, if parents can do this with some software, is the government already doing it for them, but just not telling? I have to wonder about any company that will offer to 'spy' on you or your kids. I'm sort of interested in finding out how they will know that it is a parent of the account holder they are willing to spy on? Does the software have to be installed on the same computer as the child uses? That would only last about a week before its cracked.... expect YouTube videos on how to disable it within the week.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Just because your kids dont want you to know every single detail of their life doesnt mean that they are hooking up with 35 year olds. People take this business of monitoring their kids internet use too seriously. Would you tap your teenagers phone calls? If not whats the difference?
With any luck, this will be the third-to-last
FairTax baby!
Could this be why nobody visits my LiveJournal anymore?
The submitter is right -- the margin of error that sites like these have before they alienate kids with the attention span of a greased weasel on crystal meth is razor-thin. It's not like most of them have invested any significant amount of time on their page; the same blinking yellow text on a bright purple background with Celine Dion screeching in the background can be recreated in The Next Great Social Networking Site in approximately three minutes.
Sure, you'll have to rebuild "your network", but most youth would ten times rather do this than conduct all of their (potentially sensitive) discourse on a site where they know that their parents are listening in.
My GOD, it's DOOMSDAY. Myspace users will begin to leave myspace and begin to infect the rest of the internet. KILL ME NOW!
Even if this move doesn't drive away the kids, if nogoodniks are able to pretend to be parents and monitor the activities of other peoples' kids, this is going to be a nightmare.
Perhaps I am dull witted tonight, but I can't imagine how they can make this spyware foolproof.
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
According to the article, the software only shows what name, age, and location the user is claiming. It does not provide any other information.
This is a well thought-out solution, as it provides the important information while still providing privacy to the user.
Unfortunately, for many teens any information is too much to share, and many parents think that any privacy is too much to allow.
Better software!
"0101100101? It's just jibberish. *looks in mirror, gasps* 1010011010@!? AHHHHHH!!"
I think I will leave the monitoring of my children up to myself instead of putting it in the hand of a complete stranger(s).
What if some of those kids end up here on /.?
We could be doomed!
Okay, let's disregard whether parents would/should need a piece of software to help them watch their children.
More importantly, how are these parents going to install and use this software? I would say that the majority children are more tech-savvy than their parents, and aren't likely to willingly help their parents peer into their private life.
So, how are parents going to install and configure a piece of software that will require user names and other information they might need to ask their children for anyways? What's to stop a child from setting up a dummy account to render the software useless?
Parents who install the monitoring software on their home computers would be able to find out what name, age and location their children are using to represent themselves on MySpace. The software doesn't enable parents to read their child's e-mail or see the child's profile page
So it tells the parents the exact same information they would get by searching for their kids name, email, or username on myspace. Even the private/hidden profiles that I've seen still show username, age and location. How is downloading some proprietary software to get publicly available information useful?
------ Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government.
Things wont change that much, because most parents don't use that type software. Those that do, don't know how to use it, or don't feel they need to monitor their children. Typical Window's users.
It'll be hard to learn to use, not very effective, and some bored lawmaker somewhere will take up the cries from those frustrated by it as another reason to make more laws that protect children in "cyberspace". The media will latch on to it in the increasing numbers of obscure article references noting it as some sort of truism; and it'll set records for the largest and longest recorded redundancy orgy in history; although that won't be known for centuries. Meanwhile the effects will resonate thru our Global Village for centuries until we are finally enslaved by the Kzinti because the only scientists out there who knew how to advance laser technology were working for the hardware media companies who were still trying to make their pseudo-reality closer to real reality but kept it under deadly NDA, and meanwhile the best brain enclaves on the planet had transcended already, and kicked the Rich Ones out of the High Beyond. A revolution was coming, but few knew it. ...
;)
Life is starting to sound like a bad science fiction plot.
Yawn.
Somebody wake me from my cold beer sleep when the human race gets a clue.
slutting it up online :) You don't need to spy to know this.
Except for the odd high-schooler, I'd think the average slashdotter lives at college or alone at home, certainly not with kids :)
I say this as a parent. If US citizens do not have a right to privacy from corporations, why should a 13 year olds have a right to privacy from their parents?
"To Err is Human To Forgive is Divine neither of which is Marine Corp Policy"-My SNCOIC
In a related story, when polled, several industry experts suggested that this new myspace software was not expected to be an invasion of privacy at all. Asked how software that was specifically intended to track the actions of another individual could be anything other than invasive, the experts responded, "Oh, yes that's a good point. It's pretty simple really: we are basing our analysis on software that myspace has produced in the past, like the web site, and based on this analysis, we've concluded that the software is unlikely to, y'know, work. As in... function. As in... not do something other than just produce a bunch of 'an unexpected error has occurred' messages. So really, there's nothing to worry about at all, and everyone should be able to just produce as they always have. It should have no impact."
Wow, great move, MySpace. Now, how about taking all that energy and channeling it into, um, I don't know, preventing Tom's profile from being hacked?
$sys$myspace.log
$sys$myspclgr.exe
My mom installed some crappy software that like screwed up my myspace profile. Can anyone tell me how to add CSS tags to slashdot and how can I upload my warez music here? Those **** digg people wouldn't help me. They hate Slashdot like you guys hate Myspace. But then all the Myspace hated the self righteous Diggers.
but kids will be thrilled since they now can monitor their parents' behaviour on myspace.
Most people's attitude about things like this change drastically after they actually have kids of their own to be responsible for.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
More likely it is going to separate into "those with lives" and "those without lives."
As parents, the only thing you can do is try to be as trustworthy as possible. If you have reasonable success, your children may actually heed your warnings or at least realize when they are in trouble anc come to you for advice. You cannot get more. Monitoring, threats, harsh limits, etc... will just cause your children to leave home when they can and think bach of you as cretins (and rightfully so!).
An essential component of this is to trust your children. Sure, they will do stupid things, but hey, they are children and still learning. And if they know they can talk to you they may actually come to ask for advice. Don't bbe shocked or appalled, just try to do the best you can. And if you don't know, say so. And if you are uncomfotable with some of your childrens choices, tell them that, but also let them make their choices.
Eventually it boild down to respect. Respect your children. If you do that, then there is no way in hell that you can spy on them, which in my and very likely in your children's eyes is the ultimate sugn of disrespect.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I'm pretty sure that's pre-filtered.
sic transit gloria mundi
Just type their email address in the login page, I have a $ that says the password will be auto completed. =^_^=
axis discrepancy indicates hexagons beyond control anomaly
Will it run in Wine? :P
Oh Lordy! I crack me up! :)
I can see this being used by people to spy on partners,, especially if they suspect infidelity.
history suggests that a change like this could tempt many to abandon MySpace for the 'next cool thing'
And history also suggests that parents are quick to file lawsuits, juries are quick to side with the parents, and legislators are quick to pass new restrictive laws. Those trump what kids might do.
Myspace already gets held accountable for a very high degree of parental stupidity. They are merely trying to cover their own asses.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Ha! I've got a roommate!
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
a group of 33 state attorneys general led by Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal are investigating taking legal action against MySpace if it doesn't raise the age limit to join the site to 16
Yet no one will file any lawsuits against them for creating spyware. Wonderful.
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
I have modded a teen group with about 10,000 members mostly in US and UK. Most Kids aren't that stupid that they meet up with strangers who start to talk dirty like you read about in the stings. The biggest danger to kids are the friends they already know well, and that the rents let their guard down on. Being nervous about the boogey man in the shadows lets parents feel like they are doing a good job when realities are the kid is often getting worse stuff at school and with friends. The parents block those out. It's usually the "friends" that bring a kid harm. It's very wise for a parent to know what a child is doing on a computer and the best thing is to keep it out of their bedroom. It makes no sense to hover over a kids computer like a nuclear power regulator and then send them off to school without a second thought.
The really obscene parts of MySpace are the groups.
I think it's all about trust and respect. People need to learn how to bring up their kinds so that they are responsible for their own actions. Then there's no need to spy. Online safety can be explained and followed by a 13-year-old as well as an 18-year-old. Disclaimer: I have grown up in Ukraine, had my own room since the age of 3, no 'control' from parents whatsoever. Now I'm about to turn 20, and so far have never engaged in anything that would be worth spying on. And whenever I have a problem, I share it with my parents because I trust them and they trust me. Yeah, modifier -1 Corny, but why do the parents think that they MUST have total control ? The whole purpouse of the bringing-up process is to develop a person capabale of living a safe life and capabale of making right decisions on one's own.
That one word says more than what you can say in a million words.
This is not spyware, by definition spyware has to collect information without the informed consent of the user.
This software has to be installed by the owner of the computer and since it is for use against minors the parents, who would also be installing it, provide the legal informed consent for the minor.
If this is spyware so is my anti-virus and ad blocking software.
Speaking of the next cool thing, here is the list of them all.
r king_websites
(and is surprisingly long)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_netwo
You can only search for your kid's name, email or username if they are actually using their real name, or an email or username you know. What this does is let you search for ANYONE LOGGING ON FROM YOUR COMPUTER. See the difference? Now parents can tell if their children are posting fake profiles.
paintball
Better Software magazine? [grin]
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Thus, I have no sympathy for kids who resent being spied on by their parents... it's their parent's property, they have every right to know every detail of how it is used. If they don't like their parents spying on them on the parents' computer then they should just not use their parents' computer... and find alternative methods of keeping in touch with their buddies that the parents won't be able to monitor because it's outside their jurisdiction.
And if parents don't like that kids will inevitably find such methods, tough. They should have thought of that before they had kids in the first place if they can't deal with the fact that their kid might be more ingenious than they are. Ideally, you teach them the whole time they are young how to make smart choices so that by the time they are making their own possibly life-altering decisions they will do the right thing... then spying on your kids would just be superfluous.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
How many people commenting here are actually parents...?
Just asking.
No sig today...
First of all, plenty of parents know how to use computers. Even my parents, who are grandparents, know how to use a computer. It's my dad that got my a Timex Sinclair in the 70s. So yes, I am capable of installing software on my computer, thanks for the concern.
Secondly, people bitch about parents not watching their kids, and now there is a tool that may make it easier for some parents to do so, and they bitch about THAT!
Tell me, do you want us watching our kids, or not? Would you rather Big Brother did it?
Make up your minds, already. I am tired of the conflicting noises coming from those of you who want to tell us how to parent our children.
You know when you are a good parent, when your 8 year old can spot, and correctly tag thinkofthechildren stories on slashdot.
Ok seriously, I'm a bit scared of some of the posters here that are basically saying kids don't have any rights and are the property of parents until they leave home.
WTF? My family couldn't be any more different. I would never and could never install rubbish like this, or any nanny software on my kid's computers. First off, they both have their own computers. Computers are very personal tools and it's up to them to keep them secure and decide which directory to store their porn collections. They have earned my trust and I know they won't do anything stupid since they are quite aware of the concepts of privacy, security and not getting caught by the RIAA. They have their own root passwords and I would never demand that they hand them over.
If I start spying on them at this early age, then they might just get used to it, and not notice when the government steps out of line and invades their right to privacy.
Oh I'm sorry, your kids are YOUR property. I have no right calling you a crap parent. Plus you probably are very busy and don't have the time to supervise them. Let the software do it.
The school isn't going to cover these important issues so you are going to have to. Shit, I know it's a lot of responsibility but you should have thought about that before you decided to/accidently started a family.
What about that sick librarian or teaching assistant who wants to "monitor" your kids? I cant see anything to stop them.
I can remember whan Dad got his first computer for his business. A mighty 64K of Ram and one 140K disk drive. One of the first decent machines on the block so to speak. It was all greek to him. Me, as pimply kid of around 12 did all of the setup, showed him how to use it, did any problem resolution, and wrote some custom bits of code in Applesoft to help automate some of the calculations he had to do. He is long retired now, and I still admin his home machine, and show him how to do things like email and web searches when he does them for the first time. If we could rewind so that I was still 12 now, then this software might well allow one of us to monitor the other if we wanted to (hint: it wouldn't be him monitoring me).
The one thing you have to take into consideration when you say people might migrate to the next biggest thing because of this; is the percentage of the user base of Myspace this action will affect. In August '05, teenagers only accounted for 25% of the entire user database compared to now only 12%(http://mashable.com/2006/10/05/most-myspace-us ers-over-35/). The one thing that surprised me though is almost half(41%) of all the people on Myspace are between 35 and 54. I see from Myspace's point of view, that this might actually increase there user base. Giving heightened since of security
and well being to the 'older' majority.
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas
MySpace: The HIV-positive suicide bomber of the Internet
Any parents who respect their children let them enjoy their pr0n in privacy!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That was great.
there are already tons of commercial and freeware monitoring software packages available, monitoring every keystroke & mouseclick, saving visited websites, taking screenshots and whatsnot...
why do caring (spying...) parents need a myspace-only solution, and more importantly, why not simply block myspace.com in the first place, if they think it's the root of all evil?
This is the perfect setup for a kids/parents technology arms race. First, convince alarmed parents that they need to pay for some monitoring of their child's online behavior. Then sell a monitor blocking package to the children. A key feature of the latter has got to be that you can use the saved credit card credentials from the parents puchase. Mass user flight in 3......2.......1......
Sue you parents. Profit!
I've been visiting Slashdot since I was about 12.
This isn't needed - not if you have already convinced your kids that everything they do online is recorded, even though it isn't. That makes them think before they do anything you wouldn't want them to.
Am I evil?
I had my own computer when I was 12, which I bought. I also paid for my own internet access and the phone line it was used on (no broadband in this city back then, lol).
I guess we are just bad parents. Although we had talked to our son till we were blue in the face about not posting personal information, our preteen son had an account on MySpace - well actually a couple - that I found through a search. The clincher was when started getting phone calls from girls from all over and started making up lies of how they got his number.
Needless to say, his computer is not behind a squid proxy and is locked down to not going to any internet sites unless we approve and add them for homework reasons or other reasons... but we have to approve and add manually. This (for now) keeps the chat rooms, sites like this at bay. Although it does not keep the kid from going somewhere else and posting.. my theory is that while he is under our roof, he plays by my rules. He can like it or lump it.
It is like video games.. I play them with him, I see what computer and console games he is playing, and if I deem one inappropriate, it doesn't get played. Sure, I let him play Quake, Unreal, Rainbow6.. I have no problem with those games and such like that.. and I realize he can play stuff at friends. But, I am still the parent, and I control what goes on in my home. It is that simple.
Others will probably post what an awful parent I am and how kid is going to retaliate this or that.. but so be it.
This seems a bit odd to me. Many folks seem to feel that this is an invasion of children's privacy. That the parents are invading the child's "My Space", and that it takes away from the "trust" given to said child.
Hello, "My Space" is on the public freakin' Internet! Anything put out there is essentially for public consumption, isn't it? All content posted there is open to the world. Anyone who thinks that restricted areas of "My Space" are private, is bound to be proven incorrect eventually, thanks to the hacker mentality.
Aren't parents responsible for children's behavior in public? If a child goes to school, the mall, etc., and does something that is considered bad (insert bad behavior here), what happens? The parent is called, and has to take responsibility for the childs bad behavior. If it is a jailable offense, sometimes it is the parent who has to do the time. It is the parents responsibility to guide the child/teen, and they can't very well do that, if they can't evaluate their children's behavior.
Why wouldn't this hold true with the public Internet, specifically "My Space"?
You are correct in that a Personal Computer is a personal tool, but the Internet is PUBLIC. One should not keep a thumb firmly planted on their children at all times, unless they are mis-behaving, but how can one guide their children without generally knowing what they are up to? Do you expect that the children will tell you exactly what they are doing?
If you are lucky enough to have gotten the formula right, and your kids really do understand what you claim, and really do let you know what they are doing, then write a how-to book, because there are plenty of folks who could use a copy.
Bubble wrap is too fragile. Why no do what I do to my collectibles -- cover them in lucite and encase them in a Mylar pouch.
My collection of Caroline Holden, Xena, Dr. Who, Matt Groening, Seven of Nine, the "Lost In Space" robot, Gilligan, and Spock is in mint condition.
...but I got this great way to avoid having to use this software. GET INVOLVED! Sheesh, when I was a kid, my parents knew what I was doing without even having to look at me (I swore they had eyes in the back of their head that are just invisible to me). Parents need to raise their children, NOT the Internet.
I'm usually not for anybody spying on anybody, but this is the first case where myspace is attempting to leave discretion up to the parents as opposed to the lawmakers. I don't know why everybody wants politicians raising their kids. Ideally, parents would just supervise their kids or teach them good behavior (on the internet or otherwise), but we all know that is impossible.
Over Christmas, my mother and grandmother bought a new computer and finally upgraded to DSL. My young cousin, who lives next door to them, has been coming over and using the computer, including MySpace. My mother, who watches a lot of CSI (now there's an alarmist show), asked me if we could put some kind of password or filter or something on the computer.
My initial reaction was that technological limitations like passwords and filtering are an arms race -- and a race that my mother and grandmother are bound to lose. If a 14-year old really wants to look at pr0n, he's going to be able to work around whatever limitations you have on him. It's best to counsel him on the best way to act, and trust him.
On the other hand, even if he wants to do what's right, there will always be a temptation there. Sex is a very powerful force, and has caused many men to destroy their career and their lives. Accountability can be helpful. If he knows that Aunt K. or Grandma will be occasionally browsing through the pictures he's downloaded, it will help him to do what he knows is right in moments of weakness; and it will help his family to help him if he does start doing stuff he shouldn't.
In any case, my grandmother certainly has a right to say how her computer and her internet connection are used.
TCP: Why the Internet is full of SYN.
at the park on her phone. it was fucking creepy!
Please stop stalking me, bro.
http://www.wireshark.org/
:P
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/TransparentProxy.html
'nuff said.
When my kid figures out how to properly encrypt his traffic, then I figure he's mature enough to take proper precautions when dealing with strangers (and you folks on the 'net are stranger than most).
Still, I find it deeply troubling how I find that I'm understanding right-wing leanings more and more after being a parent. But then again, I'm almost over 30, so I guess I'm allowed to "mature" into a lying conniving misleading figure of authority anyway
I'm not sure this is a good thing. According to Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_theory), excessive intrusive parenting will actually make the child withdrawn and non-responsive. To be sure, protecting children online is important, but there's a point where it can actually harm them, by undermining the "secure base" of the right amount of nurturing and attention in a parent-child relationship. Some data suggested the total amount of time this happens in the case of secure attachment was approximately 30%; if the needed psychological "apart" time began to disappear with tools like this, it may instead result in a shift towards a less secure attachment that also carries over to anxious or avoidant social problems in adulthood.
Here is a link to the article I found. Here's a quick quote:
"In 2000, just 5 percent of 13- to 17-year olds had cell phones. Today, 56 percent do, according to Linda Barrabee, wireless market analyst for The Yankee Group."
That was taken in 2004. You can just imagine the stats now. I think our 12 year old fits in the demographics by now. The sad truth is that parents have been tricked into believing that a child having a cell phone is a replacement for putting effort into actually physically knowing where your children are. I expect we'll see younger and younger children with them. You can already get children's phones that only dial pre-programmed numbers aimed at the under 10 age group. As a whole we keep treating children like adults without taking the time to teach them how to be children and then adults first. It's quite unfortunate.
Like others have said the information that the software collects is useless. You may be able to monitor the age, location, etc that your child is using but you still aren't monitoring the pictures they are putting up of themselves getting drunk doing kegstands and taking revealing webcam pictures etc. But that also all comes down to what someone said earlier about being more worried about the friends your child hangs out with rather than what lonely guy they are talking to on a farm in Montana.
In Soviet Russia, Myspace browses YOU!!
Heh I'm so happy I didn't have parents like you when I was a wee lad myself.
Give me your MySpace password. NOW.
I mean it.
Don't make me call your father.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
I'd almost think you're a parent or something. Perhaps you're a predator...but I digress.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
Parents have a resposibility to their child, and society, to make sure they are staying out of trouble until the child has matured and can make adult decisions.
The government is not a parent and has no right to monitor our every communication without consent.
Last I checked, you had to be at least 14 in order to have a Myspace profile without violating their terms of service. You know your daughter best, but does it bother you that your daughter is using a service intended for older people?
does it run on Linux? No, seriously, get a copy of SLAX and this is useless.
I'm thinking that while it is laudable that MySpace would voluntarily step up to offer parents child protection software (so much better sounding than spyware), it would be better to have a law that mandates all social networking sites to provide the means for parents to check up on their minor children. This removes the threat of kiddies abandoning MySpace for a less restrictive (and perhaps less responsible) site. Privacy is always a delicate issue with parents and children. But children's privacy will always be trumped by parents' need to keep their children safe. It doesn't mean that parents, step parents, or legal guardians should arbitrarily invade a child's privacy. But if an issue of safety arises that requires it, good parents should have help doing it, especially online.
an obsolete technology... why do we keep supporting outdated hardware like this? Ooops I forgot this is /. where people still decry 'They will take my audiotape drive when they pry it from my cold dead hands'.
This may ironically cause kids to get into more dangerous sites just to try to stop the spyware their parents installed to protect them.
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
How, exactly, can one morally justify privacy?
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
maybe I should be more for parental controls and censorship of children than I am. . .
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Computers are cheap. You just have to know where to get them, and be willing to settle for less than "vista-ready" hardware.
I just bought a laptop for 9$CAN. I've owned around 30 computers, and probably haven't spent more than 200-300$ on all of them together, not counting internet service. Assuming that there's allowance involved(not an unreasonable assumption? Someone help me out here), this should be something a kid should be able to afford after around two years of saving or so, assuming they want it.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Rupert Murdoch, being the neo-con elite globalist that he is, it doesn' surprise me that he would offer such a technology on his site to parents. Maybe it will be to prevent terrorism? Parents, put your kids in jail!
...detect when kids are making crappy pages? That'd be something to see!
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
welcome our new MySpace spyware overlords.
Society and the government have handed parents an impossible job.
1) You may not invade your child's privacy, discipline them, or in any other way treat them as if they were not an adult in charge of their own life. If we even *think* you are out of line here, Child Protective Services will be on you like flies on stink.
2) Until they reach the age of accountability, you are completely responsible and liable for everything your child does. If we even *think* you are out of line here, Child Protective Services will be on you like flies on stink.
Can you say, "Catch 22"?
[This is not a generic indictment of CPS, which has many fine people working for them (I know some). It's an indictment on US society and its government, which is a part of said society.
The story behind your first link is shocking. Two cops were fired simply because they spoke to one of their teenage inmates over the 'Net at work? Nothing more? Shouldn't they have just gotten off with a warning?
Story two looks pathetic. It's not like the predators actually assaulted the girls on MySpace.
Story three shouldn't injure MySpace or YouTube. As Jay Leno says, "I love stupid criminals!"
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
My son is 16 and, like every teenager who ever lived, considers himself to be an honest person of the highest integrity.
But parents don't count. It's perfectly fine to lie your ass off to them.
You bet I check his MySpace mail every damned day. Doing so has helped me keep him out of juvie, rehab, and surgery.
No, he doesn't know I have his password.
No, I'm not violating his rights any more than he's violating my trust.
Trust is the belief that one can predict another person's behavior with an acceptable degree of confidence. We trust each other.
I don't expect him to stay out of trouble. He's a teenager. I trust him to sneak around behind my back, trying things that no sane adult would attempt.
He doesn't expect me to stay out of his business. I'm his father, a. k. a. "legal guardian" and "the responsible party". He trusts me to catch him when he teeters on the edge, before it costs him or me too much.
When he's his own legal guardian and responsible party, then he will enjoy the privilege and responsibility of privacy... if there's any left by then.
These days, kids are getting cellphones in 5th grade. That's age 10 or 11 ish.
Scary, I know.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
I'm guessing that you grew up in a really messed-up family.
One of the things you'll learn, if or when you have kids, is that one of your responsibilities as a parent is to prepare your children to function on their own. They grow up very quickly, and it's important to gradually and continually challenge your children more and more independence and responsibility (the two go hand in hand, unless you want some really horrid results!).
So I do have sympathy for children with helicopter parents, who hover over them, watching their every move. Inside each of those children is an adult who is trying to develop, but can't because he has lousy parents. With each of those children, it's a crapshoot what will happen when he or she leaves home (or if the child leaves home. I always chuckle at "helicopter parents" who complain about their "boomerang children" coming back to live at home).
For those who are looking for a good compromise, now obviously like anything else, it's going to depend on your kid, but what's worked for me is, "Remember, anything you place on the public Internet can be read by anyone--including and especially me. You don't want me to read it, don't make it public."
Your Mileage, as always, May Vary.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Just file it away in the back of your head for when the time comes. You'll get a chuckle out of it.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Each kid is an actual person with individual free will. We like them to do what we tell them to do, but it is a natural part of growing up to rebel against your parents. A wise parent accepts this, while at the same time making sure the kid doesn't screw up too badly. And while I personally don't see a need for a tool like this, I don't speak for every parent of every child. Each child is different, and this might be the very thing to keep somebody else's child out of harm's way.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Privacy must exist because all people are different and cannot refrain from judging others or exerting control over them out of self-interest
I'll grant that people are different, but I don't see how "judging others or excerting control over them" necessarily follows from that. It's likely, but not seemingly necessary. And while I'm now going to assume that you are self-interested, control-hungry and irrationally intolerant, at least you gave what I asked for; a moral justification.
"Therefore people have a right to attempt to control what others know about them."
Because people are naturally so power-hungry and naturally evil, that we should control what they know about us. But that argument works the other way, if people are so naturally evil, then shouldn't I be able to see exactly what they are doing at all times; wouldn't it make more sense for them to be subject to scrutiny so that if they choose to give in to their impulses for power, they will be caught and known for it to me?
"Privacy must also exist because not everyone is honorable. If you believe that privacy has no moral justification, then I challenge you to post here all the credentials someone here would need in order to open a line of credit in your name."
I'd say dishonourable people should be watched. I don't want to protect their dishonest ways by protecting their privacy.
As for whatever information that would allow a line of credit to be granted, believe me, my credit is strained to the limit and there isn't a bank or financial institution that I can find that will lend me(or anyone claiming to be me) any more money. It would be a collossal waste of time for me to give away such information, both for me, and whoever would try to use it. Although to tell the truth I don't know exactly what information would be involved, exactly. I've tried to get more loans and I've gotten what I believe is possible under my current condition.
As for similarily key information, such as my credit card number, online trading account passwords, and SaskTel corporate information, I've signed agreements giving my word that I would not disclose them. As much as I value civility, and as much as it annoys me being unable to disclose them, I value keeping my word and sticking to agreements I make more. It was a mistake to sign up to their service, due to that term, perhaps, but I'll leave it at that for now, since up until today they wouldn't even let me have a working credit card due to bad credit concerns, although that has since changed somewhat.
Honestly though, you wouldn't get very much. I live on practically nothing, have no money or valuable possessions to speak of and am just a lack-of-a-month's paycheque away from living out of a shopping cart or something. Your argument would work better on someone with something to lose other than some small change they don't really have to begin with.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.