Pandora’s Blog

Co-Founder of PC Pandora monitoring software looks at the bad stigma associated with monitoring computer activity and why it is an essential part of parenting in the Internet age.

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 3, 2008 — Online safety is a top family priority and concern today. And although parents seem to get the message that monitoring Internet activity of their children is essential, few seem to put it into physical practice. Manuel Coats, Co-Founder of Pandora Corp. says there’s a bad stigma associated with parents playing big brother.

“Unfortunately, parents have a fear of invading their child’s privacy,” explains Coats. “I consider this to be irrational, and a poorly associated stigma. Parent job number one is to protect your child. How can you do that if you don’t know what they are doing, where they are going or who they associate with?”

Many critics liken the use of monitoring software to reading a personal diary, or listening to a phone conversation, or even reading mail.

“Checking online activity of your kids couldn’t be more different than any of those,” says Coats. “The diary of generations past was a secret document, kept under lock-and-key, that usually no one but the author read. There is nothing with that level of privacy on the Internet, certainly not a social networking page.”

And the elongated phone calls made by teens of the 1980s and ’90s?

“The idea that checking emails and chats of your kids is like eavesdropping on phone conversations or reading mail, well, my parents always knew who was on the other end of the phone and where the letters came from. So did I. Do you know for sure who is on the other end of an IM chat with your kids?”

A lot of skeptics are quick to assume that the incredible knowledge parents can obtain from monitoring software, like Pandora Corp’s flagship title PC Pandora, is a power that can quickly and easily be misused by parents. Some fear that innocent checking and monitoring will quickly turn to snooping and spying. But Coats quickly points out that it’s up to the parent to be able to walk that line of being a parent and being intrusive.

“Parents are supposed to be the responsible caretakers of the house,” explains Manuel Coats. “They need to set and enforce rules, but also use personal rules and keep themselves in check. You don’t need to know who has a crush on whom in class or other random sordid teenage details. But you do need to know if your child is being bullied or talking to someone online with a suspicious screen name.”

Coats recommends that all parents use monitoring software like PC Pandora 5.0, which works like a DVR for your computer. The program takes sequential snapshots of what is on the computer screen, providing parents with a detailed visual record of everything their children saw and did on and offline. In addition, further details of user activity, such as websites visited, emails sent and received, instant messenger chats, keystrokes logged, peer-2-peer files traded, programs accessed and more, can be seen in text-based files. It will even email a busy parent at work with updates on activity.

Though the threat of Internet predators seems to be the most publicized and talked about, chances are it’s not the threat your kids will encounter first.

“Statistics show that kids are going to be involved - in some way - with cyberbullying before they are talking to strangers online. What’s more, young Internet users aren’t fully aware of the consequences of illegal file sharing or posting too much personal and private information online. Their own eagerness to participate and average youthful naiveté can cause them to fall easily into those traps.”

So while some may feel monitoring computer activity of kids is “too much” and more like “spying”, Manuel Coats asks parents to consider the idea thoroughly before dismissing it.

“We like to think of it more as ‘appropriate’ and ‘necessary 21st century parenting.’”

A 2-hour trial of PC Pandora is available at the PC Pandora website.

About PC Pandora: Pandora Corporation was formed with one goal - to help our customers monitor, control and protect their families and themselves online. First released in mid 2005, PC Pandora has been constantly upgraded to industry-leading specifications and has received accolades from users, reviewers and even school districts and law enforcement agencies, who use the program to help in the day-to-day supervision of the children and citizens they are charged with protecting. The company website devotes space to helping parents with 18 Tips to Safe Surfing and Pandora’s Blog, where current news in the world of online safety is discussed regularly. PC Pandora has vaulted into a leadership position by boasting a combination of features that unparalleled in the monitoring industry. In February 2008, Version 5.0 was released, again widening the spectrum of coverage and protection offered by the program. In addition, through the company’s SAFE SCHOOLS program, schools and school districts can receive up to $100,000 worth of software to aid in protecting their students and their PCs. PC Pandora is also now available through the Pandora Corp. store at Amazon.com.

Reporters and Producers: Looking to cover this topic? We are your technology solution and experts. Software is available for review and testing. Staff members are always available for interviews. Let us help you show your audience how easy it can be to keep their kids safe online.

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3 dirtbags from Arkansas + 3 scumbags from Indiana + 1 US Marine in Missouri = 7 Reasons parents need to stay vigilant and use PC Pandora monitoring software to know what their children are doing online and who they are talking to…

Again, the reason I do these weekly posts is to prove to the skeptics and the parents that these sick Internet predators are out there. They MAY be talking to your kids. Do you know if they are? Parents need to KNOW in this technology/mass communication-driven 21st century.

Monitoring computer activity is essential in the 21st century. In some way shape or form you must know what your children are doing online. Monitoring software programs like PC Pandora can help take the guesswork out of Internet parenting and provide you with 100% accurate knowledge of everything your child does. It’s up to you to take the information and act effectively and responsibly.

If the sickos (like the 7 caught below) and the bullies are using technology, why aren’t you? Family security is a life-long struggle. The current age lends more tools and avenues to those who would seek to harm your family – but using software to monitor the computer and Internet activity in your house, you can keep your kids safe from Internet predators, cyberbullies and anything else.

Read the rest of this entry »

Felt like dedicating Tuesday’s blog to an update around the country of new laws being enacted in three states and another states road to a similar law.

[Step on Soapbox]

Parents and guardians: be thankful these laws are passing. They will hopefully keep the convicted guys at bay, and maybe even deter the non-convicted from predator behavior (hey, we can hope). But as great as these laws are, they will not at all stop the problem. Only convicted offenders have to register; non-convicted/caught are still out there anonymously lurking and grooming. If these scumbags are using technology to talk to your kids, why are you using technology to be a more effective and knowledgeable parent? We hope your kid isn’t talking to one of these sickos, but are you sure they aren’t. Knowledge is power. Be a powerful 21st century parent with monitoring software like PC Pandora.

[Step off Soapbox]

ILLINOIS
FLIDER’S MEASURE TO COMBAT ONLINE PREDATORS BECOMES LAW

June 25, 2008

Legislation introduced and sponsored by state Rep. Bob Flider (D-Mt. Zion) creating a new fund to provide financial support to law enforcement operations targeting sex offenders and other criminals on the Internet, became law on June 1. The measure was brought to Flider by Macon County State’s Attorney Jack Ahola and members of the Decatur Police Department.

“As technology rapidly advances we must provide our law enforcement officials with the necessary resources to combat criminals that take advantage of new technology to prey on our children,” Flider said. “This legislation will provide more resources to local and state law enforcement officers who are working hard to target Internet predators, and hopefully create a safe online environment for young people.”

Flider’s House Bill 3586, which became Public Act 95-0600, creates the Sex Offender Investigation

Fund to provide both state and local law enforcement agencies additional funding to assist in online sex offender investigations. The new law requires any criminal convicted of a sex crime to pay an additional $500 fine. A portion of the money collected will be allotted to the Illinois State Police for the issuance of grants to local sex offender investigation efforts. In addition, $100 of every fine would go directly to the local state’s attorney or police department that investigated the case.

“In recent years we have seen a sharp increase in Internet crimes committed by criminals who prey on children,” said Flider. “This legislation will help provide financial assistance to our law enforcement agencies to enable them to give greater attention to online crimes. I have always supported giving more resources to those who work to keep our communities safe and I will continue to do so.”

Flider began working on this legislation with the Macon County State’s Attorney’s office in February of 2007. Flider’s bill passed both the house and the senate without a single vote in opposition.

TENNESSEE
New Tennessee sex offender law eyes Internet

By Emily Bregel, June 30, 2008

On Tuesday, Tennessee will be even less friendly to sex offenders as new legislation heightens oversight of offenders’ Internet activity.

Registered sex offenders in Tennessee will be required to provide the sex offender registry with Internet account information, including e-mail address, user names or instant-message screen names. Offenders must notify a probation or parole officer of any changes of that information within three days of the change, the law states.

The sex offender law also requires probation or parole officers to notify the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation of any such changes.

This information will not be available to the public, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials said.

The new law is one of more than 200 pieces of legislation that go into effect Tuesday, ranging from the regulation of tattoo parlors to the monitoring of elementary school art supplies.

The new sex offender law will protect children who are vulnerable to the advances of sexual predators on the Internet, said state Sen. Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.

“There are sex offenders who are using the Internet to really take advantage of young children under the cloak of anonymity,” she said. “This law will do very much what we intended the registry to do, which is to let law enforcement officers and the public know what identities these folks are utilizing.”

Local defense attorney Jerry Summers said the new law is “part of an overall pattern of the Tennessee General Assembly to maintain very tight control on sex offenders in the state of Tennessee.”

The oversight can make it difficult for offenders who have gone to counseling and who are remorseful to get jobs and become productive members of society, he said.

“There are some people that may deserve to be punished, but (for others) it’s almost like a life sentence for a one-time mistake,” he said.

Another law that takes effect Tuesday is a 100 percent increase in the shipping-and-handling fee that must be paid for new license plates or decals from county clerks’ offices. The cost will increase from $1 to $2 to compensate county governments for the increased cost of mailing, Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles said.

The county clerk’s office often handles more than 75,000 tag registration renewals each year, Mr. Knowles said.

“It’s reached a point, with the cost of postage, that the Legislature gave the counties some relief in that cost,” he said.

INDIANA
New Indiana law aims to make cyberspace safer for kids

A new Indiana law bans registered sex offenders from social networking websites.

Jun 27, 2008

SOUTH BEND — A new Indiana law could make cyberspace safer for your children. It will ban registered sex offenders from social networking websites and require them to submit their online information.

With five teenage kids, it’s a sound Julie Tirotta is used to hearing. Her 16-year-old son Colin says hopping online always includes checking his MySpace page, sometimes up to twice a day.

“It’s nice to have it. And sometimes I do get like, ‘man I want to check it real bad!’” he said.

More and more children are spending time on social networking sites like MySpace. And officials say they’re not the only ones.

“Unfortunately it’s also an attractive tool for predators to try and meet up with our kids online,” said Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter.

A new law is aiming to better protect children. It will ban registered sex offenders from social networking websites, chat rooms, and instant messaging programs. It will also require them to submit their email addresses, passwords, and user names to the registry.

“That’s going to create a database that our law enforcement community can then use as they’re doing investigations related to improper solicitation of children on the Internet,” said Carter.

If registered sex offenders make changes to their online information they’ll also have to notify the registry within 72 hours. If they fail to do this, it’s considered a felony.

“So we think that’s a pretty strong deterrent in itself. Will 100 percent of them comply with it? I doubt it. But will a significant number? I think so,” said Carter.

With so many new people hopping online everyday enforcing the new law may be a challenge.

“It’s an escalating battle between the predators and law enforcement with the levels of enforcement that we’re capable of and the levels of deception that they’re capable of,” St. Joseph County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Tamashasky.

“Anything that will help, definitely I think is a good idea,” said parent Julie Tirotta.

The law goes into effect July 1.

Officials say parents can also take steps to learn more about what their kids are doing online. They suggest going to the website netsmartz.org.

Parents can also get software that tracks exactly what words their kids are typing into the computer. Just Google “key logging” and you find a number of websites that offer the software.

Officials also encourage parents to check the history on the browser. This will show you what website your kids have visited.

NORTH CAROLINA
House, Senate discuss sex offenders bill

June 24, 2008

The state House and Senate need to work out their differences on a proposed law that would make it a low-grade felony for registered sex offenders to use social networking web sites.

Sen. Walter Dalton, a Rutherfordton Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor, said the House deleted provisions that should have been included, such as making it a felony to lie to an SBI agent and making in-person solicitation of minors and online solicitation separate offenses.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s office said they want those provisions added back to the bill, Lynn Bonner reports.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper started pushing for the law last year. Back then, the proposal included a requirement to have social networking sites obtain parental consent before they allowed children to join.

Since then, MySpace and Facebook came to agreements with state attorneys general to add safeguards to protect minors from sexual predators.

Many sections of the original bill, including the provision that would have required parental consent for a child to join a social networking site, have been removed.

I came across this “study” last week that basically tried to say there is an educational value to social networking. Bologna. Absolute hogwash.

Here is the article on the study – and my thoughts in red…

Study finds educational value to Facebook and MySpace

Also shows low-income students are just as tech-savvy as their counterparts in some ways (this I believe, absolutely)
Minneapolis Star Tribune via Scripps Howard News Service
June 23, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS — University of Minnesota researchers say they have discovered educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

The same study also found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically savvy as their counterparts. The university says this goes against what results from previous studies have suggested. I find it funny that they have shown so easily what I believe to be un-true, yet are surprised at the discovery that all kids are tech savvy, regardless of income/class.

The information was collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in 13 urban high schools in the Midwest and released Friday by the university.
The study found that of the students observed:

• 94 percent use the Internet. Sounds about right.
• 82 percent go online at home. Little low?
• 77 percent have a profile on a social networking site. Sounds about right, since there have been many stories of kids seeming to grow tired of SNs when they reach the age of the study participants.

When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills at the top, then creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills.
  OK, this is why you should take what kids say as “kid speak.” Learning “technology skills” from a website that is essentially a puzzle: they give you the pieces, you make the layout. How is that a tech skill? Are you considering the ability to log on to a membership website a tech skill? You’re not learning HTML or any sort of in-depth webpage layout. You are learning to conform to what the website allows. You are learning mundane participation.
  “then creativity,”… you can only be so creative with a puzzle. There is only one thing to build. Or maybe, I guess you could say this is like a Lego box. You can follow the directions, or make up your own stuff with the pieces. Sadly, 98% of the MySpace pages I have seen follow the SAME FORMAT… thus, everyone is following the included directions. So how is that creative?
  “being open to new or diverse views and communication skills”… This I believe and WISH it were higher on the ill-conceived list.
Reference: see this post and the link within: Social Networks are a Waste of Time…?!

“Students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today,” said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university’s College of Education and Human Development and lead investigator of the study. Like what, opening a web browser? Following format? “Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. It’s called building a collage – nothing new. They’re also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. OK, that is cool. That is the one redeeming quality of MySpace… no matter how little of a blip you make on the radar, you do have a slice of a stage to present it on.

“The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential.” Ummm… would kids go there if it became an educational tool?

The study also goes against previous findings from the Pew Research Center in 2005 that suggest a “digital divide,” where low-income students are technologically impoverished. The Pew study found that Internet usage by teenagers from families earning $30,000 or below was limited to 73 percent, 21 percentage points below what the University of Minnesota research shows. Yeah, see, I don’t see where a revelation is here. If the family is poor, and they can’t afford the Internet, wouldn’t it be logical that the kids in that family aren’t online as much? Like, when they are home? Yet this stat is not the same as the finding mentioned above about low-income kids being just as tech savvy as the rich kids – that I find to be true. Just because they aren’t online at home, doesn’t mean they aren’t online at all and/or don’t understand the Internet. That’s a dumb assumption. The kind that people who do studies like to make.

The students participating in the university study were from families whose incomes were at or below the county median income (at or below $25,000) and were taking part in Admission Possible, an after-school program aimed at improving college access for low-income youth.

There’s no question that the Internet has evolved into an incredibly important tool for everyone. But for teenagers and young users, it’s not a tool for ease and convenience; it is a necessary part of life. In many ways, it is life. From instant messaging to social networking on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, kids are constantly in touch with one another. But participating in a social network also opens the door to a lot more than just staying in touch with friends. It becomes a portal for online predators to attempt to lure and groom your kids. It also becomes a cyberbully’s best weapon.

As a parent, it’s important to make an educated decision and establish firm rules on social network participation. If you allow your child to participate, make sure you monitor their profile page, passwords, activity, friends and messages. Monitoring software like PC Pandora can help you do that with minimal effort and maximum accuracy. Other parents may want to block access to MySpace or Facebook indefinitely. This is something that can be done on many levels, and it’s another parental control feature that PC Pandora monitoring software can help you with.

There exists a variety of ways to block MySpace.com or any other website. Carefully consider which method you choose to ensure it meets all of your current and future needs. Check out this page that our own Chief Software Evangelist Chris Graham. Woo Hoo! The page is hosted by our buddies Bill and Dave at the CyberHood Watch, Online Security Authority and Responsible Cyber Citizen groups.

How do I Block MySpace?