Pandora’s Blog

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?

Let’s have a bit of fun and pick on MySpace today. No secret I am not a fan of social networking. Here are two more reasons why parents should not be fans either, and why they should be closely monitoring what their child does on MySpace…

For the first story my only reaction is: ridiculous. For the second story, at least these parents were concerned and playing the role of the enforcer. Their child went behind their backs. This should be the lesson to NOT trust your teens!! You think they are truthful? If the Bennett’s had PC Pandora, they would have head the head’s up ahead of time… I’m not faulting them – I’m just saying that others should learn from the events.

PC Pandora can play a vital role in keeping kids safe online in the current net world. It will arm parents with the knowledge of what their child does and who they are talking to online. Whether it is online predators, cyberbullying, illegal downloads or internet-based addictions, parents need to know. Without that knowledge, both the parents and kids don’t stand a chance. Check out our PC Pandora monitoring software and be a powerful 21st century parent!

Police: Debate over MySpace page fuels stabbing
June 26, 2008

DOVER, N.J. - Police say an 18-year-old in Dover stabbed her boyfriend’s 12-year-old niece in a squabble over MySpace.

Police say Stephanie Torres found the 12-year-old erasing a comment on her page Wednesday.

Police say Torres used an inch-long folding knife that hung from her keychain to stab the girl three times.

The girl, identified by her grandmother as Stephanie Usche, had wounds to her neck, arm and rib.

Torres, who has been charged twice in the past with assault, is charged with aggravated assault and weapons possession charges.

MySpace linked to Vermont girl’s disappearance
Friday, June 27, 2008

BROOKFIELD, Vt. - An Amber Alert was issued yesterday for a 12-year-old girl who disappeared after being dropped off at a convenience store where she told family members she was going to meet a girlfriend.

But police believe Brooke Bennett lied about meeting the girlfriend and may have been bound for a meeting with an unknown individual she had communicated with through MySpace, an online social networking site.

Bennett, of Braintree, was reported missing around 9 p.m. Wednesday, about 12 hours after her uncle and cousin dropped her off at a Cumberland Farms store in Randolph.

She told family members she was going to meet her friend and then go to visit a sick relative of the friend at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., according to Vermont State Police Capt. David Covell.

“It is the family members’ opinion that that was a ruse to the family to get to that location,” said Covell.

Surveillance camera footage from the Cumberland Farms store showed Brooke being dropped off by her uncle and cousin, according to Covell. The footage, which police would not release, showed Brooke walking away from the store by herself, headed toward the village of Randolph, they said.

She hasn’t been seen since.

A family member searching for her yesterday in Brookfield - near her uncle’s home, where she spent the night - found items belonging to her near Route 65 that were similar to what she had been wearing, prompting an intensive search by police and dogs in the area of the Floating Bridge.

Police haven’t identified the person she was communicating with, but Vermont State Police computer experts were analyzing the computer in a bid to learn more, authorities said.

The girl established her first MySpace account under her father’s supervision, but he later pulled the plug on it a couple of months ago after they learned about some of her activity on it, according to the father, James Bennett, 41, of Bethel.

“We told her when we set it up there that’s things you’re not gonna do,” he said. “We had a little respect problem after a month or so, so we shut it off. There was an issue, and we decided it was not appropriate for her to have it. We changed the password so she couldn’t use it,” he said.

She later set up an account from another computer, which Bennett said he didn’t know until a week ago.

PC Pandora warns parents to make sure they monitor their home computers while kids roam free on family machines all day long during summer months.

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 26, 2008 — Security of the home computer continues to be a hot and important issue for families. But one aspect of security that is frequently and easily overlooked is the ability to track harmful changes and recover lost data.

“Another item on the ’safe PC’ list is the ability to know everything that happens on your machine,” explains Manuel Coats, Co-founder of Pandora Corp., makers of PC Pandora monitoring software. “There is lot that can happen to your PC, on purpose or by accident, that can have an affect on its performance - and on your safety. If the wrong files get deleted, you can have a seriously corrupted system. Even worse, if the wrong setting is changed or the wrong files deleted, you could find yourself locked out of your own bank account or even have your private passwords and personal information opened up to anyone that cares to look.”

The summer months are here and that means kids will be spending more time on the family computers. It also means that the chances of something happening to those machines increases.

“Young users are more prone to accidental deletions,” says Chief Software Evangelist Chris Graham. “If you have a record of everything that happened, you can isolate the problem and have a better shot at fixing it.”

There is also the case of illegal activity being performed on a family PC. Whether it’s downloading pirated music and movies, or even inappropriate and illegal photos of underage peers, the computer’s owner is the one who will answer to authorities.

“In some cases, kids may be trying to cover their tracks,” says Coats. “Either way, that’s just one more reason to be monitoring your computer’s activity with software like our PC Pandora.”

PC Pandora is monitoring software that records all user activity. By taking sequential snapshots of all activity on screen, PC Pandora effectively acts as a DVR for your PC. The snapshots will allow you to see everything that happened on your computer, telling you who did what and when. 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.

“PC Pandora will effectively give parents a full visual and documented recording of everything that happens,” says Coats. “They’ll be able to fix problems quickly, and hold their children accountable for their online activity.”

And what do you do once you’ve isolated the problem or issue?

“Then, you can recover and restore the files with our Pandora Recovery program,” explains Graham, “which is available as a free download or as a mobile USB Flash Drive model. It’s a great tool to help you get back anything that has been lost or deleted - whether it be by accident or on purpose.”

Coats adds, “In other words, Pandora Recovery will help you retrieve, or uncover, those tracks your children tried so hard to cover.”

Security to your home PC is essential in today’s networked and connected world. Having the ability to know everything that happens on your machine can play a vital role in fixing system errors and putting a stop to illegal activity. Monitoring software like PC Pandora 5.0 and data recovery programs like Pandora Recovery are imperative security measures.

A 2-hour trial of PC Pandora is available at the company’s website. As a special promotion for National Internet Safety Month, Pandora Corp. is offering the software at a discounted price; parents can use the code ’safe08′ at checkout to get $10 off the Standard or Pro editions of the program.

Pandora Recovery is available for FREE at the Pandora Recovery website. Recovery Mobile can be purchased alone or within the Pandora PowerPack, which includes 4 licenses for PC Pandora - a great value for families and small businesses.

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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Even though this is a press release of sorts, it is nonetheless impressive… and from my home state. Still, despite these valiant efforts and large successes, the sickos are still out there and parents still need to be monitoring their child’s internet activity with software like PC Pandora.

Internet Crime Task Force Nets 60 Arrests
ALBANY—Law enforcement officials from across the state joined State Police Deputy Supt. Pedro J. Perez in Albany Tuesday to announce the results of Operation Safe Internet and to remind the public and parents of potential dangers on the Internet.

Operation Safe Internet is a federally funded initiative targeting Internet crime from perspectives of enforcement and public outreach and education about Internet Safety.

“This time of year children will be getting out of school for summer and will have more time to be online”, NYSP Supt. Harry J. Corbitt said. “Although the home may seem safe, I encourage parents to take a more active role in supervising their children while they are on the Internet and to make themselves aware of the prevalence of predators using computer technology”.

The initiative conducted by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC)
Task Force between March and May of 2008 resulted in the following:

• Over 350 investigations initiated throughout the State involving the online sexual exploitation of children, child pornography possession and dissemination, as well as online frauds or scams.
• Prosecutors issuing over 180 subpoenas pursuant to these investigations.
• Law Enforcement personnel executing over 50 search warrants across the State.
• The ICAC Task Force made over 60 arrests during this three month period, with more arrests anticipated. Arrests were made for possession of sexual performance by a child, promoting of sexual performance by a child, identity theft, and unauthorized use of a computer.

Additionally, during the same three month period, the ICAC Task Force has provided:

• Presentations to over 22,000 parents, teachers, school officials and law enforcement personnel.
• Disseminated approximately 2,000 brochures, flyers and other publications to schools, and many government agencies regarding Internet Safety, ID Theft and online fraud prevention.
  The NYSP Computer Crime Unit provided extensive forensic support during this operation, including:
• Field examinations of digital evidence involving over 200 computers, cell phones and other storage devices.
• Laboratory examinations of digital evidence involving over 40 computers, cell phones and other storage devices to facilitate arrests and other court proceedings.

The ICAC Task Force, partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Ad Council, have compiled a series of public service announcements that are being made available to the media and posted on the New York State Police website. These PSAs cover such topics as cyber-bullying, and online sexual predators.

Additionally, the ICAC Task Force, the National White Collar Crime Center and the New York State Police are producing additional Internet safety PSAs to disseminate prior to the commencement of school year this fall.

In 1998, the NY State Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was established and is headquartered at the Forensic Investigation Center in Albany. The original agency participants of this task force were the NY State Police, state Attorney General and NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Currently there are currently 16 agencies that participate in the NY State ICAC Task Force.

• NY State Police
• NY State Attorney General
• NY State Division of Criminal Justice Services
• US Attorney (4 Districts in NY)
• Westchester County District Attorney
• Oneida County District Attorney
• Onondaga County District Attorney
• Rockland County Sheriff’s Office
• Niagara County Sheriff’s Office
• Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
• Warren County Sheriff’s Office
• Ulster County Sheriff’s Office
• New York City Police
• Suffolk County Police
• Nassau County Police
• Utica City Police

Since 1998 the ICAC Task Force has been the primary law enforcement entity in this State providing:

• Coordination of statewide investigations involving the online exploitation of children.
• Expert testimony in cases which involve digital evidence and the Internet.
• Presentations to over 100,000 parents, teachers, administrators regarding Internet safety.
• Training over 4,300 law enforcement personnel regarding Internet safety awareness.
• Liaison to Federal agencies and other ICAC Task Forces in the US during multi-State investigations.
• Liaison with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to prevent the online victimization of children.

Not so lucky for these sickos. It’s everyone’s favorite blog post – the weekly online predator round-up. This week we feature three new dirty old bastards that are the reasons behind parents needing to closely monitor and be wary of who their children talk to online. Monitoring software like PC Pandora can help you keep your kid safe from nasty pervs like this.

Cambria County Man Faces New Child Pornography Charges
June 20, 2008

HARRISBURG – A Cambria County man, who was arrested in December 2007 by agents from the Child Predator Unit, faces new charges as a result of forensic agents discovering multiple instances of child pornography on his computers.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said that Allen Stossel, 43, Hastings, was arrested on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007 by agents from the Child Predator Unit. Agents also executed a search of Stossel’s home, seizing multiple computers and digital storage devices which were analyzed by the Attorney General’s Computer Forensics Unit as part of an ongoing investigation.

Corbett said as a result of the forensic examination, agents found six photographic images and fourteen videos which contained children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual activity.

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I came across a news study that was recently released and made just a blip on the radar screen outside of the upstate New York area (where it came from). It’s one of those things where, yes, there is good info. But if you are in the loop, you know it already… well, you know it if you have the ability to notice trends within news stories.

Here is the link to the full report: rit-cyber-survey

Now, below is a direct cut and paste (with proper links) to their press releases on the study. I have interjected my comments in red. Please know, I agree with everything in here…

June 18, 2008

‘Startling New Reality’ of Cybercrime Revealed in RIT Research
Children frequently utilize technology to prey on friends and classmates online

There’s a new cyber enemy for parents to worry about—and it’s not the stereotypical middle-aged stranger that has long been feared. This new threat lurks not only in cyberspace but in the school yard, the classroom and, at times, the home.

A Rochester Institute of Technology study of more than 40,000 adolescents reveals that 59 percent of cyber victims, in grades 7-9, say their perpetrators are a ‘friend’ that they know personally. That perpetrator, according to the survey, is also significantly more likely to be a fellow student than an adult.
I thought we already knew this?

“Most people have long thought the perpetrators of cybercrime to be some ‘boogey man’ holed up in his attic, searching the Internet for children to prey on,” says Sam McQuade, who led the research effort and is the graduate program coordinator in RIT’s Center for Multidisciplinary Studies. “While that is certainly something to be feared, the startling new reality is today’s children are most frequently preying on each other online—and their parents rarely have any idea it’s happening.”
This whole theory was “debunked” a while ago. Plus, if you are a parent and ask any kid on the street – they will most certainly tell you they are being bullied online before they mention being harassed by predators. Again, good research, but nothing new here to anyone savvy in the field.

McQuade’s research was designed to determine the nature and extent of cybercrime abuse and victimization by and among adolescents. The survey was administered to students in Kindergarten-through-12th grade, varying by grade level, in 14 different school districts.

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A few weeks ago, the Working to Halt Online Abuse-Kids/Teens Division (WHOA-KTD) released the results of a survey conducted last year on Cyberbullying and Online Predators. Some great material in here. I am paraphrasing from their blog post on the subject, and have requested a formal document that I can post here and also share.

Here are some highlights:
395 school students participated in the survey. The study was made up of 193 males and 202 females who ranged in ages from 11 to 19 years old and were spread out in grades six through twelve.

• 28% of students have been cyberbullied
• Just over half tell their parents or another adult about it
• 65% reported the cyberbullying was via IM, followed by email, MySpace, chat rooms and online games
• 43% were cyberbullied by someone their age or in the same grade
• Of the students who did not report the cyberbullying, 25% felt it wasn’t a big problem or didn’t want to make a big deal out of it
• 30% blocked or deleted the cyberbully, while 16% ignored them
• Surprisingly, 54 students admitted they had bullied somebody online themselves.
• When questioned if they had ever been contacted by a stranger while they were online, 165 said yes. That contact was facilitated via IM (AOL, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, or other), followed by MySpace or Chat (AOL, Yahoo or other), Email and online gaming web sites. To a lesser degree, contact was also made through eBay or other auction sites, text messages/SMS, websites, blogs and Xanga.

Clearly, as I’ve noted before, cyberbullying is the major issue with kids. In the age of anonymous bullying and the ability to reach more people, faster, with online slander, cyberbullying is a serious problem that parents need to be aware of and be proactive in stopping. It is the perfect reason to use PC Pandora monitoring software. You need to know if your child is a victim and not saying anything (which, most often, is the case); you also need to know if your child is the bully so you can stop it!

For complete protection of your children and your family, KNOW what they are doing online with monitoring software like our PC Pandora.

This is from Canada, and it doesn’t say if software was used – but the lesson here is that involved parenting works!!

Parents Monitoring Internet Use Leads To Man’s Arrest
June 18, 2008

CBC News — Vigilant parents were a key factor in the arrest of a man charged with luring a child over the internet, Alberta RCMP say.

Parents in Airdrie, 30 kilometres north of Calgary, were monitoring their child’s internet use when they discovered “concerning” material and called police, RCMP Const. Francine Hiebert said Wednesday.

Warning signs

• Your child spends lots of time online, especially at night.
• He or she receives phone calls long distance or from numbers you don’t recognize.
• Your child receives mail, gifts or packages from a stranger.
• Your child turns off the monitor or quickly changes what is on the screen when you enter the room.
• There is pornography on your child’s computer.

An investigation by RCMP and the Calgary Integrated Child Exploitation Unit led to the arrest of an Airdrie man, 51, on Tuesday. He’s been charged with using the internet to lure a child under the age of 16 for the purpose of facilitating a sexual offence.

The suspect is scheduled to appear in Airdrie provincial court on Aug. 19.

“You have to give credit to these parents,” Hiebert said.

“I would like to remind parents to protect their children from falling victim… to predators over the internet,” she said, pointing out that open communication about what kids are doing online is key to keeping them safe.

She also suggested moving the family computer to a common area where it can be easily monitored.

To parents everywhere: being involved and monitoring is the key. If you are looking for that extra help – for less than the price of a tank of gas, you can get that help with PC Pandora monitoring software. You can see where your child goes, and who they chat with online. You can see emails, IM and passwords. Why filter, block and guess… why not KNOW!? PC Pandora hands you that knowledge, effortlessly and flawlessly.

Thought I’d share some good news on behalf of three US States and their progress on keeping the Internet safe for their kids.

• In Massachusetts, the House passed reforms to the current Sex Offender Laws that will better protect children from sex offenders through the enforcement of tougher sentences and enhanced tracking of online predators.
• In Pennsylvania, the House has introduced legislation that would place tighter controls on Internet usage by certain convicted child predators.
• And, finally, in Illinois the Internet Safety Education Curriculum Bill requires school districts to incorporate curriculum on Internet safety to students in third through 12th grade beginning in the 2009-10 school year. Very similar to Virginia’s recently passed law. The bill has passed the legislature and is awaiting the Governor signature.

The full articles are below; soak ‘em in. But remember that no matter how tough the laws are, they only work when someone is caught – and even then they have flaws. The best protection starts in the home with the parents. Use tools like PC Pandora monitoring software to make sure your kids aren’t chatting with strangers. Remember, kids are kids – they won’t tell you everything. Knowing for sure what they are doing online can save their lives – and you a lot of headaches. Be a powerful 21st century parent with PC Pandora.

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