Dad's Computer Rules

Vicki Davis lists her "11 Steps to Online Parental Supervision of your Children" on her (Cool Cat Teacher Blog, Sept 16, 2006, and Miguel Guhlin riffs on them here. Sensible and sensitive advice.

My list for my (now grown) son which I published in Learning Right From Wrong in the Digital Age.

Dad’s Household Computer Rules

• Do not break the law. I don’t have money for bail or fines.
• Do not invade others’ privacy (and I will respect yours).
• Do not give out ANY personal information about yourself or the family.
• Be truthful about who you say you are in online communications.
• Talk to me if anything about a website concerns or confuses you. I know that bad sites can be accessed accidentally.
• Don’t download and install software without my permission. I mean it.
• Be as smart, skeptical, and cautious online as you are elsewhere.
• Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do if I were watching you. I just might be.

If I were rewriting these today, I would add:

• Watch how much time you spend online. Too much and you'll go blinky and possibly psycho.
  

As of this writing, my son is 1) out of jail, 2) seems to have fairly decent values, and 3) hasn't been abducted by anyone.
 

More on DOPA

Now and then, the Blue Skunk gets a comment in response to an entry that deserves its own entry. This is one:

I work for a group called Mobilizing America’s Youth (Mobilize.org) and this bill (HR 5319) is one of our top priorities. This bill was written by people who do not use social networks on a regular basis. They don’t understand what an important tool they are becoming for the youth of America to connect to one another. We are working to organize yung people from across the country to write to congress and the media informing them of our opinions on social networks. We DON’T support online predators, and recognize the good intent at the heart of the bill bu feel this is the wrong way to go about it.

This bill is also unfair to many economically disadvantaged youth. For these students, their only access to computers and the internet is at schools or libraries. Their families simply cannot afford home access. Denying them the ability to use social networks in the only places they can is denying them tools the more advantaged members of their generation are using to great benefit.

As a college Senior, I have been using MySpace and Facebook to meet new people with similar interests around my school, connect with old friends and keep track of other students in my classes for studying. These sites are a wonderful way for me to connect to other people, and restricting our ability to use them is unfair.

As of right now, the bill has 30 cosigners, a number that grows daily. It is not fading away, and in fact is picking up steam. (Bold mine - Doug)  If this is an issue that matters to you, please tell your representatives about it. It is in the Telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

If you are interested in more information on what Mobilize.org is doing with HR 5319, please visit us at www.mobilize.org/SOS

I am so glad to see others engaging in a dialog about this!

Mandy Mallott
Case Western Reserve University
2100 Fund Coordinator
Mobilize.org

Thanks, Mandy, for your work on this issue and giving me permission to use your response as a new blog entry. OK, folks, have you written to your legislators yet?

New report on censorware

From “LisNews” for 5/17/06:

"…The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) , requires censorware in most schools and libraries for adults and minors alike. A new report from the Free Expression Policy Project <http://www.fepproject.org/>  at the Brennan Center for Justice explains the effects of CIPA and then analyzes nearly 100 tests and studies that demonstrate how filters operate as censorship tools. "Internet Filters: A Public Policy Report" concludes: Although some may say that the debate is over and that filters are now a fact of life, it is never too late to rethink bad policy choices.

(Thanks to Nancy Walton at the Minnesota Department of Education for this.)

Have a wonderful, filter-free weekend.