Family Tech Blog

Tag: browser

  • What Are Browser Cookies? How Do They Work?

    What Are Browser Cookies? How Do They Work?

    Facebook and Google have both had their major development announcement events over the past couple of weeks. They have both focused highly on privacy, and what they’re going to do to protect users data. This comes as no surprise because many governments have called them to action in this department saying that they have to protect their users’ data more securely. Since privacy is such a major topic as these events, the term cookies is being thrown around all over the place. You’ll see article after article talking about what Google is going to do with your cookies and what Facebook is doing with your cookies and how advertising companies are tracking you using your cookies. You even get a little pop-up banner when you go to a new website that says, “Hey there, we use cookies.”

    What’s the big deal about cookies?

    There was a day where when you would log onto a website, you were basically visiting it for the first time every time. Cookies help make sure that when you go to a website that website remembers you and may even remember what you did the last time you were there. Here is how that works: I open my browser and sign on to a site, as if to say: “Hi, my name is Michael and I’m going to www.teachmeaboutcookies.com.” That website hands me a “cookie” and says keep this for when you return. We’ll look for this cookie, and when we will remember you so you won’t be starting from the very beginning when you log on to our website.” That is called a first party cookie. First party cookies are how websites remember that you logged in so you don’t have to log in every time you go there or how Amazon remembers what’s in your shopping cart so you can go back to Amazon.com two or three times this week and add things to your cart and order it all at once later without having to log in again every time you go. That’s how a first party cookie works.

    Here’s how third-party cookies work. I go onto teachmeaboutcookies.com and they give me that cookie that I need to have so that I will be recognized again when I return to the website. That cookie is stored in my browser. However, there are ads on this page. There’s an ad from YouTube telling me to go watch these videos, there’s an ad from safe.becausefamily.org saying, “Hey, you should learn about tech safety interested in cookies.” These ads have little bits of code in the website you’re visiting and are now sending cookies to your browser and saving them there. Every time you go to any website on the internet with advertising it is adding more third-party cookies which are all being stored in your browser. All of that ad tracking data is saved in your browser through their cookies so when you go to other websites they will know what ads you’ve seen and responded to and will put ads for more things similar to that on other websites that you visit. That’s how third-party cookies work.

    The reason “browser cookies” has been in the news these days is not because of the first party cookie being put onto your website to make it easier and more convenient for you to use that website. We like not having to log in every time we visit a website, we are happy to go back to a shopping cart in which everything has been saved or revisit a form we started days ago and continue filling it out from right where we left off. We can do this because of first-party cookies. The latest issues are coming from third-party cookies. The government and many privacy agencies and internet safety experts, including myself, would like for companies to be held a little more accountable for what they do with those third-party cookies.

    What Parents Should Know

    Cookies and other web traffic information is often taken and then sold to help other ad agencies that you never connected with in the past create profiles on you. Then you can be advertised to more effectively and therefore buy more stuff. The issue gets even bigger because our kids are using these websites and apps and this data is being collected on them. Even they are having profiles created that track how they use the internet and the apps that they use for advertising purposes. Companies are beginning to wake up to the fact that people don’t want their data sold and traded all over the place like it’s the stock market. They’re starting to do things like Google announced with Chrome being more strict on how websites use cookies that they store on your browser. Safari has done the same thing recently. There are other browsers such as Brave or Duck Duck Go that are very strict on how advertising code is used when you surf the internet. There are even certain laws requiring companies to be transparent about how they use cookies on their website. That’s why you get those annoying little pop-ups that you just click ok on just to get them out of the way. I recommend you click more information next time go and see what they do with the information that they get from you and you browse their website. You might be surprised.

    Unfortunately, opting out of that cookie storage is not really that simple to do. However, you can go in and clear your cookies on any browser that you use. I advise you to ask yourself this question. Do the websites that I’m using need my web browsing information in order to serve me properly? Some websites actually do. Amazon can’t really sell me stuff I’m interested in if it’s not allowed to collect the type of data it needs to know what I’m interested in. Facebook can’t allow me to just log on a check my notifications real quick without entering a password without first-party cookies allowing it to. Ask yourself, “Does this website need my information to work? If so, great, I’ll allow it. Otherwise, if you’re just browsing or you’re just looking at something or if you’re on somebody’s blog or something then there is no reason for them to collect your information. You must protect your cookies.

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  • Two Ways Your Snaps Can End Up Anywhere On the Web

    Two Ways Your Snaps Can End Up Anywhere On the Web

    One of my initial internet safety tips for parents is to turn off location data for their camera. Many of them do this immediately upon hearing my advice. The problem, however, is that they then jump over to Facebook and Snapchat to use that camera and their location settings are as public as can be. Today’s news gives us even more information about how your location data is used by Snapchat and Snapmap.

    Embedding

    Snap has opened up the ability to “embed” a snap into a website. This means that if your snap is public, a code can be copied and pasted so that your post shows up on the site that contains the embed code. It’s easy to do and really isn’t a new concept since public Facebook videos and photos can be embedded by default as well. I’ve embedded a snap from Disney on Ice in Des Plaines, Illinois:

    SnapMap

    Snapmap went into browsers today. This means that you don’t have to have the Snapchat app to see public posts overlayed onto a map of anywhere in the world. Concentrations of Snaps show up as colored dots that range from light blue (few Snaps) to bright red (high concentration of Snaps.) When you click on these colors you see the Snaps in a slideshow style format. They appear as most recent first and move to the past as you click or watch until the end of each post.

    Most of the Snap-map posts highlight breaking news (i.e. the recent ice storm in my area or a basketball game or concert) but it will sometimes feature posts from the general user if their posts are relevant and set to public. Posts are curated by a team of news editors. The idea is that Snapchat wants news organizations and sites to use their map to highlight current events and breaking news in real time. This offers a real opportunity to see real news, as it happens. It could also be dangerous if your kids aren’t setting their Snapchat settings to private or friends only.

    What Parents Should Know

    Location privacy is a major concern for parents. We post more of our private lives online than ever before and a map that highlights where we are and what we are up to can be considered a privacy disaster. Especially when it comes to our kids. Users of Snapchat are meant to be 13 years old or older. Some kids under than 13 spend a lot of time on the app, though, and their snaps are, therefore, available to be used as news coverage on this public map. I consider this a real problem for parents.

    I would recommend that if your kids use Snapchat, you ensure that they have their profiles set to private or friends only. Disable the Snapmap (put it in Ghost Mode) so that what they are posting won’t show up. Not taking these precautions could lead to your home address being featured on Snapchat’s map and even someone else’s website. Take location privacy serious. Talk to your kids about staying private, encourage them to never post anything they wouldn’t be comfortable being seen by anyone in the world. The internet isn’t private and social media is growing increasingly more public. Your kids need to understand that.

  • Snapchat Update Adds New Effects and Sharable Links

    Snapchat Update Adds New Effects and Sharable Links

    Snapchat’s latest update will give the camera background effects and allow you to change your voice without using one of their filters. The other major feature is the ability to share links and open them within Snapchat’s very own browser. While you can’t type a url into the address bar at the top of the browser you can click around online and end up at any website you’d like. That’s right, that means your kids can now browse the internet within Snapchat. This has always been possible in other social media apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook but now Snapchat will allow users to tap right on a picture and open a link without leaving the app.

    What Parents Should Know

    If the Discover Page, disappearing photos, private video chat, and SnapMap isn’t enough to put this on your uninstall list, perhaps the ability to access the entire internet without leaving the app will help you pull the trigger. Yes, this feature is available in other social media apps but when you factor in all of the other features that can be a detriment to your internet safety plan it puts Snapchat at the top of my uninstall list.

  • Uninstall Instagram? Your Kid Can Still Use It!

    Uninstall Instagram? Your Kid Can Still Use It!

    Many of the tools parents use to protect their children depend on being notified what apps they have and are using most often. When it comes to social media, being able to monitor posts and direct messages is critical. Sometimes, finding something you didn’t want to see will result in forcing your child to uninstall the app from their device. Until recently, Instagram has been a social media platform that only allows users to post from within the app. Therefore, uninstalling was a good solution for parents who wanted to give their kids some sort of time out. Instagram has just updated their mobile site and it’s going to ruin everything.

    Instagram’s mobile browser update allows users to post photos and use the explore feature without having the app installed. This means that the most major features of the app are available. You still aren’t able to send direct messages through the mobile site, which is a good thing, but posting, viewing posts and accounts, and finding new accounts through search and explore are now accessible. This update is meant to give access to Instagram in countries and areas who have limited  access to app stores or network services. Being able to use Instagram without an app means that more and more people across the country and the world will have an opportunity to share pictures of their lunch or coffee.

    What Parents Should Know

    There is a simple way to monitor what your kids are doing on Instagram, whether it’s on the app or in the browser. I recommend installing Instagram on your own device and adding their account. Even if you have an account of your own, you can add another one and see everything they have been doing. Using the mobile browser will definitely affect your ability to “ground” your kid from social media but there are ways to avoid that to. Here are a couple of options.

    1. Remove access to browsers within the parental controls or restrictions of their device or your parental control apps.
    2. Put instagram.com on the blacklist in your filters or in the “red flag list” on your accountability software.
    3. Take the entire device from your child until the grounding is over. Make them use the family computer for any online activities they must do. This will really give an extra impact to the punish.

    Instagram isn’t inherently bad, of course. Just like any site or app with user generated content you’re going to find inappropriate content. These things can’t usually be filtered so monitoring what they are doing is critical. The most common issue is time spent on social media. Teens are spending upwards of six hours a day online and many of those hours are on some form of social media. If time is your concern, then a simple uninstall of the app won’t cut it anymore. You have to lock down some of the browser options as well. Otherwise, you’re only keeping them from a couple of the features of Instagram, not the entire platform.