Family Tech Blog

Tag: privacy

  • We Bought Four Amazon Echo Dots!

    We Bought Four Amazon Echo Dots!

    Well, it is Prime Day and as usual, there are some deeply discounted items available on Amazon. My family usually looks but doesn’t buy on Prime Day, hoping to be able to predict the discounts we may see on Cyber Monday or Black Friday in a few weeks. We especially avoid any smart speaker or digital assistant hardware since we have always had (well informed) privacy issues and concerns. This year it has been different. We caved and bought Amazon Echo Dots for the whole family. Here’s why.

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    They’ll Be Perfect for Our New Home

    Our forever family home is being built and we are planning a move-in just a few months from now. We are going to have more space for the six of us than we have ever had, especially in the kids’ rooms, the master suite, and the kitchen/dining great room. We’ll be a bit more spread out than we’ve ever been and the Echo has some great options for communicating throughout your home without having to scream up the stairs or down the hallway. The intercom feature was a deal sealer for both my wife and myself. The kids are pretty excited too.

    Digital Homeschool Help

    More of us are homeschooling than ever now and with four kids, all doing school work nearly every day, we need help sometimes. YouTube can be great to present some complicated concepts in helpful ways (7th-grade math, anyone) but my kids looking at screens and using a Google Search for spelling or calculator solutions isn’t the safest proposition. Alexa (the Virtual Assistant on Amazon Echo) will answer your spelling, language arts, science, and math questions with no risky search results or screen use at all. It is more important for my kids to know how to get information than it is that they know the info when they pass a grade. Alexa and other Virtual Assistants are the new waves of information access and they aren’t going away. They’re only getting smarter and faster.

    Less Screen Time

    My kids, like all kids, love to sit around and look at a phone or tablet. We are constantly having to get on to them about their obsessive behavior. We try to set better examples, we don’t always succeed, but giving them alternatives is very helpful. The Echo Dot is a smart speaker without a screen. At night, when the kids want to listen to a podcast or music for bedtime they can ask Alexa to play it for them instead of having their screens in their faces right up to when they fall asleep. Studies have shown this isn’t good for their sleep and can actually very detrimental to their development. With parental controls on the subscription services we use and on Alexa itself, we can ensure that our kids aren’t looking at their screens and are only listening to music and podcasts we’ve approved of.

    Safety and Security Upgrades

    All of this is great but digital safety and data security are always an issue. Especially with artificial intelligence that is designed to learn about you in order to be more useful to you. There is an obvious trade-off. You’re giving it information in exchange for convenience. I believe most of us consider that an acceptable exchange, considering Alexa and Google Home have been some of the fastest tech product to be integrated into people’s homes. The truth is that we have been making this exchange for a long time without really thinking about it. Every post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, every search on Google, and every purchase or browsing session on Amazon has been used to build a database of advertising information about you. This can be scary to many but in all honesty, that ship has sailed and you raised the sails for it to do so.

    When you use these sites, you allow them access to your information. Alexa is no different and my family has considered the risks and decided it’s worth it. First of all, we already get targeted ads because we do so much of our shopping on Amazon and searching on Google. Secondly, the latest models of Amazon Echo Dot have added features like a hardware button to turn off the microphone that makes us feel like we can avoid being listened to when we don’t want to be listened to.

    Risk/Reward

    When you narrow it down it is a consideration of opportunity cost. You have an opportunity for convenience but it will cost some of your info. At a $19.99 price point, the Echo Dot is a great deal right now on Prime Day so we bought four of them. They’ll be here in a couple of days and I’ll set one up and let you know how it all goes. Stay tuned for my (late but in-depth) review of the Amazon Echo Dot as a tool for controlling kids’ screen time.

    If you shop the Amazon Prime Day today, consider using http://smile.amazon.com and signing up to support our non-profit, Four Point Families. You’ll have to search for Four Point Families and select it as the organization you’d like to partner with. Then Amazon will send .5% of your purchase our way to help us continue to protect families. Thanks.

     

  • CES2020 | Protecting Your Family’s Privacy and Data

    CES2020 | Protecting Your Family’s Privacy and Data

    Walking the show floor at CES can be a major assault on the senses. Every booth has music and lights and giant screens or projectors showcasing the latest and best of their technology offerings. One thing that is cutting through all of the noise, however, is the need for tech companies to earn the trust of their target consumers. Voice control, smart home technology, and data mining for convenience in retail are on the rise. The companies who use our information to make our lives easier have to convince us that they are going to stop there. The good news is that it seems they are understanding this truth.

    Protecting Your Family’s Privacy and Data

    Robin Raskin, the founder of Living in Digital Times, said that trust will be a major theme at CES this year. I spent several days on the CES show floors and I can tell you this is the truth. Car manufacturers are explaining how their tech is built to keep you safe. They are saying that the information gathered about you is meant to make the goal of safety more attainable. Convenience is being showcased at nearly every booth on the floor as well. Convenience requires data, so it is no surprise to see these exhibitors featuring their privacy policies upfront for all to see. Even toy makers are touting their focus on privacy. The connected toys your children will play with shouldn’t be tracking their every move.

    Trust and Responsibility

    Protecting your family’s privacy and data is a huge responsibility. The responsibility for data privacy, security, and trust are shared, though. We, as consumers need to know the role we play in protecting our information. There are key factors we must keep in mind when thinking about security. Our passwords are very important. We must make sure we have different passwords across our online accounts. Also, be careful to use passwords that aren’t too easy to guess. Finally, we have to remember to set the security settings on our new smart devices when we take them out of the box. That new thermostat or camera is connected to the internet. That makes it susceptible to hacking and therefore security settings must be set. If your device offers “two-factor” authentication then set that up as well. It can seem inconvenient but it will protect you from a lot of trouble in the future.

    Companies can only do so much to protect your data and security. They can give you tools to protect yourself but they can’t force you to use them. Check out my other articles on data privacy HERE.

    One last important tip is that you only buy smart home devices from well-known, trusted companies. Most of the time, these larger tech companies have had multiple levels of scrutiny concerning their privacy policies. Some smaller developers from other countries will have had less accountability for what they do with your information. Their products cost less and seem to work in the same way but you aren’t guaranteed the safety settings some of the larger companies will give you. All of these products are a privacy risk but you’re likely to have more transparency from a larger, more established company.

    A Caveat.

    Some privacy/security startups are making big waves right now. They are smaller companies that have security and privacy in “front-of-mind” as they develop their technology. My advice is to ask questions and look for more info on their privacy policies. Some of this new security tech is very cool and will be very helpful. Others are taking advantage of the new focus on privacy to sell more stuff that doesn’t work. Be a wise consumer. That is the most critical step in protecting your privacy.

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  • Instagram is Adding Useless Age Verification to Comply with Child Privacy Laws

    Instagram is Adding Useless Age Verification to Comply with Child Privacy Laws

    Users on most social media platforms are supposed to be 13 years old or older. Some apps have had a form of age verification available for a long time. This allowed them to collect data on all of their users without failing to comply with child privacy laws since you can’t have an account if you’re 12 or younger. They then, as much discussed on this blog and elsewhere, sell that data to advertisers or use it to sell targeted advertising on their own platform. Instagram hasn’t had age verification since it started. That is changing as of this week.

    You may have already seen your birthday show up on your profile in the Instagram app. Don’t worry, that information isn’t public, only you can see it. All users will have their birthday information on their profile as of this week. If the birth year used to create your profile shows that you are under the age of 13, your account will be suspended. When setting up a new Instagram account, the app will now ask for you to put in your birth date.

    “Asking for this information will help prevent underage people from joining Instagram, help us keep young people safer and enable more age-appropriate experiences overall,” the company wrote. “In the coming months, we will use the birthday information you share with us to create more tailored experiences, such as education around account controls and recommended privacy settings for young people.”

    Asking for users ages has already been a part of major social media apps like Snapchat but Instagram hadn’t added it to their sign up process yet. TikTok added age verification after being fined nearly 6 million dollars by the Federal Trade Commission. The problem with these age verification practices is that they are fully reliant on users being honest about their age. All you have to do is a little bit of math to determine when you have to have been born to be over 12 years old. When you enter your new determined birth-date you would be allowed into the app just like anyone else. Parents have been known to lie about their kids ages to allow them to have social media accounts, this is allowed by COPPA as it counts as parent permission. The problem is that developers of these apps can’t tell the difference between a parent making an an account for their child or the kid making their own and lying about their age.

    What Parents Should Know

    Age verifications on social media apps are a hand wave towards regulations that depend solely on users to take the rules into account when using the apps. This means that they aren’t concerned with the safety of users as much as their own ability to skirt around fines and other regulations from the Federal Trade Commission. It is very obvious that these apps are meant to be open and as public as possible. The want as many users as they can get because they aren’t social media companies, these are advertising companies. They sell ads, plain and simple. When you sign up to use social media you are signing up to be advertised to specifically and aggressively. When we sign our kids up and lie about their age we are telling these companies to treat them just like any other consumer.

    If you are honest with yourself, the reason you’re allowing your young kids to use social media is pretty weak. Because their friends have it? Because a teacher says that’s how they contact students? There are ways around any of the reasons you think lead to your hands being tied. All it takes is your own knowledge of what being on these social media apps means for your kids and then a little bit of confidence to just say no. Stand up to your kid, you are the parent after all, or stand up to that teacher or coach. Ask them why they want to contact your 12 year old on social media anyway, does that sound appropriate to you? I submit that in nearly any other context it would not be acceptable.

    You are the first line of defense. Advertising and data collection is the main issue that the government leans on when saying they are trying to protect children online. There are, however, so many other issues to be concerned with. Pornography is rampant on apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. You se report after report of young people discussing suicide, mental health problems, and eating disorders on these apps. This information is just sitting there for our children to see. When you give in and allow them to use social media at an early age simply because you think it’s no big deal, or you trust your child, you are allowing things into their minds that cannot be unseen. You’re giving them access to a world that cannot be left behind. Once you know about or begin to contemplate these things, they are permanently a part of your psyche. We must do better. We have to be smarter about our children’s access apps with user generated content. Whether it be games, social media, or any other software. We cannot trust software companies to do the right thing. They are looking after their bottom line first. It is up to us to protect our children. Not the government, not app developers, not the schools, or even police departments and social workers. It is up to you, mom, dad, aunt uncle, grandma, and grandpa. Only you.

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  • Youtube’s New Kids Content Policies Explained

    Youtube’s New Kids Content Policies Explained

    Starting today, all creators are required to mark their content as made for kids or not made for kids in YouTube Studio. -YouTube Creators Email

    YouTube will be limiting the data they collect form videos that are targeting children. This is in effort to comply with the FTC’s demands that they be responsible for the information they gather on their site which lists children among their most frequent audience members. Wording in the email suggests that YouTube is “helping” creators comply with COPPA as well as meeting the demands the Federal Trade Commission put on YouTube as a media company.

    YouTube will use an algorithm to monitor content for child centric content and flag it as such if it is not flagged by the creator of the video. The email reminds creators to be vigilant to properly tag their videos if they are made for children as failure to comply could cause them to be in violation of the FTC’s demands.

    The FTC has outlined what constitutes children’s content and YouTube has that information available on their support page. YouTube’s announcement briefly defines children’s content as:

    • It is directed to children as the primary audience (e.g. videos for preschoolers).
    • It is directed to children but children are a secondary audience (e.g. cartoon video that primarily targets teenagers but is also intended for younger kids).

    YouTube’s guidelines state that they may override content creator’s settings if their content seems to be geared toward kids but isn’t marked as such. This could result in content creators being demonetized or held accountable in some other way for not properly categorizing their content.

    What Parents Should Know

    The FTC fined YouTube for their inability to comply with COPPA and told them they had to have a plan by next year to keep children’s data private on their site. Many thought YouTube Kids was the solution but so few parents actually used the kid version of YouTube so children remain a major audience for YouTube’s main site and app. The information creators give YouTube about their videos and channels will help YouTube know what videos to collect data from that will be used for advertising in the future. Also, the advertising on videos marked as “for children” will be different, focusing on the content of the video as an indicator of the audience rather than viewing data from the viewers themselves.

    These changes, in my opinion, are a step in the right direction for YouTube. Their collection of data from young audiences have been a point of contention for tech safety experts, security and privacy agencies, and family advocacy groups for several years now. The policies handed down by the FTC are in direct response of some of these experts and agencies asking for an investigation into YouTube for their lack of compliance with COPPA.

    As parents we rarely think about our kids digital footprint being collected and used against them but it is happing every time they log on to an app or game. It is important, however, to remember that the trail they leave behind online will follow them for the rest of their lives. The things they buy, the sites they visit, the videos they watch, and the games they play are all being compiled to create a profile on them that will be used to market to them online for years to come. If parents remember that our children’s web traffic is being collected we can take steps to protect them from excessive data collection. Encourage them to use messenger apps that are made just for kids. [Facebook Messenger Kids, not WhatsApp or FB Messenger.] Remind them that what they share online becomes public the moment they share it. Tell them they should only use video and game apps that are intended for children and made by major developers who are more likely to comply with COPPA. Parents are responsible for the safety of their children, as well as their privacy and security so take the steps you can to keep their data private.

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  • FB Messenger Kids “Error” Allowed Thousands of Kids to Talk to Unapproved Strangers

    FB Messenger Kids “Error” Allowed Thousands of Kids to Talk to Unapproved Strangers

    Facebook Messenger kids was created to give children a safe place to communicate through text, stickers, video, and gifs with friends that are pre-approved by their parents or guardians. This week, however, the kids’ messenger app has had to send notifications to thousands of parents about their children having access to strangers in the app. 

    What happened is that a technical error allowed kids to create a group message with friends who would then invite their own friends who, while approved for them, may not have been approved by the parents of the first child. Confusing? Ya, this is possibly why the flaw was even possible in the first place. Facebook says they have alerted parents whose children may have had this type of interaction and that they’ve disabled any chats that were created, using this flaw. The story isn’t over, though, as some are calling for the FTC to look in to the error since it may have resulted in a COPPA violation.

    Released Today: Facebook Messenger For Kids!

    What Parents Should Know

    The moral of this story centers around trust. It is important that, while we may trust our children, we can’t always trust who our kids are in contact with. We definitely shouldn’t blindly trust the companies who make the hardware and software that our children are using. When our kids use an app like Messenger Kids, the whole point of the app is that it gives parents control. When the control is hindered, even by a “technical error,” that is a severe violation. We can, however, take actions to protect our kids from dangerous effects that could come from these errors.

    I recommend having a copy of the messenger kids app on your phone logged in to your child’s account. My wife and I are each logged in to one of our kids’ messenger kids apps and can see when they get messages and what the messages are about. We are notified when they receive a message and can look to see who it is from and even read it. I have, a time or two, jumped into the app to tell a friend to stop messaging since my son was past his allowed time for social media that day. I received a “yes sir,” and there were no more messages until the next day. We also use BARK to monitor their messages and alert us of any dangerous or inappropriate content.

    Parents are gate keepers. Our job is to be sure our kids are growing up with guidance through every area of life. If they aren’t being taught how to manage social media and internet use safely then they will struggle to make healthy decisions when they are older. Messenger Kids is a good tool to help your kid learn the right way to use a messenger but it won’t work if you are uninvolved, pretending that the creators of the app only have your kid’s best interest in mind. The truth is that they want to provide you a service to make a profit. We cannot overlook that. It is our responsibility, and ours alone, to teach our kids how to be safe online. We should take it seriously. We should hold companies accountably when they have errors that put our kids at risk but ultimately we should be the ones making sure our children are protected on every app, site, and software they use.

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  • Is FaceApp Sending all of Your Private Data to Russia?

    Is FaceApp Sending all of Your Private Data to Russia?

    Last week everyone was posting pictures of themselves looking older or younger. They were all using FaceApp, an Android and iPhone app that uses AI to change your face to make you look older or younger, change your gender, and all kinds of different things. Then, suddenly everyone who had been posting pictures of themselves began sharing articles about the privacy dangers of FaceApp. What is true? What does FaceApp do with your pictures? Should we use apps like this? Here are the answers I found.

    Your Pictures Aren’t in Russia

    One of the major concerns due to political news lately is that all of these pictures have been stored by the Russians since the company that makes FaceApp is in Russia. The truth is that these pictures are stored on servers owned by Google and Amazon. Many of the photo apps you use including some of the social media apps you frequent use the same server companies to store your pictures and posts. There is no evidence to suggest that your images are being collected by the Russian government or even companies in Russia.

    Your Photos are Deleted after 48 Hours

    The face app privacy policies state that photos uploaded to their servers are usually deleted after 48 hours. They do state that some photos may be kept for analytical purposes but that they are not sent to the FaceApp companies. These photos are used by the artificial intelligence to make it smarter and help it do a better job of editing photos for people.

    FaceApp Terms Mention Affiliate Companies and Governments

    The policies of FaceApp do allow for them to give your photos to other companies “in their network.” Again, they say that this is for analysis purposes and not data tracking. They also say that they’ll give your photos to law enforcement if requested through legal means. 

    You Can Use FaceApp Without Giving Personal Information

    The company that makes FaceApp says that 99% of their users don’t login to the app. That means there are no ways for them to have your personal or identifying information. The only thing that they collect in those cases are your photos. If you have location settings turned off for your camera then there isn’t much personal data that can be gained from the images. All they actually have is a picture of a non-identified person’s face. Also, FaceApp only uses the photos you tell it to upload. Not your whole camera roll. 

    “…please note that we may transfer information, including personal information, to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction.” FaceApp Privacy Terms

    FaceApp Doesn’t Handle Data Differently than any Other Social Media Service

    The only major difference between FaceApp’s privacy policies and those of Facebook and Instagram are how much terminology they use to describe them. Personal data and photos are basically handled the same way by all these companies. You may consider it more of a fair trade off for Facebook and Instagram to collect your data in exchange for the services they provide. You also may be less inclined to be worried because of Facebook and Instagram being from the United States. Either way, your data is being used in the same way by all of these companies.

    Musical.ly is now Tik Tok

     

    Just Share Smart

    These instances of public outcry about the privacy policies of an app or a company are a great time to be reminded of the importance of thinking before you share. The truth is that everything, once shared on the internet, is public domain. It belongs to every citizen of the web and not to you any more. This should govern every choice you make on every site you visit and every app you use. If you wouldn’t want the whole world seeing that photo of you, your child, or your spouse, then you shouldn’t share it. If what you are about to post as a status would put your security in jeopardy then you shouldn’t post it. If you aren’t sure about a company or an app that is asking for your personal information then you shouldn’t give them your personal info. It is very simple. Just think before you fill out an online form. Think before you share a photo. Think before you past your thoughts about anything and everything.

    The issue isn’t where your information is stored. It is the fact that you share photos, phone numbers, credit card numbers, and even your social security number like it is no big deal. You don’t have to be an internet security expert, you just have to pause and think.

     

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  • YouTube May Have to Stop Making Money Off Our Kids

    YouTube May Have to Stop Making Money Off Our Kids

    The US Federal Trade Commission is finishing an investigation into YouTube’s Children’s Data and Ad policies and at least one member of Congress is now asking for YouTube to make some major changes. Massachusettes Senator, Ed Markey has officially requested that the FTC enforce some major policy shifts on Google for how YouTube handles advertisements to children and the collection of kids’ data.

    The request states that:

    Personal information about a child can be leveraged to hook consumers for years to come, so it is incumbent upon the FTC to enforce federal law and act as a check for the ever increasing appetite for childrens’ data. – FTC YouTube COPPA 2019

    This three-page document outlines a plan for rules that the FTC should enforce upon YouTube in order to keep them compliant with  COPPA and to better regulate their child advertising practices. The rules include requiring Google to stop collecting data from users under 13, requiring YouTube to develop a way to identify users under 13 and implement COPPA compliant policies, disallow influencers from marketing products geared towards children under 13, and forcing Google to create a fund for developing content meant for children that is ad-free and COPPA compliant. 

    COPPA imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age.

    What Parents Should Know

    Parents have to be intentional about teaching their children about online privacy. Regulations from the FTC will, likely, be coming in the near future. Even if these changes aren’t as strict as the ones listed in the letter from Senator Markey, they will still cause major ripples in the YouTube creator and viewer community. The way that YouTube seems to try and handle these kinds of problems is by “demonetizing” videos that contain the type of content they are taking heat about. The heat they are getting from the FTC right now, though, is concerning some of the most profitable channels on any video sharing platform ever.

    Advertising is the way these companies make their money and collecting data is their sole model for targeting their advertising. If they aren’t allowed to target children anymore then there won’t be much content on YouTube for children at all. Our approach has always to only allow our kids to watch YouTube videos that we have selected and they must watch them on the television in the living room. That protects them from any surprises and we curate the types of videos they are allowed to watch. We also have YouTube Premium which removes ads. This is helpful since the algorithm that selects which ads show up on what videos often doesn’t take the age of the target audience into account. (i.e. an ad for the latest Childs Play film on a video about kids making slime.)

    As I always say, we should hold these companies accountable as much as possible but it falls to parents to be the responsible ones when it comes to our children’s digital health and online safety. What is your approach to YouTube, do your kids watch as much as they want? Do you limit their viewership on YouTube? Do you think this news will affect how much time you allow them to use the app? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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  • 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.

    Listen to this article in the podcast below:

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  • Ten Screen Free Things to Do This Week!

    Ten Screen Free Things to Do This Week!

    Today marks the first day of Screen Free Week 2019. We have become so used to doing everything on our phones, TVs, tablets, and computers that it can be difficult to think of things to do when we unplug. It can especially be difficult for our kids who spend so much time on screens every day. Here are some ideas to help you start thinking of how you’ll spend your time this Screen Free Week. I’m sure that whichever activity you chose to do you’ll be blown away at how good it was for you to be screen free, even if only for a little while.

    1. Read Books

    No, I mean a physical book. With paper and glue and pages and everything. Many of us are spoiled to our audio books and ebooks. We carry around a library of hundreds of volumes and read whichever we want, whenever we want. This Screen Free Week, why not forget about the books in your digital library and take a look at some of the adventures you have on your actual bookshelf. You’ll be amazed at how cathartic it can be to just turn a real page instead of swiping to the next set of pixels that make up the story.

    2. Share a Screen Free Meal

    Having a meal with friends and family can be a great way to reconnect and charge up that need for social interaction. Food brings people together. Unfortunately, our phones can often get in the way of this beneficial time. Celebrate Screen Free Week by choosing to keep your phones away from the table during meals together. Look each other in the eye, have conversations, and share the time with your friends and family.

    3. Play Board Games

    You can pull out the old classics like Monopoly and Life or maybe sit down to a newer hit like Settlers of Cataan, Forbidden Island, or Dice Forge. Whatever board games you choose, you and your family and friends can enjoy screen free entertainment. Personally, I look forward to Dungeons and Dragons every week when I sit down with some guy friends, eat snacks, roll dice, and tell a story together. A story filled with imagination, humor, and adventure. Don’t underestimate the power of time around a table playing a game.

    4. Play Outside

    Trade in Screen Time for some Green Time! Get outside and get moving. Play a sport, run a race, skip, hop, jump, run, anything you can think of outside will be so good for you. Your body will thank you for the exercise and your brain will thank you for the release.

    5. Go for a Hike

    Screen Free Week is a wonderful time to get out and experience the beauty nature has to offer. You’re bound to have a hiking trail just a short drive from your home. Maybe it is just through a park in the city but it will be great to slow down, walk through nature, and stop and look at what the beauty all around you. Bend down and look at those leaves or that insect working away. Feed some ducks or squirrels. You’ll be amazed at how wonderful life is beyond the six inch space in front of your eyes that your phone often tends to occupy.

    6. Act Out Your Own Play

    We love to be entertained. Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, and Amazon Prime make their money off of our desire to escape reality by enjoying a movie or series. Take this week without screens to create your own entertainment. Play an improve game or charades to get your imagination moving. Get some friends together and act out some of your favorite scenes from the movies and shows that you love. How fun will it be to play the characters you love and laugh with your friends as you channel that inner child.

    7. Play a Musical Instrument

    How long has it been since you’ve picked up that guitar in the corner of your room? How long has that violin been sitting in its case, untouched? Without the distractions of y0ur screens this week you can take some time to play that instrument you’ve been neglecting. Maybe you aren’t a musician. Why not try something new? Borrow an instrument from a friend or just bang out a beat on your knees with some pencils. Make some music this Screen Free Week!

    8. Write in a Journal

    Social Media is often the place where we share our deepest feelings. Many of us look for validation by posting what we think about this thing or that. Since you’re avoiding screens more this week, start practicing a new train of thought. When you have an opinion you think would make a good Tweet or status update, write it down in a journal instead. Write down your deepest thoughts on all of the topics you usually post about publicly. You may find that journaling gives you the same cathartic feeling without the drama of other people’s comments and debate.

    9. Do an Art Project

    Our screens train us to consume consume consume. Why not take this break from consuming so much media as a chance to do some creating. I have a weekly goal to create more than I consume. I ask myself every day what I’ve created that I can be proud of. Often my creations are videos, blog posts, and podcasts but I can look back and say I created something instead of just consuming all day long. Give yourself a chance this week to be more creative. Make something awesome. Do some art. Maybe sidewalk chalk, or a craft project, perhaps you can knit or crochet. Do something creative that you can look back on at the end of the week and actually see the product of your time. It is so very rewarding.

    10. Plant a Garden

    Again, Screen Free Week is a great time to get outside. The spring weather is just waiting to be enjoyed. This early in the spring, it is also a great time to plant a garden. Go get some flowers and plants and set yourself up a nice patch of nature. Your kids will love helping and digging around in the dirt and your whole family will love seeing the plants come to life as the spring and summer progress.

    Beyond Screen Free Week

    There are lots of things you can do without your screen. If you are like me, Screen Free Week is a great reminder to adjust my priorities. Hopefully this Screen Free Week, you can remember the importance of time in which you intentionally unplug and spend time with those you love. Use tools like Screen Time to monitor that amount of time you spend using your devices. It is amazing what good just being aware of your screen time can do for you. Have a happy happy Screen Free Week.

    For 101 more Screen Free Week ideas visit ScreenFree.org!

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  • It’s Being Called the Ultimate Unsend Button, Does it Encourage False Anonymity?

    It’s Being Called the Ultimate Unsend Button, Does it Encourage False Anonymity?

    Telegram is an end to end encrypted messenger that touts speed, privacy, and security. They have featured private messaging and self destructing messages for a while but their new feature takes privacy to a new level. You can now delete a message you’ve sent from your account and the account you sent it to no matter how long ago it was sent. Telegram is, again, standing up for privacy and users are buying in. Millions have flocked to Telegram after Facebook’s data leak news from the past several months. It looks like Telegram is doubling down on Privacy as their claim to fame. They’ve also added the ability remove your information from a message when the message is forwarded to other users. Some accessibility and ease of use features have also been aded.

     

    What Parents Should Know

    Security and privacy are often overlooked when we allow our kids to use internet connected devices. Privacy is becoming a major concern for experts and activists of family tech safety. Messengers that allow data to be collected and used for advertising shouldn’t be used by children and even teenagers due to the risks of such data being released or revealed without the messenger app developer’s consent. When an app features privacy as it’s distinquishing feature, you have to ask who the data is being kept private from. Obviously, we want data to be kept from third party companies who would use that data to advertise. Sometimes data is even kept private from the company that developed the messenger app that you are using. Telegram has a “secret messages” setting that must be set to keep your information encrypted from end to end. (End to end encryption means not only the company can see or collect what is being sent.)

    Anytime the ability to delete messages you’ve sent is added, I see red flags. While I think privacy is critical, there is also a risk of kids thinking they are safe from inappropriate or incriminating photos or messages being saved and used for nefarious purposes. It only takes a half a second to screen shot a message or image on your screen. Most phones allow you to record your screen to a video very easily. This means that you are non always anonymous online. If you are sending messages to someone, thinking you have complete privacy, you are trusting that the person you’re sending the messages to has your privacy in mind as well. Telegram is an easy way for predators, cyberbullies, and those interested in sexting, to send and receive messages that do their damage and then are removed as evidence.

    I have spoken to parents who have taken their kids to the police with complaints about people trying to groom them online but the police had no evidence because the messages had all been deleted. This is why a messenger makes the FamilyTechBlog uninstall list as soon as they add disappearing messages. It isn’t safe for your kids to chat with a feeling of anonymity or for them to chat with people who can send what they want and make the message go away after it’s been viewed. Telegram is rated 17+ and I fully agree with this rating. Private messengers that allow you to chat with anyone, anywhere shouldn’t be used by children and young teenagers. Especially when the messages can be removed at will.