Kids, blogs and too much information

An 'attention competition'
Parry Aftab, who runs the WiredSafety.org program, says she doesn't think any blogs or community sites "out there are safe for kids." She says her organization gets complaints every day. "There are underage kids on every social networking site on the Net.  They are engaging in highly provocative conversations and doing things they would never do offline."

Because there are so many kid blogs -- about 6 million, Aftab estimates -- many authors try to outdo each other to get visitors.  Often, that includes provocative comments and images.

"It is an attention competition," she said. 

MySpace.com, which has 13 million users, says it has a strict policy of not allowing members who are under 16.  Spokesman Bennet Ratcliff says the firm immediately removes sites that are in violation of the terms of service, including any site with too much personal information. But many bloggers get around the rule by lying about their age. MSNBC.com found when browsing the site that on several pages, kids who say they are 16 later state in their personal descriptions that they are younger.

"People are taken off the site whenever they are found," he said.  Ratcliff wouldn't say how often that occurs.

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LiveJournal, another popular site, allows 13-16 year olds to post.  Some 400,000 of its 7 million users are under 16, according to the site. Executives there say most people have a positive experience, and it plays an important role in helping young people find each other and learn to express themselves.  It does not screen user content, according to Kevin Krim, head of subscriptions services at Six Apart, which acquired LifeJournal earlier this year. 

"Like an (Internet service provider) or domain host, it's neither feasible nor appropriate for us to be playing a role as editor or censor or making judgement calls," Krim said.

But Huffaker said the sites deserve some blame for the release of personal information. In the sign-up process, many ask for e-mail address, for example. Merely asking the question urges kids to answer it, making them think revealing the information is safe.

Kids blogs can be positive
Handy said parents who discover blogs should try not to overreact and immediately shut off Internet access or community sites; there is a safe way to blog, she said.

"That is the first reaction parents have, to cut them off" she said. "But the kids know that, and they don't want to lose the Internet, so they don't tell their parents what they are doing.  And you don't want that. You want the lines of communication open."

She said parents need to be much more involved with their kids' computer use than they are. Many just turn on the Internet access and walk away. 

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"If they are going to have a computer in the house, they need to be trained," she said. "You don't give a kid a car without proper training. This is just hazardous."

Sandra Calvert, a psychology professor at Georgetown's Children's Digital Media Center, and co-author of Huffaker's study, says parents shouldn't be dismissive of blogging. "(Students) are learning some basic programming skills. It's teaching them to be Internet savvy, how to make things, how to be creative." 

Krim offered a similar defense for child blogging.

"For every off-color picture you might find, you are also going to find a number of kids having really interesting conversations about their developing views of spirituality, what they think about war. Those are good things to be thinking about," Krim said.

What parents should do
While finding a blog can be jarring, Coulier said "the Internet presents a remarkable opportunity to parents and kids for a kind of partnership." Kids can teach their parents about the technology, while parents can teach their kids Internet street smarts, she said. 

But there are some basic steps parents can take to increase their child's online safety.

Use a password-protection feature that genuinely does limit access to sites, says Huffaker. Livejournal's Krim says one-quarter of the posts on the site are limited to "friends only."

But not every child will be that cooperative, Aftab says.  That's why it's also a good idea to occasionally search for your child's biographic information online. 

"Talk to your kids. Say 'I read this article, do you go to a social networking Web site? And if you are not sure, 'Google' the kids.  Search for their real name, their address, their telephone number, screen name, nickname." That's the best way to find any surprise blogs, she said.

That advice may or may not help Marcy, who says her experience of finding her daughter's blog left a rift in the relationship. She's concerned the girl may put up another site without her knowledge, using a name she wouldn't know. As a parent, she feels overwhelmed trying to keep up with each new Internet trend.  She's barely gotten used to instant message services, and now she has to worry about blogs. 

"I'm not sure there's anything that can (fix this), it is so difficult to police these sites," she said.  "How do you prove a kid is 16 or older?  Maybe information could come from the schools, newsletters that say, 'These are things kids are suddenly participating in online,'  But it is very scary, and you don't know who's hands this information is falling into."

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