Do Those ‘Take Action’ Causes and AutoFill Forms Really Work?

August 25, 2009 Ever wonder if those urgent ‘act now' e-mails from your favorite causes work? Last week I received an NCLI eco-literacy action alert, as Shaping Youth is a member of the consortium supporting the Pre-K through 12 No Child Left INSIDE Act which gets kids outdoors and hands-on in nature as the ultimate math and science ‘STEM’ program as part of school … [Read more...]

Privo Privacy Vault: How Safe is Kids Digital Data? Part 2

July 14, 2009 Yesterday in my Part One preamble to the interview with Privo executives, I tried to give an overview of how 'kids online safety' is more than 'balancing safety and fun' it's politics, it's opportunistic marketing, it's regulatory, and...it's complicated. With dogged tenacity here's my attempt to sort out how to keep kids safe online (for parents, as well as … [Read more...]

Childrens’ Digital Privacy Advocates Show FTC Watchdogs Aren’t Woofin

June 18, 2009 Here we go again. I'm beginning to feel a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day having deja vu that we've 'been there done that' all over again.  Oh, that's right. We HAVE. Over a decade ago, Jeff Chester, executive director of Center for Digital Democracy played a leading role in the passage of COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998)...Since … [Read more...]

Will 2009 Uncover Price Fixing On the Backs of Texting Teens?

I don’t know about you, but this week's NYTimes article "What Carriers Aren't Eager to Tell You About Texting" written by local SJSU professor Randall Stross has me wanting to text him an emoticon smooch for his ‘lift and reveal’ article peeling back the Wizard of Oz curtain on mobile carrier costs, profit margins and taking advantage of youth habits to … [Read more...]