Are your kids tech safe?

My boy grew up to be a techie kid. I guess, it was expected since my husband and I speak the same techie language. He has his gadgets and knows his way well in the different social networks. Do I feel my son's in danger of being abused in the cyber world? Well, I did for a while and that was before I did my homework. Now, I know my son's tech safe because I made sure that I knew how to protect his data privacy. But not all parents are as tech savvy which is why more kids are not protected online.

Last June 6, 2013, a forum on data privacy in education was held by Vibal Foundation, Inc., the same company that introduced our very own WikiPilipinas (I'm one of the content editors there, hehehe). The forum gathered education leaders, parents, teachers, and government representatives, to discuss matters concerning data privacy in education.

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I was all ears when the discussion started because everything was relevant to parenting in this digital age. For instance, Jeff Gould of SafeGov.org talked about data mining in schools. He stressed that "Appropriate policies, laws, or regulations must be put in place as soon as possible" to protect kids from data privacy violation.

Ysrael Diloy from Stairway Foundation informed participants about leaving footprints in the Internet. What kids are posting now online may affect their life in the future. Can you imagine the reaction of your child's future employer when he discovers a shocking Facebook status update? He also adds that kids have a risk-taking behavior online and, oftentimes, parents don't know about it. Therefire, the more privacy is set on online data, the more kids beome safe in the Internet.

Meanwhile, Atty. Noel del Prado of the DepEd knows how hard it is to guard our kids' online activities especially for working parents. Then again, Janice Villanueva of Mommy Mundo suggested that teens should be empowered by having a discussion about the dangers of sharing too much information online. Parents of young kids however, are left with the task of tinkering the privacy settings of their child's online account themselves.

While Rhodora Ferrer of the Caholic Educational Association of the Philippines reminded schools of their parental authority in keeping their students' online data private, Ka Arnulfo Empleyo of the National Association of Public Secondary School Heads also reminded everyone to also include the children themselves in the discussions about data privacy.

Data privacy is the right of everyone, including kids, to a protected and controlled digital footprint. Through discussions like this, Vibal Fundation and these concerned advocates believe that more and more parents, educators, and children will be onformed about keeping safe online.


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4 comments :

  1. This was a very informative post. Thanks for sharing

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  2. My two older boys both have an FB account and we have rules when it comes to that.. they cannot add anyone they don't know.. and from time to time I check their friends list (yes I know their pw) not sure if I already tweaked the privacy setting of their FB accounts.. now this post reminds me to check on that..

    another thing, I also tweaked the setting of my youtube account since my two younger kids both love watching videos on that site..

    Janice's suggestion on discussing internet safety is a good one.

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  3. I am glad I am not yet in that stage but right now I try to limit the time my son spends on the ipod playing his puzzle games. I would like to instill a discipline on where to stop. Thank you for sharing this, will keep this in mind.

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