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Do You Know How to Manage Facebook Privacy Settings?

Chances are that you are on Facebook. Or, if you’re not, you soon will be. After all, Facebook boasts over 400 million users across the world (Facebook Press Room) and is growing rapidly.

We all have our own reasons for joining—we want to connect with old friends, find new friends, or we give in to pressure from friends or family that are already there (Groundswell, 2008). However, too many of us join Facebook without giving much attention to our Facebook privacy settings.

A Consumer Reports survey, released yesterday, says that 52% of social network users posted “risky information” during the past year. Interestingly, the number was 56% among Facebook users. A New York Times analysis of this Consumer Reports survey says the report “inadvertently reveals that Facebook users clearly have no idea about how much they’re publicly sharing on the network.”

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Will Anti-Bullying Legislation Make a Difference?


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douglascraven@rogers.com via Flickr

Cyberbullying has been a major theme in headlines over the past few months. The teen suicides of Long Island’s Alexis Pilkington and Massachusetts’ Phoebe Prince, as well as the bullying of California teenager Autumn Albin, have generated legislative action from California to New Hampshire.

Here is a brief look at what four states are doing to stop bullying.

Massachusetts

In wake of Phoebe Prince’s death, the Boston Herald reported that both the state House and Senate passed anti-bullying bills in March. According to the article, both bills seek to “curtail bullying in schools and in cyberspace.”

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A Three-pronged Approach to Teaching Internet Safety to Children


Photo by Leonard John Matthews via Flickr

There is a lot of discussion about who should teach kids how to stay safe online. Why do we care? Because kids are going online in huge numbers, and while online they encounter bullying, scams, and sexual predators.

Kids should receive online safety education at home, at school, and from the vendors that provide internet products and services.

Online safety education at home

Computer use is fundamental to our society at this point. From the time our kids are infants, their images are posted online. Kids today communicate with their family online through social networks and gaming, they check for homework assignments and movie times, and they shop.

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Watch Out for Craigslist Scams


Photo by NC Cigany via Flickr

Fox 6 in Milwaukee, Wi, recently did an interesting story on Craigslist scams that I thought was worth passing along, even if just to remind ourselves that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Watch the video below.

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Arm Yourself Against Online Fraud


Photo by Madalin Matica via Flickr

Industry experts predict that banking fraud will continue to be a problem in 2010. This news comes from GovInfoSecurity.com’s March 2010 handbook, which features an intriguing cover story entitled “10 Faces of Fraud: Old and New Schemes Target Banking Institutions and Their Customers.”

The article briefly examines the top 10 types of fraud that will flex their muscles this year (you can find explanations of these terms by downloading the handbook here). These include:

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