Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver

This article is a follow up to the October 28, 2011, Kids Email blog post entitled, “Can Klout take your child’s privacy away.”  Since that article was published there have been some major changes at Klout.com regarding Privacy and we here at KidsEmail want to make sure you are up to date on this issue.

5)      Then on the “Opt Out from Klout” Page scroll down to the bottom of the page and Click on Twitter or Facebook

6)      You will have to sign in using your Twitter or Facebook username and password, then follow the instructions.

If you are already a Klout member, you will have to be signed into your account before you proceed.  Then follow Steps 1 through 4 above.  Then you will be taken to your Edit Profile Page of your Klout account.  Under the “We Value Your Privacy” paragraph, click on “Continue opting out”.  Just follow the directions.

To further protect yourself and your children, when you are on any social media site make sure that you have a private account.  If your account is private your data will not be analyzed by Klout unless you give them permission to do so. However, if you create a public account and do not want the data analyzed by Klout, go to Klout and go through the Opt out process described above.

If you find out that your child has provided information to Klout without your knowledge or consent, contact Klout by email at privacy@klout.com to have that information deleted from their records.

Also, make sure that you go over your children’s privacy controls on their Facebook account to ensure that they are set correctly.

To read the response by Klout’s CEO Joe Fernandez to Critics reported by the Social Media Today Website or The New York Times article entitled, “When Sites Drag the Unwitting Across the Web” click on the links below:

http://socialmediatoday.com/rohnjaymiller/392574/klout-ceo-joe-fernandez-responds-critics

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/technology/klouts-automatically-created-profiles-included-minors.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Have you taken steps to remove your child from Klout? Do you think the changes listed above are enough?

Tell us about your experience.

Recently, there has been a lot of online buzz around Klout taking the private Facebook page of a 13 year old child and creating a public Klout profile for that child.

As read in the post by Danny Brown, Tonia Ries‘s son did not connect to Klout in anyway. His facebook page is set to private, yet Klout has somehow managed to find him and create a very public profile for the youth.

Klout.com

We here at KidsEmail wanted you as a parent to be aware of this potential privacy breach for your chldren.

Takeaways:

• The child’s Klout profile displays a prominent link to their Facebook profile
• When a viewer who is not a friend clicks that icon,  they cannot see the child’s Facebook wall posts
• All of the children’s friends are also listed on Klout as his influence network potentially exposing their profiles also
• At this time there is no way to remove a public Klout profile

Concerns as a Parent:
In this day of Cyberbullying, the image of a group of twelve year olds comparing their ‘online Influence’ grading is disturbing. As it brings to mind what those same children may participate in in order to try and raise that score.

Klout can be contacted via twitter @Klout
On Facebook 
Or via their contact page

The website www.onguardonline.gov is a collaboration between the federal government and the technology industry. The purpose is to each you how to safely surf the Internet.

The site has some tips for parents who want to monitor their children. They include:

* Check out sites your kids visit, and see what kind of information the sites ask for or allow kids to post.
* Talk to your child about the risks and benefits of disclosing certain information, especially in a public forum.
* Take a look at the privacy policy, which should say what the site does with the information it collects. Then you can decide how you feel about it.
* Ask questions. If you’re not clear on a site’s practices or policies, ask about them.
* Be selective with your permission. In many cases, websites need your okay before they’re allowed to collect personal information from your kids.
* Know your rights. For example, as a parent, you have the right to have a site delete any personal information it has about your child.
* Report a website. If you think a site has collected or disclosed information from your kids or marketed to them in a way that violates the law, report it to the FTC.

Source: www.onguardonline.gov

KidsEmail helps parents watch their kids online and keep them safe from predators. Feel free to email us with any questions.

A software designed for children of military families is being scruitnized by the Department of Defense. Read more about it here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10408809-245.html?tag=mncol

People Magazine ditched it’s coverage of gossip this week to talk about a real problem–Internet bullying. The story focuses on a Massachusetts teen who killed herself after she was bullied online. The story has been featured in many other publications.

This should be a wake-up call to parents to monitor their children’s online activities. You can read more in People this week

It’s been on the cover of People this week and was featured on the Today Show. Parents are growing more and more concerned about Internet bullying. We are concerned about it too. That’s why were are here–to protect children from all types of dangers online.

Feel free to ask us a question about Internet bullying. We will be glad to answer it.

Over the weekend someone left a poll on our Facebook page about “Internet Mobbing.” I was not familiar with that term and I had to look it up. Internet Mobbing is what we often call “cyberbullying.” Kids get together and pick on other kids online. While a lot of this happens on social media sites and in chatrooms, some kids get emails that are hurtful and mean.

Cyberbullying is a serious problem. Some reports indicate that there have been suicides as a result of these incidents. When talking to your kids about Internet safety, make sure you ask them if they are being bullied or harassed online too.

As if parents did not have enough to worry with, Google announced a new form of social media in February–Buzz. Immediatly internet safety experts expressed concerns about Buzz including one feature that allowed GPS to disclose a person’s location.

Google took action this week and has launched some safety videos aimed at teens about internet safety. The videos offer the same kind of advice a most other sites. However, how many teens are going to take the time to watch the videos–unless forced to by a parent.

What do you think of Buzz?