Reply With Quote
Double edged strategy... could backfire...
Police Chief to Parents: Hack Your Kids’ Facebook Accounts
Rather than wondering which websites your kids are checking out, or whom they’re meeting and talking to on Facebook, why not just hack into their computers and find out for yourself?
James Batelli, the police chief of Mahwah, N.J., and his detectives conduct seminars during which they teach parents how to outfit a computer with keystroke logging software, which incon uously captures and stores every action performed on that machine.
Batelli explained that kids put themselves in potentially dangerous situations online every day, especially on Facebook, where they run the risk of coming into contact with child predators who troll the social networking site.
“Read the paper any day of the week and you’ll see an abduction [or] a sexual assault that’s the result of an Internet interaction or a Facebook comment,” Batelli told NBC New York.
Using keystroke logging software, parents can obtain their children's passwords, giving them access to the full spectrum of the kids' online activities.
“When it comes down to safety and welfare of your child, I don’t think any parent would sacrifice anything to make sure nothing happens to their children,” said Batelli, the father of a teenage daughter. “If it means buying an $80 package of software and putting it on and seeing some inappropriate words you don’t want your child to say. Then that’s part of society.”
Edi Goodman, chief privacy officer for Iden y Theft 911, expressed mixed feelings about this high-tech parenting method. He called it an updated version of rifling through kids’ drawers and closets.
“It’s a slippery slope to spy on your kids,” said Goodman, who has two young children. “Hopefully I can teach my kids the skill sets to be aware about these [online] dangers, because I can’t be with them all the time.”
Goodman told SecurityNewsDaily he isn’t completely opposed to Batelli’s spying idea but thinks it should be applied on a case-by-case basis. Although he doesn’t see himself doing it, he said he could understand what might drive other parents to track what their children are doing on the Web.
Double edged strategy... could backfire...
90% of the kids "abducted" from internet activity have parents that are too poor to afford key logging software and too stupid to operate it.
Is that police chief looking for a job with Homeland Security?
Would it be a bad thing if a parent actually cared to do so?
I agree that intense monitoring of a child's life is not healthy, in general. But so is none.
To me the concern would be the involvement of law enforcement in what is a private home matter.
I would agree it's on a case-by-case basis. If you do your best to warn your child, and explain the dangers, and he/she doesn't listen, then by all means snoop. It's your right as a parent.
And MB, if I'm reading it right, LE wouldn't be involved, they were just explaining the software available. A parent would be able to read the outputs of a keylogger without any LE involvement.
That's how I read it. Of course, at what point are parents so overwhelmed, unconcerned, or lazy that the state effectively takes over childrearing?
or worse.
So we have foster care.
I think more than anything it's a lack of knowledge, tbh. Parents that didn't grow up with the internet are ignorant of how omnipresent it is.
Of course, any good parent should be concerned about where their kid is going, what they're doing, etc etc. But if the kid isn't telling, then the parent may resort to keylogging to doublecheck.
In fact, installing a keylogger on a teen's device, and reading the output, is probably the very opposite of being unconcerned or lazy.
Hey that's a good way to get your kids to NEVER trust you and start setting up alternate FB accounts their parents can't hack, which will put them more at risk.
Sounds like a Republican strategy - lie, obfuscate, then pretend it's all working just fine. How about you try some real parenting: Set limits, supervise your kids when they need it, but then let them make their own mistakes so they'll learn from them.
That's standard American political strategy.
I was thinking more of parents ultimately handing over parenting to the state because they don't want to deal with it. That does happen today, albeit in relatively rare cir stances.
And what if you set limits and your kid continually breaks them? What if your child is making mistakes that could have severe ramifications on their future? Do you just let it slide?
I disagree (though not completely). Real parenting is hard, so instead of doing that, I will ask the computer do to it for me. I think Case-by-Case is about right.
Edit: Unfortunately the only parents who are likely to assess on a case by case basis are the ones who are not being unconcerned or lazy in their parenting.
Your edit pretty much caught what I meant. If parents are concerned enough to install a keylogger, and go through the work of actually reviewing it, then they've probably gone through less severe steps. (And
Of course, I don't advocate spying on your teen if the situation doesn't warrant it. But if you think you need to go to those lengths to protect your teen, then I would say use it. (Especially if the machine she's using is your own.)
The problem isn't in the situations where your kid has destroyed trust to the point where you HAVE to do things like this, LNG. Its the fact that lazy parents will just do this to snoop when they shouldn't and it will just do more harm than good.
I think there might be a point where I would consider doing something of this sort with my kids, but it would take a of a lot to push me to that point and I certainly would not consider it as a sound parenting strategy but more as a last resort.
You barely misunderstood my edit. I was saying that it should be case by case, but the only ones who are going to assess each case are the concerned parents who are trying to be good parents. The bad parents, on the other hand, won't try to assess if this really warrants such an action when maybe they could be better parents and achieve the same result. Instead, they will continue to be lazy and just do it.
My step-daughter (13) has her own netbook (grandparents bought it for her). The first thing I did was set up parental controls so that she can only operate it every other hour between 9 am and 8pm. I set up the internet control to block all of the types of sites that I deem undesirable for her age (pain in the butt, there are A LOT of categories-lol). I get an email when she tries to access a site which is unapproved. Then I talk to her about why that website is blocked. If there is a site which is blocked that she genuinely feels the need to access, then we can discuss it and I will check it out and make a decision. Easy stuff.
What I find alarming is an LE officer advocating this as the de-facto parenting strategy when it comes to online communication, under the guise that your kid might be the next rape or kidnapping victim of Internet interaction...
I can see where this would be an useful tool on certain cases, but to imply that because you “Read the paper any day of the week and you’ll see an abduction [or] a sexual assault that’s the result of an Internet interaction or a Facebook comment”, you should go out there and do this is asinine.
Its our ing irrational culture of fear. The vast majority of people on facebook aren't being molested etc but we're an irrational bunch.
Yeah, I'm sure that happens.
I see it as a tool, to be used for good or evil. When used judiciously, it can be of great use.
I hope that when I raise my kid, he will trust me enough to follow my advice when I tell him something is dangerous. But if he doesn't, I would be willing to try tracking his activities if I thought it would keep him safer. (As stated upthread, mostly as a last resort.)
In the same vein, I don't normally approve of parents raiding their kid's rooms, going through their cell phones, etc etc.
I understand that, but if they're that lazy at parenting, I doubt they'd take the time to actually review the keylogger info.If a parent feels the need to put a keylogger on their kid, without them knowing, then trust is pretty much non-existent anyways, indicating a poor relationship.
Good on you for setting responsible limits. Oh, and I hope you realize that you can probably block individual sites if you don't approve (instead of just categories), and you blocked sites which redirect too.
Make sure she doesn't install a keylogger on the PC either; otherwise she'll read your keystroke passwords for the parental controls.
Well I know I can block individual sites, but I am a grad student and I work full time. I don't think my sanity would survive going to every site on the internet to determine block or unblock. I will advocate a little laziness here. LOLI understand that, but if they're that lazy at parenting, I doubt they'd take the time to actually review the keylogger info.
Good on you for setting responsible limits. Oh, and I hope you realize that you can probably block individual sites if you don't approve (instead of just categories), and you blocked sites which redirect too.
Make sure she doesn't install a keylogger on the PC either; otherwise she'll read your keystroke passwords for the parental controls.
As far as her installing a keylogger, she would have to have my password to install such keylogger.
Plus she doesn't have the patience to learn about such things.
(more laziness prevails!!)
That is exactly what I did.
Then my job here... is done. *cue fadeout as I walk into the sunset*
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
