On 1/19/07, Sarah Robbins <intellagirl@gmail.com> wrote:
A couple of thoughts here... Someone further up the thread mentioned Second Life, which I think is a good model for what MySpace needs to do to protect themselves. SL has a "teen grid" in which 14-17 year olds ONLY are allowed. They must sign up with a credit card, thereby theoretically proving that they have their parent's permission to log in and that their parent is aware of their activities. Adults discovered on the teen grid (who aren't background checked educators) are not only banned from that grid but from all of SL and prosecuted. It's not a flawless system but it's a good system. Why doesn't MySpace have TeenMySpace? Also, it seems to me that these lawsuits, as unfortunate as they are, are examples of poor techno-literacy. Parents and kids alike need to be more educated about how websites work, about how predators work, and how to protect themselves. When I work in high schools I do my best to scare the bujeezus out of the students by showing them how much information I can find about a random student in less than 20 minutes. When I arrive at the google map showing the satelite pic of their house the whole class has a collective dropped jaw. I know that most schools aren't doing this kind of education. They pass out a flyer that students dismiss as being overly protective and then they hop onto MySpace and make a date with someone they've never met. Education is certainly busy enough with our own subject matter but this kind of online safety should be included in every level of education. My 2 cents Sarah/Intellagirl Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins http://www.intellagirl.com http://secondlife.intellagirl.com Yahoo: Intellagirl Skype: Intellagirl SecondLife: Intellagirl Tully