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Readers' comments on any of these resources are alsways welcome! Do email us via feedback@netfamilynews.org.WebSafeCrackerz.com: Neat new Web safety site
We sheepishly admit we thought a teenager's reaction to WebSafeCrackerz.com's debut would be, "Oh great, another online safety site." But that wasn't the case with Rishi, 13, or George, 15, when we asked about them about the site.
"We [teens] are a hard age group to please completely," Rishi emailed us, "as our tastes vary so much, but I think in WebSafeCrackerz there's something for everybody."
As for George: "The reason why I think the advice section is so good is because it is: a) confidential, so people using it don't feel embarrassed and so feel they can speak out and b) people may think that their parents do not understand properly and that the parents may punish them for going onto chat rooms...."
We found those two points interesting and will get back to them in a moment, but first a bit about WebSafeCrackerz.com. It's a UK-based Web site "designed by teens for teens [13-16] to help them understand the importance of safe surfing on the Internet," according to a press release from MSN UK, the site's sponsor (and we're spotlighting it because online-safety-ed resources that appeal to teenagers come out once in a blue moon, and this one's worth knowing about. MSN enlisted the help of London-based Childnet International for online-safety expertise, as well as parent and teen perspectives, and Childnet got us in touch with George and Rishi, two of their teen advisers.
Knowing that the two boys had seen the light about online safety, we asked them if they thought other teenagers with a lower awareness level would agree. George said, "I think a majority of teenagers would agree with me because no one wants to be harassed online or anywhere else for that matter, and I think that they would see it as an important message, especially after reading the ASL Files, because they illustrate that it could happen to you if you aren't careful." (We recommend the ASL Files too, for parents as well. Click on them from the center of the "Blah Blah Blah" page.)
The appeal of anonymity to young people is a known issue, documented in a recent study at the London School of Economics Department of Media & Communications, which found that "simply pressing for more parental monitoring, restriction, and control could encourage children's evasion rather than their cooperation with attempts at Internet regulation in the home. While often naive about threats to their privacy from external sources, children are fiercely protective of their privacy in relation to their parents." If kids feel they can't talk with or get information about something from a parent, and they can't find advice or information elsewhere, sometimes they won't talk to anybody, and they simply don't get help.
Were there any negatives about the site? Rishi: "The games are ok (not fantastic)," he said. George: The site "seems to be aimed at younger people to myself," he told us, "because some of the content may be a bit obvious to people of around my age as they already know it."
Which raises the question of how to reach his age group? We think the answer might lie in George's comment about anonymous advice-seeking. Older teens may just prefer a site that doesn't try to teach through entertainment, but rather one with straightforward information about the implications of using various technologies. It would be good to get a tech-savvy child psychologist involved in this type of content development, because it would need to cover everything from gossip to online dating (breaking up via IM) to soliciting gifts in one's personal Web site (search for "camgirls" in the search box above for our coverage of this). BTW, there's some great advice in the Nick-Star section about safe music downloading - very helpful for teen file-sharers (and their parents) who will probably download at all costs, using software that can bring spyware, viruses, and porn to the family PC, as well as share way too much information on it (more on this in a future issue).
Finally, the crucial question on our minds was whether teenagers would visit even a very cool online-safety site on their own initiative. George told us adult influence would help: "I think many teenagers may go to the site if it was properly advertised, etc., but I think many more would visit the site if it were part of a school project or if they were guided to by teachers."
Rishi: "I would check this Web site out," he said - if it were marketed to a decent degree, if he could find it "under 'net safety' on Google or some other search engine."
WebSafeCrackerz.com, its creators say, is a work in progress. They're open to feedback; on the About Us page they ask, "What works? What stinks? What's missing?", providing a window in which to type answers.
For the views of SafeKids.com's Larry Magid and his 17-year-old son William, click to "Finally a Good Internet Safety Site for Teens."
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