ARTICLES: Govt and Parents Urged to Keep Kids Safe on the Internet

More monitoring and supervision is needed from both the government and parents to protect children from objectionable online content and cybercrimes, as a growing number of Indonesians gains access to the Internet. 

Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, the minister for women’s empowerment and child protection, said in Jakarta on Monday that the government and the community needed to work “hand in hand” on the issue.

full article on the Jakarta Globe website

ARTICLES: Average teenager has never met quarter of Facebook friends (UK)

The average 12- to 15-year-old has never met one in four of their "friends" on social networking websites such as Facebook, according to new research.

Telecoms and media regulator Ofcom's annual Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report also found that teenage girls are the UK's texting champions, sending more than 220 a week – a third more than boys.

The regulator's latest research revealed that 12- to 15-year-olds on average spend 17 hours a week on the internet, matching TV viewing for the first time, and that potentially well over a third of three- and four-year-olds use the internet for TV and games.

More than 40% of five- to 15-year-olds who have internet access have a social networking profile, rising to 80% among 12- to 15-year-olds.

The latter age group has an average of 286 online friends and 93% of them claim they are confident they know about online safety.

full article on The Guardian website

NEWS: FTC Wants to Expand Coverage of Children's Privacy Rule (USA)

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has proposed to add online advertising networks and makers of browser plug-ins to the entities required to get parental permission when they collect and use personal information on websites targeted at children.

The FTC on Wednesdaypublished proposed changesto the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, a set of regulations that require websites targeted at children to get parental permission before collecting personal data and allows parents to prohibit the sites from sharing that information with third parties.

full article

NEWS / ONLINE SAFETY: Protecting Children Online

Whether it is identity theft, online tracking, or profiling, the Internet can be an open door to a child's personal information. A Wall Street Journal investigation into online privacy last year found that popular children's websites install more tracking technologies on personal computers than do the top websites aimed at adults. 

According to recent research by Consumer Reports, one million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on Facebook in the past year -- and that's just one social media site. Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says 8 percent of the ID theft complaints in 2010 involved children.

full article

ARTICLES: Update Urged on Children’s Online Privacy

Aiming to catch up with fast-churning technology that touches children's lives every day, the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday proposed long-awaited changes to regulations covering online privacy for children.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or Coppa, was enacted over a decade ago, long before the advent of social media and smartphones. It requires companies to obtain parental consent before collecting any personal information about a child under the age of 13.

full article