<p>I think facebook is wonderful. I have an account and more of my adult friends are getting on there. It is a great way to share information and pictures and reconnect with old friends. It’s fun to see what D’s old high school friends are doing. I completely approve of it as a social networking tool. I have better feelings about facebook than myspace, although myspace is great for finding musical groups. </p>
<p>In an increasingly mobile society, facebook is a great thing.</p>
<p>My whole family is on Facebook – daughter, husband, me. We’ve found it to be a wonderful way to keep in touch while my daughter is in college and my husband travels for business. My daughter friended us, and her high school friends friended us, and even some of her college friends! Our daughter has always been careful about what she puts on, and obviously now she won’t put anything up that she wouldn’t want her parents to see – which in my mind, is a good thing.</p>
<p>Both my husband and I have found old friends from high school and college on Facebook, and enjoy connecting with them there.</p>
<p>I’d rather accept the new technology, embrace it and learn it, than ban my kid from using it. However, I do understand parents being concerned about middle school kids using it (the harassment and bullying stuff makes sense to me) – I would agree that Facebook and MySpace should either not be used by kids younger than HS age, or used only under parental supervision. </p>
<p>I’ve known kids whose parents have banned them from having MySpace and Facebook, and they just go to a friend’s house and set one up. I’d rather know my kid has one than have her create one behind my back. If my kid were in middle school, I’d probably let her have a Facebook profile if she insisted, but insist that I know her password. </p>
<p>Since so many kids use Facebook now, I think that kids who don’t have it are at a disadvantage. It is how they socialize and connect. I’ve known kids to be really worried when they discover that “my roommate doesn’t have a Facebook.” </p>
<p>Yes it can be a time waster – but so can many things. If you wanted to procrastinate, there are many ways to waste time on the Internet. I used to think my daughter spent too much time on Facebook, and then she told me that she’s actually doing a variety of things when she’s online (some good, like reading news blogs, some even more frivolous than Facebook, like watching YouTube).</p>
<p>Joining the University of Chicago Class of 2012 facebook group after he decided to attend the U of C was a wonderful way for my son to get to know a whole bunch of his future classmates online – including kids who share particular interests with him or have other things in common with him – months before he starts school. Something that I think will make him a whole lot less anxious when he goes there than I was back when I started college, and didn’t know a soul other than a few other kids going there from my high school, none of whom I was particularly good friends with. </p>
<p>I would guess that half the entering class, if not more, belongs to that group.</p>
<p>It’s also going to be a terrific way for him to stay in touch with his high school friends, let them know what he’s up to and see what they’re up to.</p>
<p>And it was a great way for people to share prom photos, graduation photos, and whole lot more.</p>
<p>So, I approve. </p>
<p>I have a facebook account myself, but rarely use it. There aren’t that many photos of myself I’m willing to have other people see!</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>It can be useful just like any other things. It depends on the kids how they use facebook, cell phone, texting, and etc. I guess I view them as more of time wasters than useful tools. That is just my opinion though.</p>
<p>grantedin-I think this depends on your experience.</p>
<p>Both MySpace and facebook have helped me keep in touch with people that graduated from HS before me, and now with my friends who haven’t graduated yet. It’s also helped me get in touch with kids also in my college class.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s anything wrong with MySpace or Facebook. Very little is good or bad in and of itself. It’s all about how people use it…and you only ever hear about the bad uses instead of the good.</p>
<p>I think the main point is to take a very long range view of one’s electronic interactive behavior. Never, ever, ever assume that anything transmitted - email, facebook interactions, etc. will remain private, or perpetually secure. Enjoy and leverage new technology, but, never put out anything in cyberspace that you would not want to see on the front page of your local newspaper tomorrow morning, or, perhaps have surface in your senate confirmation hearings in 30 years. </p>
<p>Facebook code is leaked and compromised all the time, and there is simply no such thing as absolute security. Never, ever assume that what you think is private as of right now will remain so. </p>
<p>I’d recommend those interested spend some time on archive.org, the way back machine section, and learn about open source intelligence, information archival, etc.</p>
<p>I should have mentioned I was mainly concerned about the use of facebook by high school kids. I am pretty addicted to emails, CC posts, internet search, and etc. I am more concerned about addictive part of facebook for the kids. I do understand it totally depends on each kid.</p>
<p>In a former job, I had a set of tapes that contained extremely confidential and personal information on at least a million people. I had the tapes in my locked possession for diagnostic purposes. And of course they were destroyed when I was done with them. Now you look at the many companies that archive their data with a service like Iron Mountain. What do you think they pay the delivery driver?</p>
<p>In a study of 106 airports, it was estimated that 12,000 laptops are lost. Per week.</p>
<p>[Laptop</a> Losses Total 12,000 Per Week at US Airports - Storage Security News Analysis - Dark Reading](<a href=“http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=158099&f_src=drdaily]Laptop”>http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=158099&f_src=drdaily)</p>
<p>I find it very difficult to explain what computer science to parents with kids interested in the major. Explaining security issues can be just as difficult.</p>
<p>I heard an online security guy who specialises in child abuse on the radio a couple of months ago, and he was saying that all the evidence shows that the kids who are vulnerable to abuse online are the exact same ones who are susceptible in real life – those who have been taught to accept adult authority unquestioningly, who don’t have open lines of communication with their parents, and/or have low self esteem. The best things to do to protect your kids from online crime are the same as thsoe you do to keep them safe in the real world – bolster self esteem, be open to conversations about difficult subjects, and don’t let ‘because I said so’ be a fallback position in arguments. Many young people come across dodgy people online (just as in real life) and what tehy need is skills and knowlege to sidestep the danger, not complete removal from it. We know that doesn’t work very well, they just log on elsewhere, and are less likely to discuss such things with parents.</p>
<p>One of my favorite sources that I suggest people read is Secrets and Lies, Digital Security in a Networked World (Bruce Schneider) - I may have his last name spelled wrong - anyway, it has basic information that nearly anyone can follow, and can help people understand security, or, rather, the lack of it…</p>
<p>As a high school kid I think facebook is great. I’ve been able to keep in contact with friends from before I moved, who I haven’t talked to in person in 5 years, and still know whats going on in their lives. I can pick my favorite musical artists and get automatic updates whenever there is a concert within a certain mileage for me. If your camera is broken for the school dance, you can get pictures from other people’s albums. You can keep in contact with high school friends when you’re in college. You can play games, like scrabble, with your friends online. There’s just so much stuff…it’s entertaining and useful.
and pretty darn safe. I mean I think it’s stupid when people post pictures of themselves doing illegal things, like underage drinking, but if you use common sense you should be fine. There are tons of privacy settings to make it safe…you can even set your profile so that nobody can even find you! as in, even if I search for Person A who goes to my school (and is in my network), he/she will not come up in a search. the only way I could ever know that Person A has a facebook is if he/she friends me first.</p>
<p>“There are tons of privacy settings to make it safe…you can even set your profile so that nobody can even find you! as in, even if I search for Person A who goes to my school (and is in my network), he/she will not come up in a search. the only way I could ever know that Person A has a facebook is if he/she friends me first.”</p>
<p>You are talking about their user interface. What do you think their data is stored on? How many people have access to it? What happens if your account gets hacked? What happens if someone steals a set of backup tapes of their databases?</p>
<p>Or what happens if the databases are subpoenaed? A federal judge has ordered that YouTube (Google) turn over all viewing data including IP addresses, what was watched and when it was watched.</p>
<p>[Court</a> orders YouTube to give Viacom video logs - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080704/ap_on_hi_te/youtube_lawsuit]Court”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080704/ap_on_hi_te/youtube_lawsuit)</p>
<p>I highly doubt that the judge is going to steal anyone’s identity.</p>
<p>As for someone hacking my account…I don’t put anything on there that they’d want. All they can do is see my settings…big deal.</p>
<p>“I highly doubt that the judge is going to steal anyone’s identity.”</p>
<p>The judge ordered it turned over to Viacom. I don’t think that he cares that much about the contents. What would be a little more interesting is if they got a list of the uploaders of copyright content for potential future litigation with the MPAA and RIAA.</p>
<p>I read an interesting article recently suggesting that young people simply assume that their information, e-mails, etc., are not secure. That may be the rational way to approach things from now on.
As far as my kids having Facebook, I let them have it with the understanding that I can look at it at any time, and they take down anything I tell them they have to. So far, the biggest problem I’ve seen is pictures that other people post on their pages…I suppose without Facebook, we wouldn’t even know they were there. (Example: when my daughter went on a beach trip with friends, one of the other girls posted a group picture of the girls in their bikinis. Nothing improper, but not something you would want disseminated onto the Internet. I told her she could ask her friends to take the pics down, or I would be happy to call their parents to discuss it.)</p>
<p>My daughter recently met a young man on a train. He told her he went school A, and is working at B. She looked him up on Facebook and found out he belonged to those groups. When he asked her out later, she felt a little bit more comfortable. It is not to say he couldn’t have turn out to be a psycho…</p>
<p>I am concerned about those pictures kids post on the facebook also.</p>
<p>A few years ago my sister was perusing myspace late at night to check up on her high school daughter (my niece). She clicked on a link to one of the D’s friend’s myspace pages and saw all these pictures of kids with alcohol and bottles of alcohol. She then realized it was HER OWN KITCHEN and HER WALLPAPER in the background! They had left their supposedly “good” D home for a weekend while they went to their lake house because the D had a restaurant job! My sister was livid, but didn’t want to blow her source. Of course, when confronted, the D denied it and my sister kept saying, “I KNOW you were drinking in our house with friends.” I’m not sure my niece ever figured out how she got busted.</p>
<p>^WOW. My mom woulda flat-out told me. XD</p>
<p>My college even has a clause in its Code of Conduct that “internet postings” can be used for disciplinary action/evidence.</p>
<p>I have a facebook page only my three friends can see it. Both my kids have facebook with fairly high privacy settings. My kids won’t friend me, but they both have pages. My older son doesn’t use it much according to one friend of his who wrote on his wall and never got a response. I can see who their friends are btw. My younger son uses facebook to arrange the big group outings his friends have. As far as I can see all his friends are just other high school students, plus a few kids who are in college now who are the friends of his older brother. I did see some silly photos on his page this weekend when his cousin was looking at his page.</p>