McAfee software watches kids' Internet use
Computer World Canada, By Jennifer Kavur - June 10, 2009
Ontario's privacy commissioner gave a thumbs up to McAfee on Tuesday as the company unveiled Internet security software for families. Why protecting your kids online is protecting yourself
McAfee Inc. is taking online identity, relationship and privacy protection to the next level by focusing on youth, according Ross Allen, Canadian General Manager for McAfee.
Allen was on site at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario in Toronto on Tuesday for the unveiling of McAfee's new Internet security software for families.
"Many threats now come through our children visiting legitimate Internet sites which cyercriminals have hacked into," he said.
The company is also planning to direct Read More ..tention to whitelists. "We are used to trying to blacklist and keep the bad guys out. We are going to change that and say, 'Here's the good guys," said Allen.
McAfee Family Protection allows parents to specify time parameters for Internet use, including the amount of time their children spend online as well as what time of day they are allowed to access the Internet.
"The single most important factor in determining how at-risk kids are is the amount of time they are online … too much time means too much time to get into trouble," said Parry Aftab, family Internet safety advisor to McAfee and chairman of the McAfee Consumer Advisory Board.
The software also records IM conversations and compiles usage reports that indicate how many hours children spend online, how many instant messages they send and where the messages are going. Inappropriate or personal information posted to social networking accounts are also logged and recorded.
While Family Protection doesn't prevent children from posting private information online, what it does do is facilitate dialogue by allowing parents to see what children are posting, said Aftab.
Other features include the ability to block individually specified URLs, up to 35 predetermined Web site categories, installed programs such as peer-to-peer software and activity with unknown e-mail address as well as Web-based email accounts.
On average, 12- to 15-year-olds have six different e-mail accounts, according to a poll Aftab conducted with 400 children in Canada.
When children attempt to visit an unapproved site, parents receive an immediate text message alert. The software also filters viewing of YouTube clips.
The features are customizable and applied on a user-by-user basis, so parents can determine one set of controls for their five-year-old, for example, and other for their teenager.
McAfee Family Protection is apparent to users, so children know what is happening as far as moderation and monitoring is concerned, according to Aftab. "When you're going to use monitoring software, you have to talk to your kids about it … it's about trust both ways," she said.
While the software is geared towards monitoring the Internet activities of children, McAfee doesn't specify an age range for users. "A lot of seniors like it for themselves," said Aftab.
Monitoring software not only helps parents protect their children from online sexual predators and cyberbullying attempts - it also serves to protect parents from their kids.
McAfee Inc. is taking online identity, relationship and privacy protection to the next level by focusing on youth, according Ross Allen, Canadian General Manager for McAfee.
Allen was on site at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario in Toronto on Tuesday for the unveiling of McAfee's new Internet security software for families.
"Many threats now come through our children visiting legitimate Internet sites which cyercriminals have hacked into," he said.
The company is also planning to direct more attention to whitelists. "We are used to trying to blacklist and keep the bad guys out. We are going to change that and say, 'Here's the good guys," said Allen.
McAfee Family Protection allows parents to specify time parameters for Internet use, including the amount of time their children spend online as well as what time of day they are allowed to access the Internet.
"The single most important factor in determining how at-risk kids are is the amount of time they are online … too much time means too much time to get into trouble," said Parry Aftab, family Internet safety advisor to McAfee and chairman of the McAfee Consumer Advisory Board.
The software also records IM conversations and compiles usage reports that indicate how many hours children spend online, how many instant messages they send and where the messages are going. Inappropriate or personal information posted to social networking accounts are also logged and recorded.
While Family Protection doesn't prevent children from posting private information online, what it does do is facilitate dialogue by allowing parents to see what children are posting, said Aftab.
Other features include the ability to block individually specified URLs, up to 35 predetermined Web site categories, installed programs such as peer-to-peer software and activity with unknown e-mail address as well as Web-based email accounts.
On average, 12- to 15-year-olds have six different e-mail accounts, according to a poll Aftab conducted with 400 children in Canada.
When children attempt to visit an unapproved site, parents receive an immediate text message alert. The software also filters viewing of YouTube clips.
The features are customizable and applied on a user-by-user basis, so parents can determine one set of controls for their five-year-old, for example, and other for their teenager.
McAfee Family Protection is apparent to users, so children know what is happening as far as moderation and monitoring is concerned, according to Aftab. "When you're going to use monitoring software, you have to talk to your kids about it … it's about trust both ways," she said.
While the software is geared towards monitoring the Internet activities of children, McAfee doesn't specify an age range for users. "A lot of seniors like it for themselves," said Aftab.
Monitoring software not only helps parents protect their children from online sexual predators and cyberbullying attempts - it also serves to protect parents from their kids.
Children pose their own set of threats to parents, Aftab pointed out.
Kids are falling for the Nigerian scams and phishing attempts, giving out parents banking and credit card numbers and exposing sensitive information by sharing hard drive folders on peer-to-peer networks.
"Go to Limewire and search for 'tax return' and see what comes up," said Aftab.
A new partnership between the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and McAfee was also announced at the unveiling.
"We look forward to a new partnership which will elevate the level of privacy and protection locally by adding privacy to the security protections presently offered by McAfee," said Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner.
The partnership will compliment Cavoukian's "Privacy by Design" approach.
"This announcement in my office signifies, I think, the first time that the achievements of a world leader in IT security, McAfee, are converging with those of a privacy regulatory," she said.
Raising awareness and educating the public about the privacy implications of new technologies is one of the most important roles as commissioner, according to Cavoukian, and "doubly so" when it comes to children.
But spreading education and awareness to youth is also more difficult, she pointed out. "We have a hard time doing this, especially reaching out to kids … when you are really young, you think you are invincible," she said.
McAfee Family Protection is currently available as a download purchase from McAfee for $39.99. Boxed copies will arrive in Canadian stores this September.
Copyright © 2009 ITworldcanada.com
Angry scenes as nursery worker appears in court on sexual assault charges
Vanessa George remanded in custody after crowds jeer from public gallery and throw missiles outside court
The Guardian, UK
June 11, 2009
A nursery school worker was jeered and spat at when she appeared in court today, charged with sexual assault and making and distributing child abuse images.
Vanessa George, 39, who worked at the Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, was remanded in custody amid angry scenes in and outside the city's magistrates court.
George, of Plymouth, faces three counts of sexual assault on girls and one on a boy. She is also accused of making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children. Read More ..
BBC, UK TV
Programme - 1997
The sexual abuse by women of children and teenager
A surprising 86% of survivors of sexual abuse were not believed when they said the abuser was a woman.
Many myths were exposed, such as the one that women only sexually abused when coerced by men - they in fact played the lead part. Also the myth that women are incapable of cruelty - what was shown was beyond belief.
Women commit 25% of all child sexual abuse
250,000 children in UK have been sexually abused by women
Women in our society have been portrayed as victims, but somewhere within their victimisation they have learned that to abuse children gave them a sense of power, control, agency, and therefore they use the abuse of children to gain those things.
Jacqui Saradjiam: (clinical psychologist)
I think people find it so difficult to see that women sexually abuse children
because the whole view of women is of nurturers, carers, protectors - people
who do anything to look after children - and they see the women as victims
rather than enemies or perpetrators of any abuse.
Michelle Elliott: (Director - children's charity Kidscape)
I think the issue strikes at the core of what we perceive ourselves as women
to be. I think that it's easier to think that it's men - men the enemy,
somehow - but it can't be women - it's one thing women can't do. Women can
be equal, we can be free, we can be in charge of companies, but we can't
sexually abuse children - That's a load of rubbish.
Female Teacher jailed for sex with boy
The Guardian, UK
August 16, 2005
A married primary schoolteacher was jailed for 15 months yesterday after admitting having sex with an underage teenage boy.
Hannah Grice, 32, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of indecent assault on the boy, who was aged 14 and 15 at the time of the offences.
Sentencing her at Stafford crown court, Judge John Shand told Grice, from Cannock, Staffordshire, she had abused her position of trust.
"Cases such as this are, of course, made worse by the fact that you were a member of the teaching profession," he told her. "You should have been very sensitive indeed to child welfare issues." Grice was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years. Read More ..
Health Canada Publication
The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens
"... the existence of a double standard in the care and treatment of male victims, and the invisibility and normalization of violence and abuse toward boys and young men in our society.
Despite the fact that over 300 books and articles on male victims have been published in the last 25 to 30 years, boys and teen males remain on the periphery of the discourse on child abuse.
Few workshops about males can be found at most child abuse conferences and there are no specialized training programs for clinicians. Male-centred assessment is all but non-existent and treatment programs are rare. If we are talking about adult males, the problem is even greater. A sad example of this was witnessed recently in Toronto. After a broadcast of The Boys of St. Vincent, a film about the abuse of boys in a church-run orphanage, the Kids' Help Phone received over 1,000 calls from distraught adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is tragic in a way no words can capture that these men had no place to turn to other than a children's crisis line."
Female Teacher Accused of Sex Abuse
The Braxton County teacher admitted having sex with three middle school students, State Police said. U.S.A.
March 3, 2005
A Braxton County middle school teacher is in police custody after allegedly confessing to sexual misconduct with five of her students.
Toni Lynn Woods, 37, of Strange Creek was arrested Wednesday on eight counts of sexual assault. Read More ..