Googe + Allows 13 yr Olds to Register

Google+ announced that they are now allowing 13 yr olds to register for their social network.  The reality is, many kids are getting accounts by saying they are older anyway.   What this does mean is that parents need to be more vigilant about their child's online activities.  Google+ allows the account holder to create "circles".   These circles are a great tool to limit what your friends can see.  By placing your friends in circles you can control what they can see of your postings.  You can create as many circles as you like.  Typically, you would create one for family, work associates, school friends, etc.   As a parent, you need to set the rules that you will be a member of all of their circles.  If you are only in your child's  family circle you cannot see what is going on in their other circles.  If your kids are using Google+ take a look at how it works, make sure you can see what is happening in their world. 

Passwords and Personal Identity

The Zappo's data hack is a great reminder for us all that we should not be using the same password for all of our accounts.  If you haven't heard, 24 million Zappo's customers data was hacked and is in unknown hands.  The data includes your name, email address, password, last four numbers of the credit card used and other personal data.  Zappo's has voided all passwords on their site to protect their customers from unwanted purchases on their site.

If you have bought anything from the Zappo's site, you need to think about changing your password on all of your accounts that use the same password as the one you used at Zappo's.  It's real easy for anyone with your password and email address to go shopping on the Internet.  So here are a few tips for online shoppers:

• Use unique passwords for every account.  We all know it's a hassle to remember all of them and there are encrypted programs that can help you maintain a list of them. But much less hassle than if your identity is stolen. 
• Don't store your Credit Card information on the site to facilitate speedy check out.  
• Consider a separate email account to use for shopping purposes only.  Limit your exposure to your other financial accounts. 
• Only supply credit card or personal information on secure sites.  The url should start out https://....
• Don't click on links in emails that you don't expect or don't know the sender.  People are very good at creating emails that appear to come from the companies you do business with.  Your banks and will never ask you to reply with a password to an email. 
• Use the links you have used in the past to go to a site.  Enter it yourself or use your bookmarks to access your accounts.  Not links in emails.  

Remember, you have to be proactive in protecting your identity.  Change your passwords regularly and always reconcile any statements you get.  

Tools for parents who gave tech gifts this holiday season

Ok, the holidays are over, the kids are back in school, and you are getting back to your normal routine. If you gave your kids tech gifts like IPads, Nooks, Smartphones or anything along those lines your kids routines have changed. Yours need to also. With the technology come responsibility, both for kids and parents. The parents need to establish some guidelines and what is acceptable use of the new tool. Common Sense media has put together a great list of things to consider with the variety of technology gifts that have been given to our kids. Click on the Blog title to go their site and read up on their suggestions.

A good suggestion is to add Common Sense Media to your favorites list or subscribe to their mailings. They do a great job of putting some common sense back in to raising kids in today's technological jungle.