This corner of the Charleston Catholic High School website will keep you informed of issues that Charleston Catholic administration, faculty, and students are discussing currently.

January 2010 - Link to Facebook Safety page

There is good information and other links found on this page. Another change is that photo albums default to public viewing. Make sure that your child's privacy settings are restricted to only friends (Settings --> Privacy Settings) and that their photo albums are restricted (Profile --> Photos tab --> Album Privacy).

Facebook safety

December 2009 - Changes to Facebook security settings that you should know about

Here are links to articles on the recent changes in the security settings on Facebook. Review you childs security settings to insure that they are not exposing too much information publicly.

Privacy advocates slam Facebook change

Facebook's new privacy settings: 5 things you should know

August 2009 - Prescription Pills: The New Drug of Choice for Teens

It was just after dawn on one of those hot, sticky July days when the sun doesn't rise so much as slide up slowly like an egg poached by the humidity. Minutes earlier, a small platoon of police officers had eased their cruisers onto the side streets of Whippany, a prim New Jersey suburb. They drove past rows of vinyl-sided McMansions with fake-brick facades and matching Palladian windows, past Sports Authority basketball hoops and sleeping Audis and SUVs. Then, just like their cohorts from several other nearby towns, they parked and waited, the sweat trickling down under their Kevlar vests. More than 200 officers, each linked by radio to the task force headquarters, stopped at all-but-identical houses across three counties, pumped with the kind of adrenaline rush that comes from being part of a major takedown.

Less than an hour later, more than 50 kids and young adults with bed head, in T-shirts and flip-flops -- many just roused by their shocked parents telling them that the police were at the door -- stumbled into the central command unit to be processed. Among their number were recent graduates, star athletes, an actress in a school play, their wrists secured behind their backs with plastic handcuffs, just like they'd seen on Law & Order reruns. Read the article

February 2008 - A one-stop shop for cyber-safety issues:

WiredSafety

June 2007 - As cyberbullying has been facilitated by social networking websites, school districts and state governments are reacting. Here is a link to view the latest news on cyberbullying from Google:

Cyberbullying News from Google

March 2007 - A few more links to news concerning the most popular teen websites:

Facebook News from Google

YouTube News from Google

MySpace News from Google

Social Networking News from Google

August 2006 - A couple of interesting articles concerning MySpace.com and YouTube.com:

Google in $900m ad deal with MySpace

YouTube introduces video advertising

May 2006 - Just a quick update to the MySpace.com phenomenom. As with any successful website, copycats tend to pop up quickly. MySpace.com copycats have started appearing hoping to cash in on the success of MySpace.com. A few of these are tagged.com (13 - 19 age restriction, friend-invitation only), freewebs.com , and varsityworld.com (under 20 age restriction). These sites are primarily to obtain demographic information about your children and to advertise to them. In the privacy statements of the sites is information about what information the site is gathering on your child. For example, tagged.com uses, in addition to cookies, a "pixel tag" which "are tiny graphic files that are included in HTML-encoded e-mail messages. We use pixel tags to gather information about the e-mails we send to our registered users. When such a message is opened in an HTML-capable e-mail program, the recipient's computer accesses our server to retrieve the pixel tag file, and allows us to record and store the date and time, the recipient's e-mail address, and other standard logging information. The pixel tag also may read cookies. Tagged web pages may also contain similar pixel tags that allow us to count users who have visited those pages, to compile aggregated statistics about site usage, and to deliver co-branded services as they become available." To keep up-to-date with news of social networking sites use the following links to Google news. These links will deliver the latest news on social networking and MySpace.com.

MySpace News from Google

Social Networking News from Google

May 2006 - I was recently asked a question about blocking unwanted messages in the AOL Instant Messenger program. Here is an excerpt from their FAQs on the subject:

Is there a way to block "hostile" instant messages from people?
AOL Instant Messenger enables users to control their own online environment. There are two ways to discourage hostile Instant Messages. The first is to “block” people. Blocking prevents users from sending Instant Messages to you. If you receive an inappropriate or harassing Instant Message, you can simply click the “Block” button located in the bottom of the Instant Message window. Another way to block users is to highlight the buddy you wish to block in the buddy list, then click the "People" menu and select "Block buddy". The second option is to “warn” users when they have offended you or used inappropriate language. This issues a “penalty” to the person who has sent the offending Instant Message and eventually will immobilise them. If you receive an offensive Instant Message, click the “Warn” button located in the bottom of the Instant Message window.

Here is a link to AOL Instant Messenger FAQ.

March 2006 - During the second week of March 2006, parents and students viewed a presentation on MySpace.com, the fastest growing social networking site on the Internet. Issues addressed in the presentation ranged from understanding what it implications of posting content publicly to the Internet, personal information and security considerations, possible short term and long term consequences of content posted to your MySpace.com profile.

The links below will direct you to news stories currently being generated about MySpace.

MySpace News from Google

Making MySpace safe for kids - Business Week

MySpace News from MTV