Kids are struck by all the different information and images that they run into on the internet. A survey result shows that 90% of today’s school age children have computers either at school or at home. These children have become so skilled that they can explore the internet to the extent that they do not even think about privacy issues. For many of them, it is just like going to the park where they see different things and having nothing to worry about.

Exposures to dangerous sites and to online criminals are the things that parents fear most. They are most concerned about children who are under 18 years old. These children do not have qualms about sharing their personal information. They believe it is normal that websites ask them to submit personal data. Children who get hooked into social networking even upload photos, post comments, and provide email and home addresses, along with other personal information.

It would be advantageous if parents take an active role in their children’s internet activities. Along with privacy, children also need parental control. Parents should strive to become a part of their children’s online routine. They should be viewed as their children’s allies and not as critics. It is best to make internet time a family time. This way, parents can keep track of sites their children visit and guide them through the net.

The internet is increasingly becoming a part of many people’s lives. From simple online shopping to social networking, users have shared a part of themselves with millions of other users. Now, they want to trace their cyber “footprints” in order to erase some or all of them. Why? It is because they finally realize that they have made some online mistakes. Meaning, they have shared data that should have been kept private.

Yes, many users wished that they would have thought it over before sharing their data. Now they want some kind of an “eraser tool” to delete that unwanted data from cyberspace. Users are waiting for legislation that will allow them to remove data that is no longer wanted or needed.

There is a new issue that is called “right to be forgotten”. Some countries are considering the possibility of creating an enforceable law of this kind. One direction is headed in the direction of giving users the right to demand removal of any information about them online. For example, criminals, after serving their term, could be given the right to demand removal of their crimes from an internet website.

Many parents want parental control over their children’s internet activities. However, they get confused when it comes to the issue of their children’s right to privacy. They begin to keep watch over what their children explore on the web, but eventually stop. They believe that they should respect their child’s privacy, but they do not realize that because of this their children can become prey to online predators.

Internet surfing by children is totally different from writing in their diaries. A diary is private property; access to it is not public and is limited only to the owner. The internet is not a private world. It is accessible to hundreds of millions of users. Hence, parents should rethink their view of privacy when it comes to the internet, and must provide the first line of defense. Among online users, children are the most vulnerable to abuse because of their immature emotional and intellectual state.

It is estimated that there are about 1 million pedophiles online. They are always ready to find their next victim, and your child could be it. These child molesters and sexual predators actively search the net looking for a child who is not “on guard”. Your son or daughter is not mature enough to handle this type of situation. Therefore, parental control is needed to make sure that their online safety is not jeopardized.

The internet is full of opportunities that children and youth can discover and explore every day. There are new ideas, online friends, challenging frontiers, and a lot more. All these are accessible to them, at home, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As they surf different websites, children and youth become engrossed with what they are doing, and this results in mindless exploration. They do not realize that just like the real world, the virtual world can also be harmful to them.

It is here where parents have to play a very important role in maintaining the online privacy of their children. First of all, they should realize that web sites collect personal information from children. There are various ways of doing this. Web sites can ask them to register, join a club or enter a contest, fill out a questionnaire, and others. Having this information, web sites can put them together to make a personal profile. Children turn out to be targets of advertisements, or they end up on a customer list, which is sold to data marketers.

There is no guarantee that children will be harm-free in the virtual world. Even the advertised technology-based solutions are not foolproof because another new technology overrides the older one. The best guard against privacy exploitation of children can only be provided by parents and guardians. Parents must be actively involved in their children’s online experiences. This starts with parents spending time with their children and asking them to show their online activities.

There are many social networking platforms available today to share your public self. But where do you go to privately and safely share your personal, day-to-day thoughts and experiences? Flink12 was created as a safe and secure way to share your private life. It is playful, safe, extremely private and easy to use. A unique way of sharing and communicating, Flink12 allows you to share your life in a meaningful way with the people you know and care about the most.

“Privacy first” is the highest priority at Flink12. This approach ensures that your personal information will remain completely secure. With no privacy settings to manage, your information is automatically safe. Personal information will not indexed on the web by search engines. You decide when, where and how much of your life you want to share and with whom. Check out this video to learn more about Flink12:

You can find out more at http://www.flink12.com

After all those bad experiences with unwanted ads, many users feel some fear whenever they go online. They feel that they are making themselves victims of advertising companies that they do not even know. Unceasing consumer education, though, has effectively raised users’ consciousness. Many of them are now aware that there are tools against tracking activities. All they need to know more about is how to make use of these available protection tools.

For the sake of online safety, some laws and regulations were proposed and implemented. Some companies understand that they have to give protection to consumers. As a result, users are now given the option whether to allow tracking of their activities. In the end, they can still continue to enjoy the benefits of being connected to the internet.

Who tracks users and how do they do it? Basically, advertising networks are the ones doing this. This is so because advertisement is the lifeblood of the internet. By tracking user activities, they get a picture of which sites users visit frequently and which ads they respond to. They will then customize the advertisements that they will “send” to a particular user.

With the increasing need for connection through the internet, people casually share their personal information. Be it on a social networking site or a “buy and sell” site, some amount of personal information needs to be shared. Because of this, many users are no longer aware of what will happen to the information that they upload to different sites.

Concerns about privacy issues have piled up for a number of years. Many of these have something to do with how some websites use the information that they gather from different sources. There are websites that need only the user’s name and a computer in order to gather data about that person. After putting this information together, much more information about that person can be generated.

However, not all websites that do such things have deceitful motives. There are sites that do this for honest reasons. One example is Spokeo, a website that gathers information about people. This could include addresses, pictures of people’s homes, marital status, hobbies, and others. The site specializes in providing information about people through its database of aggregated information.

A new development in protecting personal information has just been announced by Google and Mozilla. The two tech companies are giving users more freedom in opting out of tracking cookies. Google said that it will present an add-on for its Chrome browser. With this add-on users do not have to worry about tracking cookies that monitor their movement and online behavior. This is a positive step taken by this company in order to create a balance between revenue generation and individual privacy.

For quite a long time, the online advertising industry has favored self-regulation. The various proposals made in line with protecting personal information did not achieve positive results. Debates and discussions have been conducted, but no concrete plans were implemented. This action by Google and Mozilla will start a new chapter in gaining more control over user privacy.

Many users just give out their personal information without being aware of the possible consequences. They have not made it a point to read and understand the site’s privacy policies. Others find it troublesome to go through the litany of legal terms, so they just accept the terms as they are presented. They only start to realize their mistake once unsolicited advertisements start to pop up on their screen.

You are about to know the truths about a new app that might put an end to internet privacy. Created by Yianni Kakavas, Creepy is a “geolocation information aggregator”. The potential impact of this application to privacy has raised concern among many privacy advocates. Read further to find out why this should be a cause for worry.

Creepy is an application package for Linux or Windows. The third package that is still in the process is intended for Mac OS X. As a geolocator, this app makes use of data from social networking services in order to pinpoint a user’s location. It gathers the information provided by the user to the network and puts these pieces of information together. Although relatively new in the internet, the software consistently shows its efficiency in doing the job.

Kakavas embedded a search utility in the app to find any individual of interest. A user can just input the Twitter or Flickr username of that person then hit the “Geolocate Target” button. What Creepy does is download all photos or tweets that the individual has provided online. From each of the downloaded materials, Creepy will look for the user’s location at the time the material was uploaded.

A cookie is a piece of text file composed of letters and numbers that are stored on a user’s computer when he or she accesses a website. It is also known as a browser cookie, web cookie, or HTTP cookie. This file is used by the browser to navigate the website more easily. The browser can use the cookie for authentication preferences, language settings, shopping cart contents, themes and more features that use text data.

A cookie may or may not have an expiration date. One that does not have an expiration date is automatically deleted as the browser is terminated. One that has an expiration date may be stored by the browser and deleted as the expiration date passes. Although a cookie itself does not hold information, it can help a website to function more fully.

Most cookies are stored in the browser’s cookie file. These contain the name of the server, its duration and the cookie value. The cookie value is a randomly generated number that makes the cookie unique. This cookie value is used by the server that created the cookie to remember the user when he or she comes back to the site, or to navigate through pages.