The Next Problem App: Yik Yak

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New information has just surfaced regarding the recently introduced app, Yik Yak.

Although this logo seems rather friendly, you, as parents, should be aware of this app. It allows users, kids, to post anonymous comments to other users, or other kids. As you can read in this article, schools in the Chicagoland area have banned this app from their networks and sent letters to parents asking them to ensure that the app is not installed on their children’s phones.

Read Full Chicago Tribune Article

Here are some things that parents should know about Yik Yak:

  • The App Store states that you must be 17 years old to download the app. This clearly doesn’t stop anyone.
  • The first line of description of Yik Yak in the App Store is “Yik Yak – the anonymous social wall for anything and everything.” Clearly this app is not intended for middle school or high school age children.
  • Yik Yak also allows users to post comments under an alias. Similar to Snapchat, this leads to a false sense of security with kids allowing and almost encouraging them to increase the risk factor on their posts.
  • Yik Yak can have frequent and intense sexual content as well as nudity and profanity.
  • Users are led to believe that the sources of comments cannot be traced again leading to a false sense of security for kids to bully as well as threaten violence to schools.
  • Yik Yak is available through both the App Store (iProducts) and Google Play (Androids).

Take a second to check your child’s phone, tablet, etc. and ensure that they are not using this app. The recent increase in media reports on this app is a double edged sword. While it is great that the attention raises awareness to us as parents, it also raises awareness to kids and increases their intrigue into what Yik Yak is.

What is an ‘In-App’ Purchase and How To Prevent It

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Have you ever received a credit card charge from Google Play or the Apple App Store and you did not know what it was for? It may have come from an in-app purchase that your child made on your account while playing a harmless game, such as Tiny Zoo Friends.

What is an In-App Purchase?
While playing a game that has been downloaded from the App Store or Google Play, a message pops up asking the player if he or she would like more of something that will advance them further in the game. For example, the player may be offered more coins or a map. The game itself may have been downloaded for free from the online store, but these offers to the players come with a price and the price can add up quickly. I know many parents who have received charges totaling between $500-$1000, all from in-app purchases.

How Do Credit Card Charges Occur? 
The App Store and Google Play have the capability to store credit cards. When they are used, a valid password associated with that card must be entered. Many of our children know these passwords for the ease of downloading things from the stores. So when the offer pops up to buy more coins, they simply enter the password and have the goods. In some cases, the kids do not have the passwords and the parent enters them when the child asks to download something. That credit card can be valid and active for a full 30 minutes and does not require a password entry. So the parent enters the password, downloads the game for the child and sends him or her off to enjoy, but as those offers pop up over the next 30 minutes, the child can unknowingly rack up a big bill quickly.

What Settings Can Prevent In-App Purchases?
On iTouches, iPads, and iPhones, there is a little known flag that can be set under the Restrictions options, called ‘In-App Purchases’. Set this to the off position and the device will not allow these purchases to be made. Additionally, directly below the ‘In-App Purchases’ setting is another setting called ‘Required Password’. This should be set to ‘Immediately’ which will prevent the additional purchases to be made from the one password entry.

As for Android users and customers of Google Play, Google has just updated it’s settings so that a password must be entered for each purchase. Attached are the steps to follow to ensure that the device is setup properly.

Setting Password Protection in Google Play

Feel free to call/email Cyber Safety if you need any assistance with these settings.

Kajeet – Cell Phone for Kids with Built-In Parental Controls

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I recently came across a new, innovative cell phone company – Kajeet. I found it interesting because they claim to have built-in FREE parental controls already installed on the cell phone. According to their website, www.kajeet.com, you can control the following features:

  • Time Manager: This allows you to control when the phone can and can’t be used
  • Find Your Kid: A GPS feature that allows you to find the phone if it’s lost, track your child and even get email alerts when they arrive at destinations.
  • Contact Manager: A call blocking feature that allows and blocks calls and texts
  • Feature Manager: Allows you to choose which websites your child can access, or turn off web access completely

Best of all, they don’t require a contract and the service is reasonably priced. It only runs on Sprint compatible phones and uses the Sprint network, but if you are OK with that, it could be a great solution. If you have an old Sprint phone laying around, you can activate it and start using it right away.

Personally, I was intrigued enough to activate a phone for my son. I will report on my experiences in a future blog post.

uKnow – Tools to Connect and Protect Digital Families

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In my search to find the right tools to help us protect our children, I came across uKnow (www.uKnow.com), a parental controls software company based in Virginia. They make several tools to help protect and track your children. I will look into them further in a later blog post, but wanted to inform you quickly about them in case you were close to making a decision on what software to use.

The products are:

    • uKnowKids claims to be the world’s first Parental Intelligence system (according to their website). In a nutshell, it provides Mobile Monitoring, Social Monitoring (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), Locator tools and “Parental Intelligence”, which provides you with analysis and insight into what is really going on with your child. There is a way
    • uKnowID helps families manage their digital footprint across the Internet and provides actionable steps to protect their privacy and control their safety.I was unable to find a way to get more information about this product however, so I am not sure if this product is available or not.
    • uKnowFamily lets digital families locate one another and stay connected while on the go. However, as of this writing it looks like this product is not released yet but you can sign up to be notified when it is.

More to come as I learn about these products…

Where Do Kids Hide Pictures on Cell Phones?

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This is directly from Detective Rich Wistocki, Naperville Police Department.

PARENT ALERT !!!!

Ok parents, here is another new threat to our young children. To tell you the truth, we have had three cases of this in one week. This involved 6-8th graders. In your child’s cell phone we are finding they are hiding sexted images of themselves and others so parents and teachers cannot see them when looking in the camera roll of the cell phone. It is an app that will hide photos and videos. It may look like a safe or a calculator requiring a numerical code. Check you child’s cell phone applications and look for an icon like this. Remember saying to yourself that “My kid would never” is setting yourself up for a huge let down. Better you find it than we find it.

keep-safe

What is….Snapchat?

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Snapchat is a photo messaging application. Using the app, users can take photos (called a snap), record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, up to 10 seconds, after which it will be deleted from the recipient”s device and the company’s servers.

How popular is it? Well, it is relatively new and started as a class project for Evan Spiegel at Stanford in April 2011. According to Forbes, Snapchat is used 30 million times a day and growing by leaps and bounds daily.

Seems simple enough, right? How bad can this be? The photo actually disappears before anybody else can do anything with it. Kids, and adults too, are having tons of fun with this hot and trendy application. Don’t be too comfortable with this logic. Here are some risks to consider:

  • Sexting – Snapchat creates a strong sense of perceived safety for users as photos are deleted after the time limit. Teenagers feel much ‘safer’ sending photos via this app. As a result of this comfort, teenagers are becoming much bolder in what they are willing to send, including, you guessed it, photos of themselves that are inappropriate.
  • Privacy – Although the app notifies senders if a screenshot is taken of their sent photo, founder Evan Spiegel says the app is not for privacy. Snapchat’s privacy policy says it can’t guarantee photos won’t still be available in some form after the set time has elapsed. Teenagers do not read nor care about this fine print.
  • Bullying – Similar to the sexting logic, Snapchat makes bullying much easier and safer because there is far less chance of being caught bullying another person. The ‘evidence’ of the bullying is disappearing. Again, this will allow behavior to get much bolder and riskier.
  • Does it really disappear – As with most things, if you give people enough time, they will find a way around the intended use of the app. In this case, people or ‘hacks’ will find a way to retain those fleeting photos. There have been at least 3 loopholes or new apps created which would allow recipients to save Snapchat images for keeps. These loopholes have been discovered and step by step instructions can easily be found on the internet.

At the end of the day, this is a fun app for kids and adults too. Like all things technical that our kids are using, parents need to understand how they work and what are the risks associated with them. Talk to your kids and help them to understand that Snapchat needs to be used in good judgement and with appropriate behavior. That picture really doesn’t disappear forever! Ask your child, “Are you really ok with this picture out there for all to see?” If the answer is not “Yes” than it should never be sent.

What is that App? Keeping Up With Your Children

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Do you feel like you have no idea what your children are doing on their smartphones? When I carpool a group middle schoolers, I find that I cannot follow the ‘app speak’ language that they are using. Are they tweeting, snapping, chatting, following, etc? Just when I figure out what app they are talking about and constantly using, it has become yesterday’s news. Does this this sound familiar? Well, if it does, find comfort in the fact that you are in the same boat as most of us.

I will be posting blogs that provide you with a quick description of some of the more popular apps that our children are using. I will outline some of the risks associated with it and also some safety precautions that you can use to help protect your children.

Stay tuned for an introduction to SnapChat.

Why Internet Safety is Important

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I am officially waving the white flag. I surrender. I have finally come to the realization that I cannot keep up with my children’s online activities AND work, do the laundry, get dinner ready, oversee homework, etc. The breadth as well as the depth of online dangers are simply too great for one person to police without help. And, I am not just talking about internet predators, but also cyberbullying, sexting, and the misuse of social media.

A quick search finds some staggering statistics:

  • Cyber Bullying – About half of young people have experienced some form of cyber bullying, and 10 to 20 percent experience it regularly. And only about 1 in 10 children tells a parent if they have been a victim. *Source
  • Sexting – 39% of all teenagers have either sent or posted sexually suggestive messages and 20% have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves. *Source
  • Internet Predators – One in five teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. *Source
  • While these statistics are based on surveys and may not be 100% accurate, it is still apparent that these dangers are real and we need to pay attention to them. I’m hoping that through Cyber Safety Consulting and my blog, I can help keep our children safe.