Snapchat and my Daughters (14 Oct 14 by gins)

By now you've heard of the latest security breach - the Snapsaved (now shut down) Snapchat client hacked and hundreds of thousands of potentially damaging photos posted to 4chan.  Now, although Snapchat itself was not the target, many, my daughters included, post to it, and to be honest, i don't know if they've been using the Snapsaved client (or some other client, yet to be hacked).   My bad!  But we do limit in-app purchases. The problem is that many of these casual applications are no-charge.  And i'm sure that they don't read the small-print when downloading said applications, as to what is saved and what is not.  Where to draw the line?

In a world where Instagram is the new clique, replacing clothes and what kind of house you live in, I can't really cut them off.  But i can give my daughters, ages 10 and 11, guidance, beyond the standard school Internet good citizen briefing on content and bullying.  Guidance that reflects more of the real world, like what happened to that unfortunate girl in Saratoga, just five miles from our house.  And guidance that can be understood by a very distracted ten year-old.

1.  Never post a picture or opinion that you'd not want to have viewed or read by a future employer, by college admission, or even by your close friends.   I know we've heard all of this before.  A scary statistic by the CTIA - 46% of adolescents, ages 11 to 17, have received a message or picture their parents would disapprove of due to sexual content.

2.  The same applies for pictures or opinions of friends (or non-friends).  What goes around comes around.

3.  Never (ever) be put in a position where someone has the opportunity take a picture that you'd not want to see posted.  Something to be said about a buddy system at parties, especially once they hit high school.

4.  Never share private information.  Once again, nothing new.

Over the last year, the CTIA has published some great infographics on www.growingwireless.com.   Worth taking a look.  And within the site, the resources page has a wealth of information spanning smartphone OSs and cellular providers.

Time to have that conversation!