by scottcha on 8/4/21, 5:19 PM with 5 comments
Specifically I have two concerns:
1. My child is under 13 and they are certainly sharing private information on this site but none of their accounts required parental consent. I just opened an account with age < 13 in the US and was also not prompted for parental validation. This seems to potentially violate the Child Online Privacy Rule in the US [1].
2. Many schools encourage and facilitate the use of Scratch but at least in my child's case it seems that this has become a loophole to chat and participate in social media during school.
To see what I am referring to you can view https://scratch.mit.edu/explore/studios/all/popular and view any of those studios comments sections which are all primarily an open chat unrelated to the projects.
Scratch in the past has had some really great offerings and community events not only about coding but also about sharing and creating art. I'm disappointed to see that much of the use is not about these at all. Thoughts?
[1] https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=4939e77c77a1a1a08c1cbf905fc4b409&node=16%3A1.0.1.3.36&rgn=div5
by stevenicr on 8/5/21, 1:20 AM
ransoms, ransomware - getting people to install malicious exes - there is lots to teach, sounds like you've found a place where it's time to start. Are ip addys showing up in firewalls when social scratching? another location finder.
the kids will always find loopholes to share / chat / pornify things.. we need to teach them the ramifications of doing such.
I recall when a little one I guard was playing minecraft on playstation one day.. I walked in and there was a giant tower, kind of looked liked bezo spaceship.. as I tried to understand what was going on - the other player added some water from the top and used a sign to write the word penis.
I mean - you can try to limit things a bit, but there seems to always be a way to do major things with small tech connecting - I think it's best to teach them it's wrong to cheat / share answers then to try to stop every version of airdrop /bluetooth mosquito ringer - all the things.
best to teach the ramifications of sharing certain details and know some warn words to watch out for then to try to block every social media thing, imho - and there are people who go the other way - disney circle can block a lot - and the amish have just blocked it all.
by orsenthil on 8/4/21, 10:35 PM
I know as a parent, it can be a little concerning. However, you can guide your children and keep a tab on their activity. If a child is doing scratch, perhaps they and their parents could program themselves for the right things.
by kbelder on 8/4/21, 9:16 PM
by ev1 on 8/4/21, 6:40 PM
Your child sharing personal information of their own accord shouldn't be covered by this.
by tmaly on 8/6/21, 2:44 AM
I would be more concerned if the child was using something like Snapchat on Instagram.