Secret ‘dark web’ apps that are luring your children online
valleynewslive.com
valleynewslive.com
My gut reaction is that parents looking through their children's phones, apps, messages and photos is a huge invasion of privacy. As the article suggests though, there's also the need to protect and manage what our children are involved in, just like offline activities.
There's something about smartphones that is so personal, that there doesn't quite seem to be a good comparison for pre-technology privacy. I don't think I'd have a problem with dictating what my child watches on television, eats, drinks, or otherwise consumes - but controlling smartphones seems something more akin to thoughtcrime.
I was lucky enough to grow up when technology and connectivity was so new that apparently it wasn't used in such a mainstream sinister way as it appears to be now. Going through puberty seems like an even more harrowing experience (ala the move Eighth Grade) with the internet, that seems to go quite unnoticed.
Maybe reading another person's diary?
But as a former child, I also appreciate that kids want privacy too. And if your kid is at all technical, they'll find workarounds.
Given that, the best strategy seems like openness and acceptance. So there's nothing that they can't share with you.
But then, I didn't raise kids. So what do I know?
Edit: I need a new keyboard. Or new fingers.
My girls are a bit too young for me to worry about parties/drugs just yet, so I don't have the answer to what the best approach is, but I truly hope I never have to resort to spying on my kids. My parents were incredibly open with everything (60s hippies) and we were taught that we could always talk to them about anything we were curious about.. sex, drugs, whatever.. and they'd help us navigate it and educate us. I think that worked out quite well, and I figure my job is to try replicate that level of love/trust/openness but taking technology and digitally-connection into account. It's bloody hard though!
Honestly if a kid can not only figure out how to get to a dark net market but set up a bitcoin wallet, convert fiat to bitcoin, use PGP to decrypt/encrypt messages, and figure out how to get things delivered without their parents knowing then are they really just kids?
My kids know that their parents are going to ask for their phones at any time, for a random inspection. We tell the kids we are their parents, not their friends. Our job is to raise them to understand accountability.
Besides giving them incentive to stay clean, it gives our kids an 'out' with their friends. If they get some peer pressure to do something they shouldn't (like post some inappropriate material online), they just have to explain "My parents are really tough and they look at all my stuff!" We don't mind having reputations as tough parents.
We've had no problems so far (oldest is about to graduate college.) As a bonus, our kids tend to choose good friends also.
>The second sign would be refusing to hand over passwords or let you look through their phone.
Or you know, they value their privacy? We've all grown up with secrets from our parents. That's completely normal and healthy.
Why not just talk to them about the dark web and why you find it inappropriate?
This is only tangentially relevant, but somehow it reminded me of this very old joke list "Is your son a computer hacker?"
http://adequacy.org/diaries/stories/2001.12.2.42056.2147.htm...
So what, are there apps that wrap Orbot in fake calculators etc?