I am at the 2010 Family Online Safety Institute Conference – one of the best forums for gathering government, industry and advocacy groups together. I will be doing my best to summarize the sessions I attend.

Online Safety Panel

danyah of boyd just made a wonderful point. We often talk about the need for “parents to be involved.” but the most at-risk child do not have involved parents. She goes on to say the important thing is to realize that there is great diversity in today's youth.

Danah also stressed that we have to evaluate the interventions. There are many, many interventions offered for online safety of children. But there are very few evauations. We dont know what works and what does not. Even worse, sometimes, there are unintended consequences.

Torrie Clark of Comcast said that the most important thing is “shared responsibility.” There is not one that will solve this – govt, industry, parents and educators all have to play a role. 

The issue of youth and teens' privacy online is really on the rise.  Congress Daily has a report about a new survey from Common Sense Media that finds that over 90 percent of parents say they think their children are sharing too much information online, and 8 in 10 teens think their friends share too much information online.  This poll continues the very fine research that Common Sense Media has been doing recently.

As always, our question is - What tools and resources are available, how much are families aware of them, and how easy are they to use?  In this area, it appears that we still have a long way to go.