DwightDeGroff.com - Tech that Matters

The list of companies that use their software to gather and subsequently sell marketing data grows every day. Do you think it is mere coincidence that Google ads seem to frequently follow your recent on-line searches? Have you ever wondered why Google offers you all of their services (search, e-mail, on-line documents, 411 service) for free? Well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they are using all of the data you provide for profit and to further refine their technologies. Tim O’Reilly has a (now fairly dated) blog on why he believes Google started offering their 411 service that I am inclined to agree with: Google is using the “millions of voices, millions of accents to train speech recognition systems”. Why not, right? Well, it turns out Google isn’t alone (*gasp*!!!1!!)

“Parents who install a leading brand of software to monitor their kids’ online activities may be unwittingly allowing the company to read their children’s chat messages — and sell the marketing data gathered.” Today, Michael Masnick of TechDirt, turned me onto a story that “one of the top providers in the space doesn’t just monitor what kids do for parents, but collects all the data — including the text of chat room discussions — and resells it to marketers.”

Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.

A reminder to parents and non-parents alike… learn about software before installing and using it. Apparently there is an option available for parents to opt out of this information “sharing”, but it is only available via the company’s website. You know those annoying “Terms of Service” agreements that we all scroll and click through without reading? Well, maybe it’s time we starting paying a little more attention, eh?

I read an article, “Back-to-school advice for safe & ethical social networking“, that picqued my curiosity as a new parent. Even though I really don’t have to worry about Dwight Jr. participating in social networking for at least a few more years, I’m trying to start thinking about those kinds of situations now.

Try to become familiar with the technology your kids use. That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be their friend on Facebook or MySpace, but before you start trying to control how they use social-networking technology, make sure you understand it.

I think this is great advice, not just for social networking, but for everything kids (or your spouse, for that matter) are into – especially technology. I definitely have fond memories of my parents wanting to be involved in things I was excited about… especially when they would sit down for a game of Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Star Wars Battlefront or Axis & Allies. Having a common frame of reference for talking about my hobbies with my parents? Priceless. (Yeah, yeah, I didn’t include a list of things you can buy for $13 on debit Mastercard. Meh.)

Larry Magid, the author of the article quotes some great guidelines from Hemanshu Nigam, the Chief Security Officer at MySpace, for social networking behavior. It’s geared towards kids, but we all need to be reminded of these rules.

• Post with respect: photos are a great way to share wonderful experiences. If you’re posting a photo of you and your friends, put yourself in your friends’ shoes and ask would your friends want that photo to be public to everyone. If yes, then you’re uploading photos with respect.
• Comment with kindness: compliments are like smiles, they’re contagious. When you comment on a profile, share a kind word, others will too. [Note from Dwight: Speaking of Comments... I love to see them on my blog... *hint, hint*]
• Update with empathy: sharing updates lets us tell people what we think. When you give an opinion on your status updates, show empathy towards your friends and help them see the world with understanding eyes.

not bad, eh?