Anonymity & Your Children

We need to make sure our children understand the importance of anonymity on the internet.

The internet is a place that we go for research, networking, shopping, entertainment, etc.  Although it was marketed and expanded during our lifetimes, our children will not know a world without it.

Consider what today's children use the internet for.  More time is spent on facebook, myyearbook, myspace, and countless other social sites than on research for homework and self education.  These sites, although not inherantly evil, are designed in a way that gathers and publicizes personal information about each user.

Millions of kids are comfortable in their own home, setting up profiles with their full name, school, interests, parents information, etc.  They are not aware of the dangers associated with this information falling into the wrong hands.

We don't often discuss the importance of privacy with our children.  This should be a priority in a day and age where everything ends up "in the wild" so to speak.  A little bit of anonymity can go a long way in protecting our children.