Help for file-sharers' parents

London-based Childnet International today released a leaflet and companion Web site, "Young People, Music and the Internet: A Guide for Parents about P2P, file-sharing and downloading," the BBC reports. The leaflet, which was printed in eight languages and will be distributed in 19 countries, describes the little-known risks associated with using the global peer-to-peer (P2P) networks - pornography, viruses, spyware, and loss of personal privacy, as well as the legal risk. Here's the site at Childnet (Net Family News contributed to the project). The launch coincided with a lot of digital-music news this week:

* A Los Angeles Times story about the benefits of file-sharing to many independent record labels, 125 of which have just started their own trade association, CNET reports
* A new study cited by CNET finding that Apple's iTunes is as popular as many P2P networks
* Another CNET piece about a new, legal ("instantly gratifying") option in the free-music scene that combines P2P with legal Internet radio - something besides the 30-second sampling clip, a 99-cent download, or signing up for a subscription service.
* A new law in Sweden banning the sharing of music files online without the payment of royalties - Swedish news site The Local reports.

Candid teen-protection campaign

Many parents have heard that one in five children received a sexual solicitation online in 1998 and '99. It's a figure from a study done for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (and right now being updated) by the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. Meanwhile, the number of US kids online has grown to 87% (or 21 million, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project), so what better time to launch a fresh nationwide ad campaign to alert girls in particular to the risk of online sexual predation (two-thirds of the children surveyed for that original study were girls)? "Created to coincide with the designation by the United States Senate of June as national Internet safety month, the campaign is the second joint effort in two years by the Advertising Council and the center, a nonprofit organization that works with the Justice Department to prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation and to help find missing children," the New York Times reports. The print, radio, and TV campaign, launched today, is hard-hitting. One of the TV ads "shows a disheveled apartment being searched by police officers, as one of them puts a computer keyboard into a plastic bag. A teenage girl warns in the voiceover, 'Before you start an online relationship with a guy, think about how it could end'." Here's the National Center's press release about the campaign.

Tragic end to gamers' dispute

A gamer in China killed a fellow player for selling something that never really existed for real money. "Qui Chengwei stabbed Zhu Caoyuan in the chest when he found out Zhu had sold his virtual sword for 7,200 Yuan [about $870]," the BBC reports. Qui had loaned Zhu the sword. It was a "gaming artifact," a weapon that Qui's character had won in the process of playing the popular multiplayer online fantasy game "Legend of Mir 3." "Attempts to take the dispute to the police failed because there is currently no law in China to protect virtual property," according to the BBC. South Korea, on the other hand, does have a law enforcement unit that investigates "in-game crime." Qui has been given a suspended death sentence for killing Zhu, who was 26. Here's MMORPG.com's description of the game. This is probably indication enough of how much gamers value gaming artifacts, but the BBC reports that they are "a booming business on the Web," eBay's Internet games section having seen revenues of $9 million even as far back as 2003.

Mobile bullying

Watch out for the picture phones! In the UK, where cellphone use by young people is much higher than in the US, one in five 11-to-19-year-olds have been bullied by mobile phone or via the Net, 14% have been threatened or harassed using text messages, and 10% have been intimidated or embarrassed by bullies using images taken with camera phones, the BBC reports. It's citing research by UK children's charity NCH, which also found that "some 26% of digital bullying victims did not know the identity of their tormentor." The BBC added, however, that "in terms of the proportion of children affected, the problem would not appear to be getting worse."

'Camp Unwired' appeals

Unplugging kids is becoming a selling point for US summer camps. "The number of new camps that limit gadgets and electronic communication is on the rise," Business Week reports. "While 9 in 10 camps allow parents to send e-mails, almost none allow kids to write back over the Internet. Some 90% of camps don't allow cell phones." Farm & Wilderness in Vermont, "a Vermont cluster of six camps," is an exapmle - its cabins have no electricity, which makes it really hard to charge up one's cell phone! But that's not to say that new friends from camp aren't IM-ing soon after they get home.

New resource for movie-swappers

The release of "RatDVD" file file-sharing software out on the Net is just the latest example (for parents as well as corporations) of how workarounds keep bobbing up whenever there are efforts to control online activity. "A group of anonymous programmers has released a new software tool online that threatens to raise the stakes for Hollywood studios fighting Internet movie-swapping," CNET reports. It's impossible to tell how popular RatDVD will be because it has just been released, but CNET says it offers something extra: the little extras that come with movie DVDs you buy which don't come with movies swapped on the Net (alternate endings, outtakes, directors' comments, etc.). Here's Media Week on recent legal activity by the Motion Picture Associatio of America against file-sharers.

Teacher to parents: Be wary of teen blogs

Earlier this spring a teacher in San Francisco noticed her students were blogging in school. Besides reminding them it was against school policy and monitoring their online activities, she decided to look into what made it so hard for them to stop. "I must admit, I myself didn't see the danger in these sites early on," Christina wrote me. "The kids actually told me about them awhile back.... At this age, these students are looking for any possible available outlet to express themselves. I just figured they have discovered yet another. Well, they certainly had. When I followed some of the history links from the computers that were being used, I was stunned at the content of these online journals.... They are uploading their pictures, lying about their ages, yet posting the school they attend, their birthdate, what they do after school, places they hang out, discuss their sexuality.... I immediately sent a letter home to parents informing them of the use of these Web sites, explaining what 'blogging' means, and telling them that not only has this occurred during school time, but many postings occur late into the evening and early morning hours." I asked her if she minded if I shared her concerns with readers. "Sure," Christina replied, "any way my email might be of help in exposing this situation, please go ahead." Thus this week's feature. She said a lot more that parents might find useful, so please read on! Also feel free to post your view on or experience with teen bloggers below (or email me anytime).