Games on phones in India

Mobile gaming is taking off, as "one of the fastest-growing activities among the tech-savvy in India, the BBC reports. Citing research from market researchers In-Stat/MDR, the piece says India's mobile gaming market will be $26 million by the end of this year and is expected to reach $336 million by 2009 (globally, 220 million people will be playing games on phones by then). In India, the number of cell-phone users grew by 1.4 million in October alone - up to 44.9 million and surpassing the use of fixed phone lines. The growth is attributed to India's large under-25 population. All this spells jobs for publishers, developers, animators, musicians, and content providers. "Currently, India has six big games developers and four mobile operators that offer games to their subscribers," the BBC adds.

Oz gaffe: Porn sent to schools

It was a case of good intention gone very much awry. In an agreement between the New South Wales police and the Education Department, an officer inadvertently emailed child pornography images to 1,800 schools "while trying to warn principals about children at risk of abuse," Reuters reported. The images, sent so that victims could be identified, were supposed to be cropped for decency, but "computer problems have meant that in some cases the entire pornographic image was revealed when the email was opened," according to Australia's ABC News Online. There was nothing in the coverage about anyone but school administrators having seen the images. According to Reuters, the incident occurred "during a police crackdown on child pornography that has so far resulted in more than 200 arrests, including police, teachers, clergy and the owner of a child-care center, after more than 400 raids."

AOL's PC security reviewed

America Online is smart to be selling peace of mind for PC users with its latest version, but 9.0 doesn't fully deliver, the Washington Post reports. "Having brought you online, AOL is saying, we're going to keep you safe from all the things you're worried about there," writes Post tech writer Rob Pegoraro. "That is an eminently laudable goal. But it's one that this release can't quite achieve." His first complaint is that, though anti-spyware software comes with 9.0, the two most important security pieces - firewall and anti-virus - have to be downloaded and installed separately. Then users have to heed reminders in the "Safety on My PC" panel to install updates. The other main problem - though probably more a temporary bug - is that these security add-ons are just that - not seamlessly integrated into the service. But it's a great first step, and, heck, it's all free, for which AOL deserves some credit. In these days of numerous and growing security headaches, PC peace of mind is the worthiest of intentions, and AOL clearly has moved beyond good intentions.

Calling all young Webmasters!

December 6 is the deadline for Web developers under 18 to submit their projects to the Cable & Wireless Childnet Academy. To qualify, they must be a key person in the development of a site that benefits other young people. Two examples:



* ChildSoldiers.org, which spotlights the experiences, art, poetry, and plight of children caught up in war, beginning in Sierra Leone and now throughout the world. The project, according to its site, "has its roots in a friendship between two teachers at opposite ends of the Earth, who are both part of iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network."



* MatMice.com, a site created by three Australian teenagers (and sisters) which hosts kids' Web sites and provides easy tools for site development - all for free. At last check, 867,308 people had developed home pages at MatMice.



Winners receive a place at the Academy, which will be held in Jamaica next spring (3/26-4/1); a grant from the project development fund totaling $50,0000+; an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Jamaica (must be accompanied by an adult); and follow-up Web support from Childnet and the Academy's mentors and trainers. Webmasters in any country are welcome to submit. Here's the "How to Enter" page at the Academy's site, based in London.

Net porn compared to cocaine

It's the new crack cocaine, according to clinicians and researchers testifying on Capitol Hill. They said Internet pornography leads to "addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, Wired News reports. Testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee's Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee, Mary Anne Layden of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, called the Internet "the perfect drug delivery system." It removes inefficiencies, such as the middleman or having to get to some physical place to partake. About the "drug" itself, she said, "porn addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever." Testifiers acknowledged, though, that "there is no consensus among mental health professionals about the dangers of porn or the use of the term 'pornography addiction'," according to Wired News, and many psychologists find the term problematic.



In related news, Spain's National Police this week announced they "have arrested 90 people, including 21 juveniles, in the country's largest operation against child pornography distribution." CNN reports that the arrests occurred in 26 provinces, and the "suspects include schoolteachers, students, software engineers, civil servants, military personnel and domestic cleaning personnel."

The $64k question for online kids

How to keep kids safe on the Internet has long been a controversial issue - partly because, as with no other medium before the Net, it always bumps into free-speech protections. Some think children's safety should be legislated, others feel filtering's the answer, a lot of techies think the problem's overblown, and many people in this field feel families should be able to pick and choose from the complete menu - education for kids, parenting tips, school policies, filtering and monitoring, and the occasional law (such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, one of the few legislative efforts that actually took effect in the US). UK dad and technology commentator Bill Thompson thought his daughter had a very reasonable recommendation: "She believes that net safety should be a central part of the [Net and tech] teaching she gets at school, from reception onwards, and that teachers are the ones to show children what is safe and what is not," he writes in a commentary for the BBC. "That way it is unavoidable, it does not rely on parents who may not bother, know or be able to explain, and it becomes part of the general awareness of life that you pick up in school." He adds that it's not the only thing we should be doing to protect online kids (and it would probably be more practicable in the UK than in the US), but better tech training at school (which includes media literacy and critical thinking) would be a big step forward in any country. But I'd like to hear what you feel is the best way to keep kids' experiences with technology safe and constructive. Please email me!

Don't be caught by the phish

"Phishing." It's a trendy techie word, yes, but it's also a growing Internet plague that every family should know about and a financial scourge that involves identity theft, fraud, and in some cases personal bankruptcy. The good news is, you can pretty much avoid it by making sure everyone in your family remembers one simple rule: Never give out personal information online. In its "How to Fend Off Phishing," the Washington Post reports, "real companies almost never send email asking you to submit personal data." That means financial data like social security numbers, bank account numbers (for kids, of course, it also means personally-identifying information like gender, name, location, or favorite anything). But it's hard to believe how effectively some phishers' emails can trick smart people. They come with very real-looking bank logos and addresses (that are easily faked) and they get us right where we're vulnerable, e.g., saying our PayPal account has been charged $237, and the item we've ordered will soon be shipped. The Post has published a whole series on this, including real people's stories of phishing victimization (tricks and tactics to watch out for), "A Brief History of Phishing," and "Catch the Phish: Take the Quiz" (something to do around the PC as a family, maybe).