Zephyr Turns MySpace into SpySpace
by
on January 22, 2007,
“It is the latest Internet scare story to confront parents - online paedophiles posing as teenagers, attempting to exploit young surfers.
Mindful of the public's concern, MySpace, the most popular of these sites, has confirmed it is working on software to keep parents informed about what their children are doing on the net.
The project, codenamed Zephyr, would alert parents to the name, age and location details entered by the youngster on the profile of his or her homepage. Even if they tried to change these from another computer, the home PC would be alerted.” via BBC News
It sounds fantastic on paper doesn't it?
I however have my doubts how this will fair in the real world. Think about it - If parents were to tell the truth and come clean about it before installing the software, kids would find a way around it (I'm of the opinion that most 13-15 year olds are more tech savvy, than their parents).
If parents were to somehow install Zephyr in secrecy, they would have a tough time explaining to their children how exactly they found out about it. There is no good way to admit you were spying.
In short, it's all an issue of trust and education. Teach your children how to act and behave online, and educate them about privacy, and expose them to potential consequences. Spying is taking the easy way out, and in my opinion may very well lull parents into a false sense of security.
More than anything I feel Zephyr would get in the way of trust, and healthy open family discussions that simply need to take place within a home.
Zephyr? Not in my house.
