Summer Camps Join Fray Against MySpace 251
The New York Times reports that now even summer camps are raising concerns about social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster, and Facebook. Camps are worried about the ramifications of certain activities being associated with their summer programs after revealing pictures or postings are made online. Some camps are banning digital cameras, while others are instructing campers and parents to remove references to the camps from blog postings. Of course, the camps take the stance that they are merely trying to protect the children:
"The information that kids share today often is personal and private information that allows predators to track them down. We're also concerned about cyber-bullying."
Need to blame someone (Score:5, Interesting)
They claim in the article that predators will use MySpace to discover summer camps where children are going and then possibly kidnap them or something worse. Summer camps don't suddenly pop-up over night and contact parents via ESP to get their children to come; they advertise in the paper, on the Internet, and by fliers. MySpace isn't tipping anyone off to these "secretive" camps, anyone can go to Google and find 30 summer camps without any problem. As for predators using the information to choose their specific target, probably not.
The article then goes on to say:
If they have to list this as one of the reasons to abolish MySpace, they need to grow up.
If someone can point me to some concrete facts about the number of abductions that have occurred solely as a result of a kid using MySpace (without any other factors) I will get off my soap box. I agree
one case is too many, and it is horrible, but would it have happened anyway without MySpace?
Why the snide tone? (Score:5, Interesting)
As any Slashdot nerd who's been to camp (or gym class, or any other instance where 8-to-18 year olds are thrown together) there is a lot of pranks, hazing and other forms of humiliation that goes on in these environments. I bet the camps are more worried that photos of kids who had the ol' hand-in-warm-water trick pulled on them by their bunk mates will circulate (and then the potential lawsuits from parents afterwards.)
Aaaahhh summer camp... (Score:4, Interesting)
We hear so much about camp sex stories... Alas, it was not the case for us.
We used to go to a private school who, during the summer, had a day camp, where we were supervised by the teachers.
Can you imagine? Not only spending the WHOLE GODDAMMED SUMMER with the same teachers we had during the school year (and, somehow, they had to magically turn into our friends and were supposed to have fun with them) but also doing this in the very same school building???
When I turned 12, we managed to convince our parents that we wanted to stay home, so she hired a sitter.
A sitter dumb enough to sit in front of TV all day long (cable was new 35 years ago), while we pushed the bed against the bedroom door while we had sex orgie (I'm not shitting you - this was the 70's - yes, I was organizing orgies when I was 12 and yes, there was sucking and fucking).
The teacher lasted about 5 weeks until, one day, my mother came home early and found the sitter sprawled in front of the TV watching a stupid soap, but none of us around.
My mother found out where we were when we came back from the swimming pool (a 15 block walk) one hour later. Needless to say, she was glad to save on the sitter (and we could have the orgies in the living room).
It's truly fascinating... (Score:5, Interesting)
Adults have always treated children like crap, but there's never really been any concrete evidence of it because adults have played the strongarm card over everything the child is allowed to say or do. If you took a picture of an adult doing something embarrassing, the picture could be taken away. But now that the picture is a bundle of unfettered electrons stored on a web server that belongs to someone you DON'T have the right to bully and coerce, they can't do that anymore.
It might make being an adult somewhat more problematic, but I'm willing to bet it makes the children's lives a whole hell of a lot better.
The death of privacy is GOOD. The only people that care about it are the ones who shouldn't be doing what they're doing ANYWAY.
Re:Need to blame someone (Score:2, Interesting)
Sure, MySpace can be dangerous, but so can anything other forum, or social thing in the world, for that matter. I guess I just wish people would spend less time attacking MySpace and more time teaching kids how to be safe and smart online.
Re:here's an idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure. What I'm concerned about is someone sneaking into the girls locker room, taking photos with their digital camera and spreading them all over the internet. Technology has changed what used to be a harmless prank into something potentially really nasty.
I'd like you to explain how I could be reasonably expected prevent something like this, assuming I wasn't the parent of one of the hypothetical kids who took the hypothetical pictures.
As a former camp counselor... (Score:5, Interesting)
I am an Eagle Scout and after graduating from college last May I decided to serve as a counselor at my BSA camp in Florida as a water ski instructor (cush job, right?). It was the most fun I had ever had in my life. Gettin paid to drive a power boat around a lake.
They had a computer room setup for staff and adult leaders with a satellite downlink and phoneline for the uplink. The camp is very remote and no chance of DSL or cable. Because I work in the real world now and have a real job I won't get the chance to work there again this year although I want to soo badly.
At least using MySpace I can keep up with the people I met at camp. http://camplanoche.com/ [camplanoche.com] is the place.
Here's the REAL solution (Score:3, Interesting)
We'd end up with some sort of gestapo-like situation with CPS or some other agency breathing down everyone's neck, but this is what people are asking for! They want to blame the world and make a profit through lawsuits. But if people are the first line of blame for their childrens' behavior, there would be a LOT fewer complaints about what kids have available to them won't there? But this addresses all of the concerns from "dangerous video games" to "what they do on the internet." It might even have the added bonus of issues like chilhood obesity and health issues that result from negligence.
I hate to say it, but we need a law to make it happen.
Re:Need to blame someone (Score:3, Interesting)
they are covering themselves from people saying bad things about problems with the camp but much more so, they know exactly what goes on at the camp. They probobly know that some parents also know what goes on and dont care but there are parents who would care if they knew and would at the least not send their children there and at the most, take legal action against the camp. I'm not sure exactly what is going on at these camps but if its not bad enough for the camp to actually do anything about it then its probobly not bad enough that the kids with overprotective parents cant experiance it.
Uphill battle (Score:2, Interesting)
So now... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Amen to that (Score:2, Interesting)
How about we teach them something useful? (Score:2, Interesting)
Most kids are pretty smart. There will always be a group that is pretty stupid, but most understand that some people like to see others in pain or want to benefit from their misery. The easiest way I have ever found to keep my information safe is to simply be someone else when interacting online. I've used several aliases over the years and a google search on those names usually brings up a bunch of gibberish.
Parenting is probably not a good way to solve this problem. When it comes to kids and teens socializing, no one wants mom or dad in the picture. It's better just to give them tools to help, even if it's a really big knife.
Re:Observation. (Score:3, Interesting)
Not that I'm saying that parents should merely engage in covert snooping, but it certainly is a tool for them to get to understand what goes through the minds of their offspring.
This is a brand new generation (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's truly fascinating... (Score:3, Interesting)
Quite. Now I want you to post videos of yourself masturbating and/or having sex.
(no i'm not gay
mod parent up! (Score:3, Interesting)
Did I do some illegal and irresponsible things as a child? Hell yes. Who didn't? I've made mistakes and learned from them, and my parents were always able to give me guidance to help me learn how to arrive at the right decision. Isn't that what parenting is supposed to be about?
Back on topic, though, due to the disparity in computer literacy the internet really is the only place a child can hide from their parents (and most adults) and express themselves. Perhaps the modern generation of emo bloggers posting nude pictures of themselves and giving daily accounts of their emotions, bowel movements, and sexual fantasies will result in a more free and open society. It's certain to have a profound effect on society as these things become the norm. I just wish MySpace would encourage proper spelling.
Re:Observation. (Score:3, Interesting)
Draconian Measures are fine, too. The problem is that it's pretty difficult to enforce such things, as MySpace and its ilk have no ID-verification service. And MySpace is so big, it really behooves the sexual predator or paedophile to join up -- there's an excellent chance they can find some dumb schmoe they're interested in attacking or exploiting.
Children shouldn't expect too much privacy since they're still kind of "in training", and especially shouldn't expect things they share with anonymous strangers to be private from their parents and legal guardians. There should be an API for social networking sites that allows parents to moderate and censor (but not edit) their children's MySpace and Email accounts, et al. Even a chance to put in a wordlist to keep their hometown, school name, last name, etc. private. Maybe all the 'tweenies would flock to some other, less secure service, but if the community is smaller, there's less low-hanging fruit for the predators.