Every week e-safety adviser Alan Mackenzie sends me weekly updates. They are useful teaching resources but also parent guides to keep you up to date with current trends.
Here are a few tips from this week’s updates:
Snapchat Updated Safety Features
Snapchat are in the process of updating some of their safety features specifically linked to location sharing (Snap Map) and the Family Center. Essentially the new feature will allow parents to send a location request through to their child, which then prompts the child to share their live location, and parents will be able to share their location back. In addition, users will be able to choose up to 3 specific locations (home, school etc.) and parents will receive notifications when their child arrives/departs those locations.
I’m not sure how useful this will be, you can already share location via iOS and Android devices. Personally it isn’t something I would use either for myself or with my family, but it’s an option to be aware of nonetheless. However, with this new feature there is also the ability to see who your child is sharing their location with, that in itself could be quite useful.
For more information see HERE.
Roblox Tightens Safety Measures
Roblox, one of the most popular games around the world, has been under a lot of fire lately for a whole host of reasons, such as highly inappropriate games accessible to young children, questionable moderation, significant grooming concerns and more.
At its most basic, Roblox is a platform where any user can create games and one of the biggest concerns is that none of these user-generated games have required an age rating system. That’s about to change, from mid-December creators will have to content-rate their games. Whilst a positive step it still raises lots of questions, such as:
Is anyone checking these ratings?
What about games prior to mid-December?
Will there be enhanced moderation?
and more.
It’s a positive step forward but much more needs to be done by Roblox and other platforms to help parents with keeping their children safe. You can read more about the concerns and the steps which Roblox are taking HERE.
Sextortion on the Rise
I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that the vile crime of sextortion, where a person is coerced into sharing an indecent image then blackmailed, is on the rise worldwide. You’ve only got to see the recent case of Andrew McCartney to understand how prolific this can be.
Not only is the rise in relation to traditional methods, but AI-enabled sextortion is on the increase, albeit at a thankfully much lower level (that we know of) where a person doesn’t even need to share an indecent image, it is created by AI. Furthermore we are now seeing this (again in very low numbers) with users aged from 11 years upwards.
It is vital that staff, parents, carers and students are aware of what this crime is and what to do about it. Leaving this until the child is 14/15 years of age is much too late, it needs to start in Primary.
To understand what it is, recognising warning signs, what to do and more, the Internet Watch Foundation have put together a great information page which would be useful to both staff and parents HERE.
