Posts Tagged ‘child safety online’

Dell has designed the new Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon notebook for kids, which is a great idea since it’s the right size for little hands, it’s super light (less than 3 pounds) and includes educational software that both parents and children will love. 

With so many kids using computers today, it’s no surprise that parents are looking for ways to  keep young ones, and their computers, safe. 

Absolute recognizes this need and has partnered with Dell to include a free 12-month subscription of Computrace LoJack for Laptops with their Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon notebooks. 

Absolute’s Vice President of Consumer Business, Mark Grace, had the following to say: “As any parent can tell you, once you put a highly portable computer like the Dell Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition in the hands of your kids, they don’t want to put it down, let alone lose it altogether.  That’s why we have collaborated with Dell to include a subscription to Computrace LoJack for Laptops on every Nickelodeon Edition sold. With this protection conveniently built in, parents can feel secure knowing that Computrace LoJack for Laptops will help keep their kids safe by making their computers unattractive to thieves.”

This is definitely a great deal and the timing is perfect since school has just started and a lot of children are looking for a new computer. 

image: Dell

A software sold under the FamilySafe and Sentry brands might actually be making your children’s Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other chat messages available to marketers. 

Apparently, businesses are looking at what kids are saying about a variety of things including movies, music and video games in order to come up with better marketing strategies.

This is especially scary since this software puts children’s personal information at risk.  Truly, the potential threat of software like this is huge. 

The company has defended themselves saying that they do not record the children’s names and addresses although they do know their ages. 

The software developer, EchoMetrix Inc. says that parent’s can opt out of having their children’s data shared by checking off a box, but it’s unclear how obvious this option is. 

For more information about this story and to learn more about the companies that do not share chat messages, click here.

image: Michal Zacharzewski, SXC