Thought police are everywhere


Sören reminded me yesterday that I owed her an explanation of how to browse the web in privacy...
Last week, she mentioned that everytime she was done with the computer, she "made Safari disappear," meaning she closed the browser window. This was so people wouldn't know where she had been on the internet. (Sören is 8.) I told her then that this was insufficient, that anyone could go to the History menu and see the pages she had visited.
"Isn't there any way to be able to keep them from seeing that?"
Well, sure, but do I really want to teach my daughter how to avoid somebody from seeing where she had been on the internet? What good can come from that?

The answer, I think, is yes. For one thing, right now, Sören thinks the only web page on the internet is americangirl.com. So there isn't really a strong need to monitor her internet activities. But I still want to be there when she is on the computer, answer questions that she has, and not use the computer as a surrogate babysitter. I would rather have conversations and be involved in her activities as a mechanism to ensure her protection than go after her on the computer and pick up cookie trails.

So, today I will teach her how to use the Private Browsing feature of Safari. Sometime in the future, I will show her how to use cloaking sites so that the government or employers can't track her internet activities... :)

Posted: Sat - August 26, 2006 at 08:00 AM        

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