Parents, outlandish statements, and the web.

Ok,

I ran into an article this morning while surfing around at work.

http://www.adequacy.org/stories/2001...2056.2147.html

I don't know if it is a spoof or not. As a parent I found it very disturbing, mostly because I fear some parents might take it as fact ir seriously.

Check it out, I am interested in what you all think.

*edit: I just realized that this has been around for a while, and by searching the authors name, I came up with a lot of hits. While it is poked fun at by a lot of people, the orginal post was intended to be serious. (GASP!).

It is a spoof, a bit old (2001) and I know it's been discussed here a few times (but can't seem to find the threads).

It does present the knee-jerk reaction that some parents took about their kids in the early 2000s. Whether that is still the case or not, I don't know.

I have 2 teenagers. Computers and the internet have given me a better relationship with them than I had with my parents.

I snoop on my kids. I look at logs, I look at the browser cache. For most stuff I won't mention anything. When my daughters computer kept getting "infected" I traced her surfing habits and showed where she shouldn't be going. Bottom line, I know their interests and am prepared to discuss anything they care to bring up.

My parents did not have a clue of what I was into.

Buying your kid a computer and not staying aprised of their activities, buying full cable or dish and not blocking the adult channels, buying your kid a firearm, getting your kid the fastest sportscar on the block ... all I can say is there are some reckless parents out there.

Hmmmm,

The original article was certainly a spoof...............it was intended to be taken seriously, as in seriously funny. What gives it away is that the writer displays far too much knowledge to come out with such outrageous statements ;)

ddddc as I see it, it is a question of generations and background............ I would imagine that your parents didn't know anything about computers or the embryonic internet as it was then?

The really "dangerous internet" has only come about in the last 10 years or so. Hell, before then my AV upgrades came by snail mail, once a month, on 3.5" floppies :D

From what I see around me today, the real issue is one of an apparent breakdown in parenting skills............. buy them this, buy them that, then ignore them.

I would also say that the average parent of teenagers these days still knows little or nothing about computers or the internet. If you do the math there weren't computers in schools in their day, and the computer exposure they might have experienced at work would have been with 5250 dumb terminals or the like.

"Logs", "browser cache", "parental controls", "warez", "P2P".............. most would not have the faintest idea what you were talking about............. I know, there is many a time that I have watched their eyes glaze over ;)

Nihil,

In 1970 it wasn't the internet. It was drugs, booze and a lot of other risky behaviors.

Because I never got brought home by the police, I was a good lad.

Parenting skills and effort have gone down considerably.

Hmmmm........

The Police come and collect you............... then they take you home........ I guess they were about as difficult to avoid as the Jesuit priests who taught me..............

OK the cops were cool, like I would play for their teams as a ringer........... when I got to shoot for Great Britain, I couldn't get away with that :D

Done it for a "certain respected US military unit in London" though :D

I had lots of problems with "authority figures" and "role models" when I was a kid............. they all wanted you to follow them?

I won't even dicuss Police Section House Parties..................................

Well the obvious problem with this article is that it is misleading, because even me, "computer noobie," as my son calls me, know that some things in that article were rediculous. This brings to my mind, though, that there should be a guide written, because I'm finding programs that I really don't think should be there like "keygen","Cain & Able," "Brutus," "Mail Bomber," among other things, that I think I have reason to be suspicious of. Have any of you heard of these things, and what they are? Are they hacking programs that I should ask my kids about, and delete from our computer? I don't want to just go ahead and inquire, and be called illiterate if I'm wrong...

Ryan,

You need to delete Billy Windoze, and install a nice Linux distribution.......... that will solve all your problems :p:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryans the name

"keygen","Cain & Able," "Brutus," "Mail Bomber,"

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These are all tools that, unless in the hands of security professionals, are used for nothing productive. Do a google search on the term "Script Kiddies".

Cheers:

DjM,

Has it crossed your mind that you might have been "had" :D