palfrey

Consequences of social-network parental controls

Last week I wrote about the final report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force that dispelled some myths about predator danger, pointing out that--while predators remain a threat--teens are far more likely to be bullied, harassed, or even sexually solicited by another young person than by an adult predator.

The task force, on which I served as a representative of the nonprofit ConnectSafely.org, was asked by a group of state attorneys general to evaluate technical solutions for keeping kids safe online. One of the most heralded technologies--supported by several attorneys general--would be to mandate technology that would validate … Read more

Podcast: Harvard Law's John Palfrey on Internet Safety Task Force Report

Harvard Law Professor and former Berkman Center director John Palfrey has been a busy guy. For most of the past year he has chaired the Internet Safety Technical Task Force which, as I explain in this longer post, just released a report showing that predator danger for kids is not what a lot of people feared.

I sat down with Palfrey Washington DC on Wednesday January 14th just before he took the stage at the State of the Net conference to deliver the task force's final report.

As I disclose in the podcast, I was a member of that … Read more

Harvard professor sees answers to nagging Web-youth issues

John Palfrey, one of Harvard's leading thinkers on the Internet, has recently finished a study on kids raised in the digital age. He now has a few tips to share about Web porn, online piracy, and Sen. John McCain's lack of tech know-how.

Palfrey, a Harvard law professor and director of the school's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, visited CNET's headquarters on Tuesday to discuss the findings of a recent study of a group he calls "digital natives." These are people who don't know life before cell phones, computers, and the Internet. … Read more

Video: Debunking digital stereotypes with John Palfrey

Born in the 1970s, I have found myself to be considered an "old timer," at least according to the research of John Palfrey, an author and Harvard University professor. Palfrey's new book, Born Digital examines the way kids born after 1980 are coming of age in an increasingly digital world, more heavily reliant on technology than ever before. I may be pretty tech-savvy, but I can also remember listening to tapes on a Sony Walkman, researching school projects in library books, and making play dates to actually play outside, not on a video game console. Sheesh. I'… Read more

Prostitutes? In Washington? Shocking, and the Internet vibrates in anticipation

There's already a federal indictment of a woman accused of running a call girl ring in Washington D.C. A deputy secretary of state, Randall Tobias, has resigned. Tobias admits to using the services of Pamela Martin & Associates only for back rubs. Deborah Palfrey, the woman who ran Pamela Martin services, is gaining some notoriety in the blogosphere.

Palfrey is threatening to call many prominent D.C. men into court to testify on her behalf. Clearly, Tobias would happily back up Palfrey's claim that her service was about massage and fantasy, not prostitution.

So where are the … Read more