Privacy and protecting ourselves and our children

A colleague shared a disturbing article about the Teach Me Series, link here (picture is from iTunes store NOT my classroom! :) today at my school.  The Teach Me Kindergarten App is one of my favorite educational apps, they have made a series of apps designed for toddlers through second grade.

Apparently kids photos, and first and last name as well as device information have been sent to a third party site. Luckily it is optional in the program, my students only have their first name entered, and with the iPad1 you can't take photos so my kids info was protected.  I feel very let down by this company and it is a reminder to the consumer/teacher we need to be vigilant to ensure that the very apps that are 'helping' aren't also potentially harming our students or children. 

If you use the Teach Me Series, or plan on using it be sure to not use your last name or use your child's picture. I am disappointed to hear about this and I sincerely hope that the security lapse was unintentional. It is a great reminder though about protecting the children's privacy as well as our own.

 This week as well, LinkedIn, a service for adults, announced 6 million passwords were stolen, and as my husband, the techie says- "it is best to have different passwords for all your different school, home and online accounts.  I know it is a pain to remember them all but if you have a few you like to use and change each one a little bit you will be safer in the long run.  A reminder that you should use at least 8 characters with upper and lower case, numbers and symbols.   Here is more info on the LinkedIn leak:"

http://lifehacker.com/5916177/65-million-linkedin-accounts-may-be-compromised-change-your-password-now