This corner of the Charleston Catholic High School website will keep you informed of issues that Charleston Catholic administration, faculty, and students are discussing currently.

June 2007 - As cyberbullying has been facilitated by social networking websites, school districts and state governments are reacting. Here is a link to view the latest news on cyberbullying from Google:

Cyberbullying News from Google

March 2007 - A few more links to news concerning the most popular teen websites:

Facebook News from Google

YouTube News from Google

MySpace News from Google

Social Networking News from Google

August 2006 - A couple of interesting articles concerning MySpace.com and YouTube.com:

Google in $900m ad deal with MySpace

YouTube introduces video advertising

May 2006 - Just a quick update to the MySpace.com phenomenom. As with any successful website, copycats tend to pop up quickly. MySpace.com copycats have started appearing hoping to cash in on the success of MySpace.com. A few of these are tagged.com (13 - 19 age restriction, friend-invitation only), freewebs.com , and varsityworld.com (under 20 age restriction). These sites are primarily to obtain demographic information about your children and to advertise to them. In the privacy statements of the sites is information about what information the site is gathering on your child. For example, tagged.com uses, in addition to cookies, a "pixel tag" which "are tiny graphic files that are included in HTML-encoded e-mail messages. We use pixel tags to gather information about the e-mails we send to our registered users. When such a message is opened in an HTML-capable e-mail program, the recipient's computer accesses our server to retrieve the pixel tag file, and allows us to record and store the date and time, the recipient's e-mail address, and other standard logging information. The pixel tag also may read cookies. Tagged web pages may also contain similar pixel tags that allow us to count users who have visited those pages, to compile aggregated statistics about site usage, and to deliver co-branded services as they become available." To keep up-to-date with news of social networking sites use the following links to Google news. These links will deliver the latest news on social networking and MySpace.com.

MySpace News from Google

Social Networking News from Google

May 2006 - I was recently asked a question about blocking unwanted messages in the AOL Instant Messenger program. Here is an excerpt from their FAQs on the subject:

Is there a way to block "hostile" instant messages from people?
AOL Instant Messenger enables users to control their own online environment. There are two ways to discourage hostile Instant Messages. The first is to “block” people. Blocking prevents users from sending Instant Messages to you. If you receive an inappropriate or harassing Instant Message, you can simply click the “Block” button located in the bottom of the Instant Message window. Another way to block users is to highlight the buddy you wish to block in the buddy list, then click the "People" menu and select "Block buddy". The second option is to “warn” users when they have offended you or used inappropriate language. This issues a “penalty” to the person who has sent the offending Instant Message and eventually will immobilise them. If you receive an offensive Instant Message, click the “Warn” button located in the bottom of the Instant Message window.

Here is a link to AOL Instant Messenger FAQ.

March 2006 - During the second week of March 2006, parents and students viewed a presentation on MySpace.com, the fastest growing social networking site on the Internet. Issues addressed in the presentation ranged from understanding what it implications of posting content publicly to the Internet, personal information and security considerations, possible short term and long term consequences of content posted to your MySpace.com profile.

The links below will direct you to news stories currently being generated about MySpace.

MySpace News from Google

Making MySpace safe for kids - Business Week

MySpace News from MTV