Monday, May 18, 2009

Staying safe on Skype

I have Skype, my nieces have Skype, my daughter has Skype. Who doesn’t ?

One class I was working with talked about using a multi-participant chat as a backchannel much like twitter.
This is a good idea and one I intent to trial later this week with classes from three different schools

A parent however reminded me of the opportunity for an outsider to intrude on a chat or directly contact
students without their request. I order to deal with this students need to alter their privacy settings.
Perhaps the selections shown with red arrows are the most appropriate. In other countries the students would
be protected at school from this possibility of unwanted contact. I like the idea that we can help them learn to manage this themselves.

image


3 comments:

Pete Hall said...

Great visuals for showing kids Dave. I'm amazed at the lack of some obvious safety features in Skype. I've had some interesting encounters with Skype strangers who I certainly didn't invite, and if they showed up on my doorstep they wouldn't be asked in for a cuppa!

Pete Hall
Summerland Primary

Anonymous said...

These settings don't block all intruders. Contacts can still be added to you list without your approval. It is important to know that as long as you have Skype Open and Running on your computer, you are still vulnerable to multiple threats such as spyware and trojans.

Dave Winter said...

Yes agreed I still et the occasional invitation to chat with someone unsavoury. I ignore block and report