Why is this important to you?  Well, most of us communicate these days via cell phone, in fact I know several households that no longer have landlines.  These cell phones are not quickly associated with home addresses the way a landline is.  That is why my preschooler was forced to learn both her home phone number (in case something happens where the authorities are involved and need to locate her family) and mommy’s cell phone number – in case she wants to reach me quickly.

Now, Smart911 offers a solution where your cell phone can be tied to your pertinent personal information. When a 9-1-1 call is placed, the operator has instant access to all of this vital information, improving emergency outcomes.

While adults and kids have been taught to call 9-1-1 in an emergency, in today’s world—where most of us depend on cell phones and texting—it’s important to know the new rules of 9-1-1. Below are tips from Smart911 that families should keep in mind when dialing 9-1-1, especially from a cell phone.

The New Rules of 9-1-1

1.     Communicate your exact location: When calling 9-1-1 from a mobile phone, 9-1-1 operators are rarely able to pinpoint the caller’s exact location. Especially if you are in a densely populated area, or if you live in an apartment building, it will be important to communicate this immediately.

2.     Find out if your city or town has 911 texting capabilities: While you may often choose texting over calling to friends and family, only select cities and municipalities in the U.S. provide the option to text with 9-1-1. Find out if your city or town offers text support.

3.     If you get a recording, don’t hang up: The call you place stays in the telephone switch queue for up to two minutes even if you get a recording. The 9-1-1 operator will call the person back when they do receive it, but by then you may be in a cycle of phone tag, prolonging the process even further.

4.     Make sure you have multiple ways to dial 9-1-1 and have a backup plan: For those who still have a landline phone in their homes, choose a landline when calling 9-1-1. However, keep in mind that most often this phone is a cordless device and will not work in the event of a power outage. As a backup, make sure your mobile phone is always charged—purchase a car charger if you don’t have one.

5.     Find out if your city/town has a system to record life-saving information used when calling 9-1-1: It is important that first responders have access to information, such as medical conditions, disabilities allergies and number of resident or pets in the home, and can link your mobile number to your home address.  Find out if your city or town has any systems in place that you should register for.

Spokeo.com is a website that allows you to enter in a person’s name and find information such as full name, address, phone number, marital status, names of children and even hobbies. Recently, I was asked “how do I remove myself from Spokeo’s database?” Well you can, but the bigger question is, does it matter?

Where did all this information come from? Lots of sources, is the answer. Spokeo is just an aggregator, a collector of publically viewable material online. So just because you may remove yourself from Spokeo doesn’t mean other websites are attempting to protect your privacy.

The project started back in 2006 in the dorm room of (now) 27-year-old Stanford student Harrison Tang. Tang claims to get the data from “public” sources, such as LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and Yelp. He site also pulls from public records such as real-estate databases and marriage licenses. Thus creating an environment where details of your life may be found.

While you may be feeling a little creeped-out by this over-exposure I want us to be reasonable here. Yes, it’s odd to have all of this information listed in one place, but the truth is, we over-share on social networking sites, post adorable pictures and videos of our children, and enjoy the convenience of shopping online. As we do those things we give up a little more privacy each day. We need to understand how this “Internet thing” works and make the best decisions for ourselves.

For those of you worried about Internet Safety and what this type of aggregator will do to the safety of our children, let’s get down to basics…

We know the information is out there, so rather than trying to put the toothpaste back in the bottle, let’s focus on what’s really going to keep our kids safe online.

• Do not draw too much attention to yourself online (to give someone a reason to go looking for you).
• Do not cultivate relationships with people online you do not know in person!

These two simple rules will help keep us all safe, even in an era of over-exposure and reduced privacy!

Oh- and just in case your were wondering…
How to remove yourself from Spokeo.com
Go to spokeo.com
Search for yourself
Highlight and copy the URL (at the top of the screen)
At the bottom of the screen… look for and click the link that says PRIVACY
Paste the URL into the appropriate box
Type in your email address (you will have to check your email and CONFIRM for this to work)
Type in the requested code
After confirming the email they send you, your name and private info will be removed immediately.

This became an issue of growing concern to George Zaloom, a father of four daughters.  When his youngest (a 11 year-old) requested a Facebook account to play Farmville, mentioning that some of her friends already had one, Zaloom got an idea.  He believed that social gaming shouldn’t be off limits to kids under 13, rather, it should be offered via a platform that is safe and appropriate for kids.  The idea turned into giantHello™, a new website which gives kids (and parents) what they both want.

giantHello™ was designed for tweens (7 to 13 year-olds) who have outgrown Club Penguin and Webkinz, but are not old enough to sign up for Facebook or MySpace. The site’s many cool features include: friending, customizable profile pages, internal messaging, photo uploading, home page status updates, badges, web based IM, fan pages and casual games.

giantHello™ has also created a Facebook compatible API (launching in March), which will enable social game developers to effortlessly publish on the giantHello platform.  A number of major developers have already committed their games.  Additionally, giantHello™ “Like” buttons have just started appearing on many kids sites.  The buttons enable kids to Like sites, particular content, and post regular updates to the their own feeds.

Online safety is of great concern to giantHello™, and every effort has gone into making the safe for kids to connect with their friends.  If a child wants to add a friend all they need to do is send a special coded email or print an invite to hand deliver.  Strangers are not able to contact kids on giantHello™ because the site does not allow “Search.”  Kids are only able to communicate with are their real friends: classmates, teammates, kids from camp, youth group and cousins.

In the past, others have tried to create social educational sites or ones that were promoted as “parent” approved but kids greeted them like a bowl of tasteless spinach.  giantHello™ has created an awesome site for kids that has the look and usability of a real social network, offers tons of games and doesn’t restrict their communications (no canned chat).  giantHello™ complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and has been certified by the Children’s Advertising Review Board.

With over 32 million plus tweens in the USA and an even bigger international market, the future looks bright for giantHello™!

For further information contact: Press@giantHello.com

If it’s on the child’s computer, parents see it – all social networking sites, all videos, all webcam activity, games – everything.  Finally parents can achieve the peace of mind that comes from knowing what their children are doing online and, most importantly have the opportunity to intervene and reinforce safe, responsible computer behavior.

Internet safety experts recommend placing computers in a central home location so parents can monitor their children’s activity.  Until now, this was impractical.  ScreenRetriever virtually centralizes every child’s computer so online behavior can be monitored quickly, easily and unobtrusively.  The solution is transparent; children know their parents are using ScreenRetriever which builds an environment of trust and open dialog.

Social networking and online resources are the de-facto communication tools for kids.  ScreenRetriever addresses all computer usage concerns that Web site blockers, filters, online notification solutions and keystroke loggers fail to cover including, posting inappropriate comments, pictures, identifying information, multitasking while doing homework, online predators, phishing scams, webcam abuse, cyber bullying, Facebook, inappropriate websites, chat rooms and compulsive computer use.

ScreenRetriever Offers:

• Live access to children’s computer screen(s) from anywhere in the home
• A recording feature to capture online sessions when parents aren’t home, or for single computer homes
• A virtual central location of all children’s computers
• Ability to monitor Facebook™, YouTube™, Skype™, other video and chat applications, Twitter™ and all other social networks that parents may not be aware exist
• Security and peace of mind knowing the software is only accessible within the home – no third party servers or communications happen outside of the home network

“The key to successful online parenting is to have the same level of visibility into the child’s online life as the parent has into their children’s offline activities while keeping communication lines open,” said Lori Getz, Internet safety expert and Founder, Cyber Education Consultants.” “Trust is the biggest asset a parent has when it comes to keeping kids safe.  ScreenRetriever provides complete visibility into everything happening on a child’s computer without sacrificing the trust between them and their parents.”

“Parents would never bring their child into the heart of a major city and leave them unattended.  Yet every time a child sits down at the computer they enter a virtual, borderless unregulated world that is one click away from potential harm,” said Victoria Kempf, ScreenRetriever Founder and Chief Evangelist.  “ScreenRetriever is a tool to help parents teach their kids good habits for every online interaction they have, not just those with strangers.  Screenretriever gives parents immediate visibility into what’s happening into their children’s online world so they can intervene as necessary before their offline lives are negatively impacted.”

ScreenRetriever is offering a free, 14 day trial, downloadable at www.screenretriever.com.  Following the free trial, customers are eligible   to receive a limited time introductory subscription rate of $9.99 for the first year.  One license covers all household computers.