Crypto waits for the next generation..

[Mr. Falun Gong]

As widely discussed here, Joe Sixpack just doesn't use crypto enough.

But as Joe spies on his kids, his kids will learn the value of spending
a little
time to learn the tech.  Private diaries, correspondence, browsing.
Even
non-deliquent teens crave privacy.


And Joe *does* spy on his kids, as this irritating article shows:

...................................................................................

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19PARE.html

July 19, 2001

              Looking For Clues In Junior's Keystrokes

              By LISA GUERNSEY

                T was in the spring of last year when a divorced
                mother of two teenagers in Livingston, N.J.,
              realized that her 14-year-old son's online habits
              called for drastic steps.

              For months he had been glued to the family
              computer at all hours, getting into online quarrels.
              His grades were sinking, and letters from America
              Online were piling up, citing violations of its policy
              against vulgar language in its forums.

              His mother tried parental-control software, but he
              circumvented it within minutes. She tried closing the
              family's America Online account several times;
              feigning her voice, he had it reopened. She installed
              hardware requiring a password to be entered to
              start the computer; he reconfigured the circuitry to
              get back in. One night, in desperation, she slept
              with the power cord under her pillow.

              So the mother — who asked not to be identified for
              this article out of concern that her son's activities
              could affect custody arrangements — took the
              computer away. For seven months she hid the
              computer tower in the trunk of her car, covered
              with blankets.

              In August, she said, "he got it back, with the explicit
              understanding that I have the passwords to all his screen
names." Since then she has
              been vigilant in inspecting the cache of Web sites he has
visited, checking the
              Recycle Bin for signs of trouble.

              "He certainly improved my computer skills," she said.

              Teenagers, the moment you have been dreading has arrived:
Parents are starting to
              get a clue about the Internet, and they are more and more
determined to gain control
              of where you go, what you read, whom you talk to and how
you behave online. The
              Internet age is ushering in a new mode of parental
oversight, one in which Mom and
              Dad draw Web-based boundaries, issue computer curfews and
worry about
              whether their hack-happy youngsters are making trouble.

              Granted, many parents would still not know a motherboard
from Mother Hubbard,
              but that doesn't mean they are not trying.

              In a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life
Project, a nonprofit
              research center, more than 60 percent of parents reported
that they checked to see
              which Web sites their teenagers had visited. About 60
percent of the 754 parents
              surveyed also said that they had set time limits for
Internet use. In a survey of 774
              parents conducted for Disney Online, 71 percent said they
had set rules about what
              kinds of content their children could see online, and 88
percent said they had
              forbidden Internet access in the bedroom (a rule that the
mother in Livingston
              swears by).

              In interviews for this article, some parents said they had
no qualms about reading
              their children's e-mail by logging in under their screen
names. Others reported that
              they had learned to distinguish between the pause-laden
typing patterns that signal
              that their children are doing homework and the frenetic
tap-tap-tap of instant
              messaging. It is the modern equivalent of listening
furtively at the bathroom door
              after the teenager drags the phone in there for a private
conversation.

              Roni Murillo, a mother in Syosset, N.Y., said she has
"sneak-in times" when she
              tries to read the instant messages sent and received by
her 15-year-old son, who
              once received a citation from AOL for posting a note
containing profanity in a
              professional- wrestling forum.

              "I have to do it," she said, though abashedly. "I've seen
other kids answer him with
              all these curses. There is no way to monitor that unless
you are right there."

              The snooping, needless to say, does not sit well with
those snooped upon. Checking
              e- mail In boxes is considered the most flagrant privacy
violation. "That's just
              wrong," said Freddie Alvarez, a 16-year-old from Islip,
N.Y., who said he bought
              his own computer so he can use it whenever he wants. Other
teenagers liken the
              e-mail box to a diary in arguing for their right to
privacy.

              Jen Albanese, 16, from Bergenfield, N.J., uses command
keys to minimize her
              instant-messaging screen whenever her mother walks into
the room. "She'll be like
              over my shoulder, saying: `Jen what are you doing? Why did
you put that screen
              down?' " she said.

              The primary threats driving them to set rules, many
parents say, are online
              pornography and child predators. But 45 percent of the
parents surveyed by Pew
              said they also worried that their children might be the
instigators of misbehavior like
              online threats or hacking. For some reason, many parents
report, the boys seem
              more inclined than the girls to get into trouble.

              Recent surveys may validate their concerns. In an online
poll conducted by
              Scholastic News Zone, an educational Web site, almost half
of the 47,235
              respondents, in grades one through eight, said they did
not consider hacking a crime,
              even though unauthorized entry into computer networks is
illegal. In Pew's study,
              about 9 percent of boys ages 15 to 17 reported that they
had sent prank e-mail or
              an "e-mail bomb," which clogs people's e-mail In boxes
with dozens or hundreds of
              copies of the same message.

              Even when their teenagers seem to have no inclination
toward computer mischief,
              parents have another concern: the sheer amount of time the
children spend online.
              Robert and Marilyn Pohn of Chicago require their
15-year-old daughter and 12-
              year-old son to seek permission before going online and
constantly check to ensure
              that they are using the computer only for schoolwork.
Lauren, their daughter, seems
              resigned to the restrictions, remarking that the situation
could be worse: "I have a
              friend who has an hour on Fridays. That's it. She's not
happy."

              David Blair, a software programmer and father of two
teenagers in Fairfield, Iowa,
              decided that rules were not enough. He designed a
shareware program called
              TooMuchPC that enables parents to set an automated timer
that shuts down the
              computer at specific times or after a specified number of
hours.

              In his house, where the computer is in the family office,
a little window pops up on
              the screen when one of his children has been on the
machine for an hour, to signal
              that it is the sibling's turn. His daughter, he said, "is
addicted to ICQ," the
              instant-messaging tool, and used to fight over the
computer with her brother, who
              wanted to play Soldier of Fortune. Now harmony reigns. "It
is great," he said. "It
              eliminated all those arguments."
<more>