Feedback Friday: Raising Kids in the Digital Era

Hey Jordan, Gabe, and fellow listeners,

Just got done listening to this morning's Feedback Friday and the bit about raising kids in the digital world made me want to share my website: The New Oil. I created The New Oil several years ago back when I first got into privacy and cybersecurity. Long story short, at the time there were basically only two kinds of privacy websites: scummy ones that give bad information and recommend whoever pays the most in affiliate links (aka "Download NordVPN and you'll become anonymous hackerman!") and sites that just list a thousand different tools but don't explain what they are, what the pros and cons of each are, or why you need them. Over the years the site has evolved into what I think is a great, foundational introduction into privacy. It explains all sorts of concepts like metadata, encryption, how "getting hacked" really works, as well as suggesting various tools to protect yourself online ranked in order of most important to less important.

Now for the caveat: I don't have kids (though I do like kids). This is not a website for kids. However, it will you arm you, the parent, with the information you need to keep yourself and your kids safe online (minus things like parent-specific safety tools or settings). How to present that information is up to you. Sadly, there is a huge dearth of information online about privacy in the context of parenting for a variety of reasons. The only person I'm aware of who ever touches on the subject directly is my friend over at The Privacy Dad, who blogs about a lot of "intro to privacy" stuff such as his experience trying out different tools or services, but also talks a bit about how he's raising his kids on these various tools and such.

I hope this site helps you all. I can't imagine raising a kid in this digital world, Jordan really touched on all the concerns in his segment perfectly. If you see any room for improvement, please let me know (and if anyone is interested in helping contribute to the privacy space about parenting, please let me know if I can help. I'm not qualified to lead this discussion, but we desperately need more parents and experts talking about privacy and security for kids online and in ways that go beyond the surface level that's currently taking place).