Charlene Li ‘s post Google Buzz and kids – parental control nightmare in which she describes the way  she found out how her 9 years old daughter was exposed by Google  Buzz through what for the little girl was an innocent post, is something all parents need to be aware of.  Many naively assume that their kids’ exposure through social platforms is a 21st century youngsters’ lifestyle in a totally connected digital universe.  Not all parents have the tools and skills to see what their kids do in social environments that are not kid friendly, or direct their kids to safe zones and instruct them against the pitfalls of social platforms and such faux pas like Buzz.

Same goes for older people who pride themselves on mastering email. Many have Gmail, which has almost become a commodity, are most likely unaware of  Buzz and its implications, or at best don’t touch a new button on their screen that they don’t know what to do with and are afraid to activate for fear it will cause something they will not know to undo. Older generations are much more privacy oriented in their web interactions than the net generations.  It is very important to bridge digital divide through a universal inclusive approach of facilitating, but automating features in the name of user friendliness can have a dark side to it.

It is our call to speak up in the name of all those who are not sophisticated, skilled or aware enough to understand the privacy and safety breaches done by corporates who do not practice enough social responsibility to make sure that potential users are fully aware of what they are entering into and are given an active choice. Fine print in a Terms of Service section that 90% of the population doesn’t read is good for liabilities and lawyers but not for our kids and grandparents. We cannot afford to wait for corporates to show the accountability that should go with their role as providers of mainstream platforms.

School systems should develop learning programs, instructional lessons and learning communities like ConnectYard that teach the skills necessary to raise our children into aware youngsters and adults. It is up to us and our educational systems to adapt learning to modern perils and safety needs.

But most of all – the quality, safety, privacy and accountability for our digital life is up to us – it should be in our hands. Up to us to stir awareness and call upon people to take an active part in setting the climate that will empower a paradigm shift towards users’ mastery of their digital life. Protecting us from the “Only Connect” moves of social platforms calls for a paradigm shift.

In a nutshell:

• No commercial corporate, acting for its own capital gain, should own my data or have the ability to manipulate or expose it unsolicited.
• No commercial entity should arbitrarily and unilaterally dictate what additional offerings become integrated to the services and what their consequences are to me – and force me to struggle to undo what they decided for me should be automatically activated.
• The only person that is allowed to have the keys to my personal data and the segregations I want to make about my interactions is me.
• Ownership of my data, my visibility and my sharing handles should be at my sole control.

Our social web is as only as strong as its weakest link.  We should strive for a web fabric that is safe, transparent, trustworthy and accommodating all users in all degrees of vulnerability. It is up to us to make it happen.