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Roblox is again updating its parental control features in an effort to give parents more visibility into (and control over) their childrens activities on the platform. The company is updating its in-app Safety Center to counter concerns that Roblox, which unlike social media apps allows children under 13, puts its youngest users at risk. The company added the centralized hub for parental controls last year, in an update that also added new restrictions on younger kids ability to exchange private messages with other users. But while that update gave parents the ability to control some of their childrens settings from their own devices, it was missing some key features like blocking. With the latest update, parents can now view their childs friend list and block users on their behalf. Once another user has been blocked, theyll no longer be able to exchange direct messages with the child and kids will need to get parental approval to unblock the person. Similarly, parents will now be able to block specific experiences within Roblox. Parents have already had the ability to limit in-app content based on its age rating, but parents have still at times complained about inappropriate content surfacing in certain games. Now, parents can block their young kids from participating in certain experiences. (Importantly, Roblox notes that kids will be able to remove apps from the blocked experiences list once they turn 13.) Finally, Roblox is adding more granular insights to the in-app screen time metrics that allow parents to see how their kids are spending their time on the platform. The Safety Center will now list the 20 experiences in which their child has spent the most time over the last week, sorted by total time. Parents can then opt to block specific games or experiences directly from the screen time menu if something seems off. Robloxs recent push to beef up safety features for younger users come amid a broader reckoning about the effect that online platforms can have on teens. Platforms have tried to address these concerns by enhancing parental controls and dedicated safety features for teens. But lawmakers are also pushing for change, with multiple states passing measures requiring some form of age verification (some of which have since been struck down). Theres also a bipartisan bill in the Senate to ban all preteens from social media entirely.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-parental-controls-now-include-a-block-button-120005897.html?src=rss
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The Washington Post reports that members of the White House's National Security Council have used personal Gmail accounts to conduct government business. National security advisor Michael Waltz and a senior aide of his both used their own accounts to discuss sensitive information with colleagues, according to the Post's review and interviews with government officials who spoke to the newspaper anonymously. Email is not the best approach for sharing information meant to be kept private. That covers sensitive data for individuals such as social security numbers or passwords, much less confidential or classified government documents. It simply has too many potential paths for a bad actor to access information they shouldn't. Government departments typically use business-grade email services, rather than relying on consumer email services. The federal government also has its own internal communications systems with additional layers of security, making it all the more baffling that current officials are being so cavalier with how they handle important information. Unless you are using GPG, email is not end-to-end encrypted, and the contents of a message can be intercepted and read at many points, including on Googles email servers," Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the Post. Additionally, there are regulations requiring that certain official government communications be preserved and archived. Using a personal account could allow some messages to slip through the cracks, accidentally or intentionally. This latest instance of dubious software use from the executive branch follows the discovery that several high-ranking national security leaders used Signal to discuss planned military actions in Yemen, then added a journalist from The Atlantic to the group chat. And while Signal is a more secure option than a public email client, even the encrypted messaging platform can be exploited, as the Pentagon warned its own team last week. As with last week's Signal debacle, there have been no repercussions thus far for any federal employees taking risky data privacy actions. NSC spokesman Brian Hughes told the Post he hasn't seen evidence of Waltz using a personal account for government correspondence.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/national-security-council-adds-gmail-to-its-list-of-bad-decisions-222648613.html?src=rss
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An Arkansas law requiring social media companies to verify the ages of their users has been struck down by a federal judge who ruled that it was unconstitutional. The decision is a significant victory for the social media companies and digital rights groups that have opposed the law and others like it. Arkansas became the second state (after Utah) to pass an age verification law for social media in 2023. The Social Media Safety Act required companies to verify the games of users under 18 and get permission from their parents. The law was challenged by NetChoice, a lobbying group representing the tech industry whose membership includes Meta, Snap, X, Reddit and YouTube. NetChoice has also challenged laws restricting social media access in Utah, Texas and California. In a ruling, Judge Timothy Brooks said that the law, known as Act 689, was overly broad. Act 689 is a content-based restriction on speech, and it is not targeted to address the harms the State has identified, Brooks wrote in his decision. Arkansas takes a hatchet to adults and minors protected speech alike though the Constitution demands it use a scalpel. Brooks also highlighted the unconstitutionally vague applicability of the law, which seemingly created obligations for some online services, but may have exempted services which had the "predominant or exclusive function [of]... direct messaging" like Snapchat. The court confirms what we have been arguing from the start: laws restricting access to protected speech violate the First Amendment, NetChoices Chris Marchese said in a statement. This ruling protects Americans from having to hand over their IDs or biometric data just to access constitutionally protected speech online. Its not clear if state officials in Arkansas will appeal the ruling. I respect the courts decision, and we are evaluating our options, Arkansas Attorney general Tim Griffin said in a statement. Even with NetChoices latest victory, it seems that age verification laws are unlikely to go away anytime soon. Utah recently passed an age verification requirement for app stores. And a Texas law requiring porn sites to conduct age verification is currently before the Supreme Court.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/arkansas-social-media-age-verification-law-blocked-by-federal-judge-194614568.html?src=rss
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