Non-profit developer Children’s Way Foundation has partnered with children’s online protection company eGuardian to provide a safer environment for young users in its Woogi World virtual world.
eGuardian provides an online verification service with a foolproof method for verifying the age of children. Aggressively keeping dangerous adults and malicious content out of Woogi World with parental controls, site blockers, and access restrictors, the company’s technology provides parents the peace of mind that their children are interacting online only with children of the appropriate age.
Targeted at children in kindergarten to sixth grade, Woogi World is a virtual world and community in which kids worldwide can safely play educational games and chat while learning how to become “responsible internet users and goodwill ambassadors (good influences in their homes, schools, and communities).”
“The need to certify every social networking audience, no matter the site, is becoming more and more crucial,” said Scott Dow, Children’s Way CEO. “In keeping with our priority to ensure Woogi World is the safest children’s virtual world available, it makes great sense to partner with eGuardian—the best online protection available.”
Comments (1)
I find this description of Woogi World desperately naive.
If you go to the site and attempt to create a child's userID, you are prompted to provide a "parent's" e-mail address for verification. The "parent" then receives an e-mail requesting their verification. The parent replies and the new userID and password are good to go.
Assuming the predator has created a safe e-mail address for this kind of use, it seems to me some percentage of the woogis currently interacting in Woogi World must be adults with inappropriate motives.
I am going to move quickly to terminate all accounts held by children at my school.
Posted by Paul Conrad | November 3, 2008 8:35 PM
Posted on November 3, 2008 20:35