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Metro Parent | August 13, 2007

Glide gives parents online power

By Kim Kovelle

Picture this: Your 5-year-old son logs into his email account. Inside, all the notes he finds – not to mention streaming video and music files – are from contacts you’ve pre-approved.

Your daughter, age 9, starts a web log. Without blinking, you can view what she’s blogging. Or you can manage her saved documents and photos. This is happening right through your Internet browser. No extra software needed.

It’s part of a new online navigation and networking system called Glide Effortless 1.1. Created by TransMedia, a New York-based technology company launched in 2001, the program has set media abuzz. A California newspaper likened it to a “multimedia scrapbook.” Users can email huge files in tiny packages, easily create and update websites and securely upload and store personal documents online.

But it’s Glide Family Plans that have parents and privacy advocates cheering. The child protection option hands parents the digital reigns.

TransMedia chairman and CEO Donald Leka says the idea was triggered by Dylan, his 4-year-old son. “He’s very adept with the mouse. As I started really trying to set up an (online) environment for him, I realized it wasn’t easy to control who could contact him,” Leka says.

“There are no rules on the Internet. People are not empowered to protect themselves and their families.”
Glide’s premise: everyone is defaulted to not being able to contact your child until you approve them. That applies to any email or blog server, as long as your child is navigating in the Glide website environment. Kids also can easily create personal websites with themes ranging from astronauts to princesses. The key: web surfers won’t be able to find it through major search engine “metacrawlers” like Google or Yahoo. Also, since it’s ad-free, little Jacob or Emily won’t see images of Viagra. Parents can also monitor instant messaging – but only if kids use Glide’s version.

Featuring security encryption, the Glide website is as secure as possible, Leka says. And in reality, storing documents in Cyberspace is no less secure than tucking them away in your computer’s hard drive.
“I think it’s more a psychological fear,” Leka adds. “If it’s connected to the Internet, people can hack into your computer.”

The protection feature is geared to kids up until about age 8 or 10. Teens can join on a family plan but have independent, unmonitored accounts. So far, most users are sharing photos and music, Leka says. About 100,000 had signed up as of early April, and he expects the tally to double this month. Learn more about Glide Effortless 1.1. at www.glidedigital.com.