Share
Officials with the Better Business Bureau and law enforcement agencies are reminding parents to use a bit of caution before letting children use smart phones and computers to “track” Santa Clause on Christmas Eve.
A number of agencies have set up websites and links for children to find out where Santa Claus is.
Among them is a government agency -- the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Tom Bartholomy of the Better Business Bureau of the South Piedmont says the NORAD site is safe.
“If your children want to follow Santa, you can find many websites that will track his trek,” Bartholomy says. “One of the best resources is NORAD.”
NORAD’s site has a special page for children, and the government says it is using four high-tech resources to keep track of Santa’s progress around the globe. And if your children don’t have access to computers or smart phones, you can call a toll-free number, 877-446-6723.
“NORAD is one of the ‘nice’ websites, but some are naughty,” Bartholomy says, “So it’s important for parents to monitor their children online.”
There are accounts in past years of the Santa-tracking sites actually providing porn, or supplying the computer-user or phone-user’s addresses to third parties.
Bartholomy says the Santa websites should have a privacy policy that includes:
-- The website’s information-collection practices.
-- The name of the company and the company’s complete contact information.
-- Whether the company shares information with third parties, including advertisers.
-- Whether the company publicly discloses information it gathers, or retains the information for future purposes.
And he says parents should:
-- Not allow children to give out personal information online.
-- Check websites for unwelcome content. Some Santa websites are actually for adults and might contain language or other content that is not appropriate for children.
