Nick News with Linda Ellerbee examines the boundaries of child safety and privacy, and discovers how kids and parents feel about the monitoring of technology in the brand-new special, "The Electronic Leash: Safety vs. Privacy," premiering tonight, June 16, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.
Technology is ever-changing and extremely powerful, enabling kids to stay in constant contact with the world around them. As the internet and social media continue to play an integral role in the lives of kids, parents are becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of their children.
Evan, 15, from New York, N.Y. says, "Privacy is a keystone of freedom and without privacy we would lose basic human rights."
Zachare, 14, from Columbia, Mo. adds, "I think it's OK for parents to track their kids because if the kid is in a bad situation the parent can go help them."
Just because kids leave the house doesn't mean the electronic leash comes off. Beyond reading messages, parents can use GPS apps to track their children's location.
Isaiah, 14, from Columbia, Mo. says, "I didn't really like how the app knew where I was at, at all times and felt it was invading my privacy...I felt like they couldn't trust me."
Schools have also begun implementing an electronic leash. At 14-year-old Wolf's school in Columbia, Mo., everything done on the school computer is tracked. The school also monitors its students after school hours by tracking students' social media.
Wolf says, "I find their policy with social media kind of intrusive in my mind because what I do outside of school is my business."
"With the changing world of technology," Ellerbee adds, "Perhaps in the future, technology will give us ways where we won't have to make a choice between privacy and safety. But that day hasn't come yet."
Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is now in its 24th year and is the longest-running kids' news show in television history. It has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. Over the years, Nick News has received more than 21 Emmy nominations and won its tenth Emmy Award for Forgotten But Not Gone: Kids, HIV & AIDS in the category of Outstanding Children's Nonfiction Program. Additional Emmy wins for outstanding children's programming include: Under the Influence: Kids of Alcoholics (2011); (The Face of Courage: Kids Living with Cancer (2010); Coming Home: When Parents Return from War (2009); The Untouchable Kids of India (2008); Private Worlds: Kids and Autism (2007); Never Again: From the Holocaust to the Sudan (2005); Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan (2002) and What Are You Staring At? (1998). In 1995, the entire series won the Emmy. In 2009, Nick News was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for best Network News Documentary for Coming Home: When Parents Return from War - the first-ever kids' television program to receive this prestigious award. Nick News has also received three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for explaining the impeachment of President Clinton to kids, as well as a Columbia duPont Award and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards.
Nickelodeon, now in its 36th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 20 consecutive years.
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