Surely you've read a bazillion stories warning about the dangers of kids using MySpace, Facebook, et al, and giving up personal information, exposing themselves to predators, etc, and those fears are founded. Just ask Megan Meier's parents. But at least those sites are popular enough that if you even get a whiff of your kids using them, you can stay on top of what they're doing. Plus, they're run by massive media operations that maintain a semblance of ethical responsibility, if not always the best marketing judgment.

What would be scary to me if I had a kid who was of the age to want to join social networking sites (I'm hoping I at least have another four or five year break from that) is the number of copycat sites targeted at kids that abuse the online community concept simply as a way to gather marketing data, or worse. The Texas attorney general filed civil complaints against two such sites this week for failing to protect users' privacy and safety.

Thedollpalace.com, a site devoted to "the art of making cartoon dolls," and Gamesradar.com, a video game site, both asked users for personal information before verifying that they were at least 13, which violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Besides asking about height, weight, and eye color, The Doll Palace also asks questions about whether a user "would like to meet someone older than myself" and their "idea of a fun date." Yikes, creepy.

I suppose they could hide behind the veil of ignorance, claiming that they aren't geared toward kids, but c'mon, look at that site. What self-respecting adult would be caught looking at a page like that? Of course, I think the same thing about half the MySpace pages I see, so I'm just a grumpy old man.

The answer is to watch your kids when they're online and keep the family computer in a shared room. This sounds great and all, but of course they can check most of this stuff on their phones now anyway, so good luck with that. I can't wait.