Yahoo! 360° Safety Guide

What is Yahoo! 360°?

Yahoo! 360° is an online community where you can collect text, photos, and video in one place to share with family and friends. Easy-to-use tools help you create and post to a blog, upload photos to an online album, and connect to people with similar interests. You can make your page entirely private or share it with friends, family, and other Yahoo! 360° users.

What are some risks to my child on Yahoo! 360°?

Yahoo! 360° users are expected to behave in ways that foster community and must abide by the Yahoo! 360° Community Guidelines , as well as the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Just as there may be risks in the community where you live, the Yahoo! 360° community may pose certain risks to children. Yahoo! 360° provides a number of safety features, but as a parent or caregiver, you are expected to take an active role in protecting your child online.

We suggest that you start by reviewing some general practices for online safety. In addition, please keep the following in mind when your child is using Yahoo! 360°:

• Protecting personal information. Children under 13 are not permitted to create Yahoo! 360° pages. Younger users of Yahoo! 360°, especially those between the ages of 13 and 17, should be reminded that posting personal information or photos could identify them to strangers. The Yahoo! 360° privacy preferences can be set to limit contact with unknown users.
• Harassment. If users can contact your child, he or she might be exposed to unpleasant, sexually suggestive, or abusive language. Again, be aware that your child’s Yahoo! 360° privacy preferences can be modified.
• Mature content. Yahoo! 360° users over the age of 18 can post mature content. If these users don’t properly mark adult-oriented photos and text as “mature,” your teenager might come across them while browsing other Yahoo! 360° pages. If this happens, please report the abuse to Yahoo!.
• Impersonation. Someone could impersonate your child by creating a Yahoo! account and Yahoo! 360° page. They could post false information or send damaging emails in your child's name. Please report such abuse to Yahoo!.

What can be done to limit these risks? Review Yahoo! 360°’s safety features, learn how to report abuse, and read what parents and caregivers can do to help kids be safe on Yahoo! 360°.

What safety features should I know about to help protect my child on Yahoo! 360°?

To protect younger users, Yahoo! 360° does not allow children under the age of 13 to create their own pages or establish communication with other Yahoo! 360° users. Instead, they are encouraged to explore age-appropriate content and activities on Yahoo! Kids.

If your child is at least 13 years old and wants to make a Yahoo! 360° page, make sure he or she knows how to do the following:

• Use a nickname. A nickname can be used in place of your child’s real Yahoo! ID and will appear on the top of his or her Yahoo! 360° page. A nickname without any personally identifiable information is best. For example, instead of "tedjones1992dallas," try something more generic like "bluesky50." Learn more about choosing an online ID.
• Modify privacy settings. Click the Settings link in the upper-right corner of your child’s Yahoo! 360° page to change his or her privacy preferences and limit contact with users. If users contact your child, he or she could potentially be exposed to unpleasant, sexually suggestive, or abusive language. Use the Yahoo! 360° privacy settings specify who can contact your child, send him or her invitations, and see and comment on his or her blog. You can specify different levels of privacy — from completely private, to just friends, to all Yahoo! users —for each part of your child’s Yahoo! 360° page.
• Delete comments and limit blog access. If someone leaves an unpleasant or inappropriate comment on your child’s blog, you can remove the offensive comment and limit who can leave future comments. You can also remove any user as a connection.
• Ignore. To stop a specific Yahoo! 360° user from contacting your child, click the Ignore link in the left column of his or her Yahoo! 360° page.
• Hide online status. This setting can be used to prevent other users from knowing that your child is online.
• Use an avatar. An avatar is a custom cartoon character that can be used to represent your child on Yahoo! 360° and other Yahoo! services. Using Yahoo! Avatars, your child can create a personalized avatar to use in place of a real, identifiable photo.
• Report abuse to Yahoo!. To report any offensive content or inappropriate contact with other users, click the Report for abuse link found in the left column of every Yahoo! 360° page.

How can I report problems that my child encounters on Yahoo! 360°?

Yahoo! provides a Report for abuse link in the left column of every user’s Yahoo! 360° page. Please click this link and complete the form if your child is exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Terms of Service or Yahoo! 360° Community Guidelines. Make sure to provide specific information about the location of the offending content and the identity of the user in question.

Yahoo!’s customer care team receives abuse reports and takes appropriate action as necessary, which may include deactivating an abuser’s account. Reports that indicate activity involving child pornography or solicitation of a minor are dealt with promptly by Yahoo!’s legal team and, when appropriate, such incidents are reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

What can I do to help my child use Yahoo! 360° in a safe manner?

Yahoo! is committed to providing a safe online experience for all users and, accordingly, complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Yahoo! 360° provides a number of safety features to limit potential risks to users. However, protecting children online is a responsibility shared with parents, teachers, and other caregivers.

We suggest that you start by reviewing some general practices for online safety. These include safeguarding identity online, keeping passwords secret, being cautious about contact with strangers, and creating a pledge for online safety.

If your child is exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Terms of Service or Yahoo! 360° Community Guidelines, please report the abuse.

Please review the safety features on Yahoo! 360° and work with your child to set appropriate privacy preferences.

And remember, Yahoo! Kids offers all kinds of age-appropriate content and activities for children under 13.