Today I was sitting at my computer with my five-year-old sister, watching some goofy things on Google Video, when suddenly she asked if my computer is safe from the bad kind of hackers. At first I didn't think I heard her right, and I repeated, Hackers? Yeah, she said, the bad kind that steal people's computers from all the way across the world. They go on the Internet and they go into your computer and they take it. I was absolutely struck dumb. She had apparently made the connection that being on the Internet exposes me to the bad kind of hackers that are also on the Internet. I briefly told her about firewalls, browser security, and *nix file permissions, stumbling about various analogies that I imagined must not have made an ounce of sense to her. Finally, she told me, Mom's laptop isn't Linux. What is it? I told her it was Windows. She asked if that's as safe. Not really, I said (understating it a bit in my mind). So now she's off telling my mom about Linux and how it can still run most of the Windows games and stuff with Wine (which she must have remembered from a previous conversation).

By day, a Disney-loving ballerina princess. By night... Technogirl: the crime-fighting vampire slayer!

Oh great, now you're corrupting the children's minds!