Facebook takes the "MySpace" approach on child safety, CNN makes up stuff.

By
Alex
on May 8, 2008 3:17 PM | | Comments (316) | TrackBacks (0)
This wouldn't be Capitol Valley without an occasional Facebook post.

Recent feature creeping and gaffes have led some early-adopters and users to complain that the  social networking site, originally targeted to college students, has become "just like MySpace."

Today, they have another reason to say they're right.

As reported by CNN, Facebook has entered into agreements with Attorneys General from 49 states (and the District of Columbia), under which they will introduce over 40 new "features" to address alleged problems of child predators on the site, cyberbullying, and other issues, as well as create a task force to "better verify users ages and identities."

"Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook from its outset," said Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer. "The attorneys general have shown great leadership in helping to address the critical issue of Internet safety, and we commend them for continuing to set high standards for all players in the online arena."

Not to rain on anyone's parade here, but Facebook had a fantastic way of verifying identities. Before opening the site to the general public, one signed on with an address from a verified network, to which your identify could be traced. 

In abandoning their original strategy of connecting people online based on existing offline social networks, such as colleges and workplaces, Facebook put themselves in the same trap that MySpace was already in. In essence, this was a problem of their own making. 

Now, a quick slap at CNN's coverage:

MySpace, Facebook and other online networks have created a new venue for sexual predators, who often lie about their age to lure young victims to chat, share images and sometimes meet in person. It also has spawned cyberbullies, who have sent threatening and anonymous messages to other users, sometimes classmates and others they know.

Are these actual facts? Is that news, or opinion? Any new communications system can be considered a "new venue" once it reaches critical mass, and cyberbullying dates back to AOL's glory days. Perhaps CNN could have at least backed up these bold assertions with a call to the Pew Internet and American Life Project which has done several excellent studies on those subjects.
 

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316 Comments

By FedUp on May 9, 2008 12:29 PM

Great article about Facebook and sexual predators! Sounds like you would rather have them raping children, than being identified online. But who really cares kids' safety about Facebook? The real wuestion is, when is Yahoo going to label their Flickr site as hosting thousands predators and pedophiles, trading hardcore and child porn? They have been nurturing those monsters for over four years now, by helping them hide out there. How are parents and children ever supposed to be able to know about it at all, if they continually obscure and lie about what is really hosted on their website? The advertisers sponsoring it all have no idea, or most wouldn't put their names on all over the stuff. There always seems to be a lot of hoopla about Facebook and MySpace, but never a single word said about Yahoo's Flickr, which is undeniably much worse off. There truly are countless dangerous creeps there, openly perving on kids, while trading millions of every kind of really nasty porn pic imaginable. Why is that? They have no true, reliable age verification, no warning labels, and more over, always cloak any perverts through algorithms. Flickr's entire system is set up to enshroud the true nature of the site and the offenders there. So it all just piles up while real porn and pedo sites link to contents. There are thousands of sexual predators and pedophiles being harbored by Flickr, the average users just aren't allowed to see them. Those dangerous creeps can see everybody else though, right down to geolocations placed on the pictures. It's like a catalog for repeating sex offenders. Facebook just opened up personal info on profiles to people on Yahoo networks, including Flickr. That pretty much undoes any and all efforts to protect kids there mentioned so far. But then, you don't really care much, do you? This is what is really important to you. How freaking noble.

By Andrew Author Profile Page on May 9, 2008 1:19 PM

Wow, seriously angry. Calm down.

It's pretty obvious that no one on either side is advocating crimes against children.

First off, it's clear that no one is "nurturing" anyone or "helping" anyone hide. In fact, Facebook (in its' original model) made it impossible to hide since you needed a verifiable email address to join. Either way, what do you suggest? Do you think we need some kind of "no internet" list like the "no fly" list that has been much ridiculed?

Second, do you have evidence to back up your allegations against Flickr? You specifically mention that "Flickr's entire system is set up to enshroud the true nature of the site and the offenders there" but provide no proof. If you do, I would suggest contacting Federal law enforcement. If I had uncovered a public company which was profiting off of child exploitation, I certainly would alert the authorities before making anonymous comments on relatively insignificant blogs.

Your concern is understandable, but a more rational approach to the problem (which includes being accurate about how large the problem is compared to the overall user population) is both the most logical and effective way to deal with any illegal activity on an information service.

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