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Brits Want to Hit the Panic Button Over Facebook
Filed under: In The News
Hey, boys and girls, someone messing with you on Facebook?
Hit the panic button!
What panic button? Oh, that's right. Facebook doesn't have a panic button.
That's enough to make British officials hit the panic button themselves. If they had their way, every kid's Facebook profile would have such a button. It would be linked to the government's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.
If you press the button, you wouldn't launch a nuclear missile or summon Batman to your house. What you'll get for your panic is resources. You'd get links to at least 10 sites offering advice on how to do if you're faced with a bully or sexual predator.
The London Telegraph reports British officials are in a bit of snit that Facebook doesn't already provide a panic button like other social networking sites.
Joe Sullivan, Facebook's chief security officer, met with Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre officials in Washington, D.C., this week.
Jim Gamble, the British center's chief executive, has criticized Facebook for the last six months for not having tougher security for its younger members.
A panic button, Gamble tells the Telegraph, would give kids immediately information about their local police agency and other helpful organizations. He adds the panic buttons on other sites result in a total 10,000 clicks a month and have led to more than 5,000 criminal investigations.
Gamble tells the paper British police have seen the number of complaints of alleged stalking and bullying on Facebook almost quadruple this year. Meanwhile, he adds, Facebook's own safety staff have failed to report a single alleged pedophile to police themselves.
"Is Facebook so arrogant that it does not mind what the collective child protection community thinks?" Gamble said in a speech in London last week. "They are experts commercially, but I do not see them as being experts in child protection. What Facebook does not understand is prevention, and acting as a deterrent."
A Facebook spokesman tells the Telegraph the Web site wants to work with British officials.
"Safety is Facebook's No. 1 priority and we look forward to honoring our meeting with CEOP," the unidentified spokesman tells the paper.
"We plan to discuss the most effective ways to integrate CEOP into our reporting system and also look at a number of initiatives around investment, raising awareness and education for parents, educators and teens," he adds.
Robert Marcus, the director of Chat Moderators, a company that monitors branded social media activity, tells the Telegraph panic buttons are no cure-all.
"The trouble with a link or a button is that often people who don't need help will push them and often the children who need them the most won't," he tells the paper. "Many children don't realize, for instance, when they are being sexually groomed."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 3)
4-15-2010 @ 9:07AM
pissed off consumer said...you check off off are at least 18 to start a facebook account, unless you are lying about you age there is no need for a panic button. kids should learn there are "adult" things. where are the parents?
Reply
4-15-2010 @ 9:19AM
lhutcheison said...It does not hurt if younger kids are on Facebook. If parents keep an eye on what going on. Why do you care if they are there? And you say Adult things. Facebook is not about porn. As long as a parent is checking on what on the Facebook site. The child should be ok. It is also a goodway for the parent to know what going on in the child life.
4-15-2010 @ 9:29AM
Glassman96 said...I have a panic button, it's called the "Delete Key". That's what I did to my Facebook account after about three weeks.
4-15-2010 @ 10:21AM
Sharon said...My opinion, children have no place on facebook, myspace, etc. I know good parents, I see it all the time, who let their kids go into these places. I watch and the children are not monitored. The kids themselves tell me what they are doing. Stuff they won't tell their parents. I know of an eight yr. old boy who is on, whose mom told me it is so he can keep in touch with his nana. She lives in the same city. Another girl across the street is 11. Her mom already has issues with her at school and at home. Why put a child who is having problems on facebook? It is an accident waiting to happen.
I don't know if they are younger parents and do not yet see the dangers of the world. I know I was less afraid of everything when I was younger. Or if they are just stupid. Sorry, it happens. Of course if I were ever to find there was a problem or safety issue, I would definitely inform the parents. But other than that, it is not my place to tell the parents what they can allow their children to do. It is scary, because I do not believe you should wait until there is a problem, before you do anything. By then it could be too late. And yes I do know, personally, a child aged 14 who was bullied on facebook, by kids in her own school, and the police finally had to get involved. When I see a child using facebook, I just tell them to be really careful and to make sure they don't let anyone on that they do not know.
You see, a parent can trust their child, have a good child, a responsible child. But peer pressure is huge. And very hard for kids to deal with, even the best of kids. How do they say no when a kid asks them in front of all their friends to put them on? How do they say no when they are called a mamas baby when they say their mom won't let them? Kids are also curious creatures. They might allow someone one online who sounds really exciting. These are chances I don't want to take.
We live in a computer based society, I am not against computers. I want my child to learn as much as she can about them, how to use them etc. As for facebook, she will not be on it until she is of legal age. Until she is emotionally ready to understand that there are good and bad people in our world, and that some of those bad people are out there just to find someone to hurt. In the meatime she can visit her friends the 'old fashioned' way, go see them, or call them.
I adhere to 'Prevention is the best medicine' in all things in my life. In my opinion.
4-15-2010 @ 9:18AM
just me said...don't get me wrong, a panic button is a good thing when kids get in over their heads, they might push it before they go to their parents for help. kids need better boundaries and need to learn to take responsibility for what they do. parents can only protect them for so long from what is out in the real world.
Reply
4-15-2010 @ 9:32AM
just me said...no it doesn't "hurt". should we let them have a couple beers and hand them the keys, as long as we are there watching them it shouldn't hurt.
what i am saying is there are age limits for a reason. let them abide by them. why are parents allowing them to break the rules, are they also teaching them when it is "ok" or "not ok" to break the rules?
i am a believer in questioning authority but parents for the most part do not monitor what their kids are doing.
4-15-2010 @ 9:25AM
Michele said...Britain has become, clearly, one of the worst "nanny states" on the planet! All their storied ancestors are doubtless rolling and groaning in their graves.
The most recent "bullying" tragedy is extraordinarily sad and a waste of a young life and it is understandable that blame must be placed somewhere.
The one and only place the blame belongs is on the parents of the children -- both the bullies and the victim. Neither side was taught, clearly, neither the destructiveness of bullying nor how to withstand and respond to bullies.
This is our next generation! The world is doomed.
Reply
4-15-2010 @ 9:57AM
Deb said...The "panic button" is called mommy, daddy or a caregiver.
Reply
4-15-2010 @ 10:04AM
Deborah said...The "panic button" is called mommy, daddy, or other caretaker. If the child is too young to understand who or what to report, then they're too young to be on Facebook.
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4-15-2010 @ 10:07AM
Ryo said...Here's an idea... if someone is harassing you on Facebook, DELETE THEM FROM YOUR FRIENDS, BLOCK THEM, AND REPORT THEM! Amazing what two clicks of a mouse can do.
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4-15-2010 @ 10:26AM
juanita said...facebook is for losers that dont want to actually talk to one another, so they send silly text messages instead.
Reply
4-16-2010 @ 1:34PM
breed59758 said...let me guess, you have no friends on facebook, and everyone else is a loser.
4-15-2010 @ 10:33AM
Neutral said...You do not have to be 18 to create a FB account you only have to be 13.
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4-15-2010 @ 3:42PM
Christian said...i guess it couldnt hurt to have a panic button. i mean depending on the type of harassing not all kids might feel comfortable talking to their parents about it (which is unfortunate). there does need to be some serious monitoring of activities on the parents part. i dont really think it is appropriate for a person under 16 to have one of those pages but if they do, there needs to be some serious adult supervision going on. its also a great idea because kids arent the only people who face problems with bullying, harassment (especially sexual) or stalking....adults could push the button too....
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4-15-2010 @ 10:36AM
Ariel said..."You'd get links to at least 10 sites offering advice on how to do if you're faced with a bully or sexual predator."
Where did Tom Henderson learn English? [A]dvice on what to do is the correct usage. What is the pronoun, in this instant. How is an adverb--how to do what? Advice on how to respond is correct. Error from deadline crunch, or lack of grammatical awareness? That is the question. Another poor Facebook and Internet influence in general--degraded literacy among younger generations, overall. Hit the panic button!
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4-15-2010 @ 10:46AM
Chris said...You have to be 13 to have an account on Facebook. My son is on it, as well as many of his friends. We talk a lot about it. I would love to see such a button and have to believe so would the task forces in the US would as well. My only concern would be the misuse of such button and the additional work that would have for the false ones. I hope facebook things about ways to make this productive for all. Great idea thank you to the Brits for voicing it.
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4-15-2010 @ 11:07AM
Minnie said...What is going on in society is that parents buy, buy buy children things to get them out of there way and leave the computer in there bedrooms and that is the NO NO.. when my children where young the computer was in the living room where I can see what was going on and that was my rules. its very easy for rules and the parent is the boss and you do not let te child tell you what to do! None of this crap would be happening if the parent was doing there job! shame on the parents! when the children become teens you still monitor them and if they do not like it then they can stay off the computer! parent knows better then child!
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4-15-2010 @ 11:20AM
Mr Ohmywhatisthisabout said...Panic Button? For what? Who wrote this doesn't realize you must be 18 to join facebook?? Someone just has nothing else to do !
At 18 here in the states you are not considered a minor anymore and you must use your judgement on what is right or wrong !
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4-15-2010 @ 11:35AM
Lin said...My 10 year old grandson has an account and has had it. So evidently there is no age limit to get an account
4-17-2010 @ 9:57PM
castleb said...When I saw its title, I hoped this article would include the good news that Facebook was screening out vitriol, hate speech, and threats against government officials as well as namecalling and insults against other Facebookers and the author of the article under discussion.
True, Facebook invites the viewer to report postings that contain hate speech, personal attacks, etc., but not enough use is made of this screening to protect viewers of any age. It is disturbing that children may be exposed to these examples of adult bad behavior. All of us need to be protected against the abuse of free speech. Verbal violence is as much an attack as physical hurt. The first amendment was not intended to give blanket permission to wound with our words. If anyone forms a group to lobby facebook and other such forums in the cause of civility and "a more perfect union" as the Constitution promises--and that includes its amendments--count me in..