A Week in the life of Facebook

Facebook in child safety backlash

 

 

 

From the above article:

 

"The social networking site announced that users aged from 13 to 17 will now be able to switch their settings to share posts with anyone on the internet, rather than just their "friends" or "friends of friends".

Children's groups and internet safety experts denounced the move, saying it could leave young people more vulnerable to cyber-bullying.
Anthony Smythe, managing director of BeatBullying, told The Times: "We have concerns that this age group can now share information in the public domain.
"Something they think might not be harmful now may come back to haunt them later. This is a move in the wrong direction."
The newspaper also said Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), had expressed "concern" that the move could make youngsters more vulnerable."

 

 

This follows the stories earlier this week below

 

Now ANYONE can find you on Facebook: Outrage as site removes privacy option for users to hide their profile in search results

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The 'Who can look up your Timeline by name?' feature was applied when people searched for someone's profile using Facebook's search bar.
Depending on the setting chosen, the profile was either completely hidden from everyone who wasn't already a Facebook friend; could only be seen by friends of friends or was only visible to certain groups or networks of people."

and

 

Facebook is a 'major location for online child sexual grooming', head of child protection agency says

 

 

"A National Crime Agency spokesman said: "There are many social networking sites and websites used by offenders to target children and young people. The NCA CEOP Command's 2013 Threat Assessment on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse highlighted that 48.5% of online child sexual exploitation reports received were linked to social networking sites, of which Facebook is only one. "

 

 

So, a good week for online predators and groomers, who not only will be able to locate potential victims easier, but also for teens who choose to put status's and photos as "public" instead of being restricted to "Friends" or "Friends of friends". OK, maybe I should put teens or younger, as it is a fact of life that younger children also use Facebook using incorrect DOBs, but if they chose a DOB that "made them" between thirteen and seventeen, at least previously their posts were restricted to FOFs or Friends. Not any more.

 

As an extra to this post, I thought I'd have a quick check to get a selection of stories, just from the UK, and just from this week, regarding Facebook. If it is like this now, what could it be like with the changes that are being made now?

 

Man jailed for attempted rape

 

Reclusive man preyed on teenage girl through Facebook

 

How a mum snared the Facebook paedophile preying on her daughter

 

Sex offender who targeted young boys on websites is HIV positive

 

Online games pervert jailed

 

So Facebook, a big fat