Facebook steps up safeguards against predators. | TECHNOLOGY | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz
Sat 06 Dec 03:25:03 2008
Facebook steps up safeguards
May 10, 2008 8:39 PM

Popular social networking site Facebook has bowed to pressure to step up its safeguards against bullies and sexual predators.

The move has been welcomed by internet watchdogs in New Zealand but they warn there are other ways predators can get to children on the net.

Seventy million people trawl Facebook to meet old and make new friends.

But there's growing concern and evidence that sexual predators, bullies and hate groups are also on the prowl within the site.

West Coast teen Samanatha Bicham knows what it's like to be bullied online.

"You blame yourself for it and you carry this big load," she says.

Amongst the 40 safeguards Facebook is introducing are cutting links to porn sites; investigating users linked to bullying, paedophilia, incest and racial hatred; and not allowing users to change their listed age to less than 18.

But internet watchdogs say predators have other ways to get to their victims.

"It's important to remember that sexual solicitation happens in chatrooms and in instant messaging," says Lee chism of Netsafe.

Alan Scadden was convicted of abducting a Nelson teenage girl he met in an internet chatroom .

"You have people that are dirty on the internet and then you have people like me who are dirty in person," says Scadden.

Philippa Leach's daughter was text and cyber bullied. She welcomes Facebook's new measures but says parents also need to take responsibility.

So what more can be done? Experts are telling parents to get with it and join sites like Facebook and Bebo and get used to the lingo and culture used online,

If parents really want to fight online predators and bullies they have to get onto the online battlefield.

Source: ONE News
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