A sincere concern for the welfare of youngsters or a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Mark Zuckerberg said at the e-G8 Internet forum in Paris that last weeks comments were "taken out of context." Screenshot via YouTube
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg voiced at a recent education innovation summit that he would like kids of all ages to be allowed on social networking sites, but current law prohibits it. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) states that anyone under the age of 13 are not able to join websites that collect information about users.
The 27 year-old executive wants to change that. “That will be a fight we take on at some point,” he said.
Zuckerberg sees social media as the learning tool of the future. As to how a tween Facebook would work, “Because of the restrictions we haven’t even begun this learning process,” he said. “If they’re lifted then we’d start to learn what works. We’d take a lot of precautions to make sure that they are safe.”
Facebook has come under fire recently for the 7.5 million “underage” kids already using the social network. At a recent Senate hearing regarding internet tracking and privacy, CTO Bret Taylor of the company acknowledged they depend largely on other Facebook users to report underage accounts.
Ultimately its up to parents to protect their children in the not-so-nice online world.
Just recently a disturbing document has surfaced on Facebook, allegedly posted by two men of Castlegar, British Columbia, that outlines how to get young girls to have sex, “detailing everything from whom to target to what songs to play, how much alcohol to give them, and even what to say if her parents catch you in the act.”
A sergeant of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police warned, “In light of this document and recent sexual crimes committed through social media, parents need to be incredibly vigilant about what their kids are doing on the Internet.”
http://www.infosecurity-us.com/
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/20/zuckerberg-kids-under-13-should-be-allowed-on-facebook/
http://thenelsondaily.com/news/crime/castlegar-men-get-police-council-attention-facebook-guide-how-abuse-young-girls-11542
Best of the interwebs:
All original content © 2002 - 2013 Imperfect Parent®. Imperfect Parent and Mominatrix are registered trademarks.
The views, opinions and information expressed in articles and blog posts published on imperfectparent.com and all subdomains are those of the authors alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of The Imperfect Parent or its staff, nor do they represent the views or opinions of any entity of, or affiliated with, Imperfect Parent. The Imperfect Parent is designed for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to be a substitute for medical, health, legal, or financial advice from a professional.
Reproduction of material from any of Imperfect Parent's pages without written permission is strictly prohibited.
