No silver bullet
Regular readers may remember the clamour for Facebook to do more after a teenage girl was murdered, having apparently made contact with her murderer on the social networking site.
The consensus at the time was that Facebook should add a child safety ‘panic button' to the reporting and blocking measures it already had in place. This would link directly to the CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) website where young people can get help and advice on a range of matters, including sexual behaviour/grooming.
It's very difficult to resist the pressure to be seen to act in the wake of such an emotive event, but Facebook insisted at the time that there was no evidence the CEOP button would be any more effective than the measures it already had in place. It's also dabatable how effective any measure that relies on a child to overcome their innate gullibility would be.
Anyway, Facebook clearly wanted to find a way to embrace CEOP without supplanting its own safety measures and just such a compromise was announced today by CEOP. Rather than appearing on all pages, Facebook is looking to play to its strength by introducing a CEOP homepage tab via an app, and then making it as easy as possible to spread the app via social networking.
"By adding this application, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCEOP button which should provide reassurance to every parent with teenagers on the site," said Jim Gamble, chief exec of CEOP. "We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online. We urge all Facebook users to add the app and bookmark it so that others can see that they're in control online."
"There is no single silver bullet to making the Internet safer but by joining forces with CEOP we have developed a comprehensive solution which marries our expertise in technology with CEOP's expertise in online safety," said Joanna Shields, Facebook's VP for EMEA.
"Together we have developed a new way of helping young people stays safe online and backed this with an awareness campaign to publicise it to young users. It is only through the constant and concerted effort of the industry, police, parents and young people themselves that we can all keep safe online - whether on Facebook or elsewhere."
