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Does DiS need a panic button?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8616980.stm
Facebook is continuing to resist placing a "panic button" on its pages despite calls to do so by the head of a British child protection agency.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre wants such a link on every page of the website.
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Chief constables from across England and Wales, including Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, have signed a letter supporting the addition of the extra safety feature.
Facebook had previously said it would not install a "panic button" on its main pages for users to report suspected paedophiles, but would develop its existing system.
The company said it would install links to organisations including Ceop on its reporting pages but Mr Gamble said he could not understand why Facebook would not agree to adopt the button on every page as it was a free way to "help save some children".
"If you're going to operate a business that encourages people to frequent your public place so that you can advertise to them, then let's look after them while they're there."
Last week Mr Gamble said the agency had received 252 complaints about Facebook during the first three months of the year - with 40% of them about the potential "grooming" of children.
He said the complaints had come via e-mails and people using other means to complain to the centre as they could not do so via Facebook.
The figures were revealed as part of Ceop's campaign to persuade Facebook to change its mind.
The "panic button" in question is already used by other websites, including Bebo. Clicking on it takes people to a site that details how to handle cyberbullying, hacking, viruses, distressing material and inappropriate sexual behaviour.
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Now I'm not averse to pointing folk in the direction of some basic precautions when there are certain apparent risks. But biling this as a "Panic Button" is storpid.
It creates the impression of a big red icon in the corner of the screen that you can press if some filthy paedo comes a lurkin'. When in actual fact, we all know that the biggest threat on that front is probably sitting in the room next door to the one where the kid is using the computer.
Ignorant parents will be thinking: "Facebook doesn't have a panic button when other sites do. You'd think it really should have one." And then if Facebook does bow to pressure and put some kind of link in place, those ignorant parents will go back to being as negligent about their kids' internet use as they were before.
The weak link isn't the website, it's the humans.
Yes, online bullying (and to a lesser extent, grooming) exists. But the answer doesn't lie in some weblink in the corner of the screen. In the same way that a small DrinkAware logo in the corner of booze adverts ain't gonna solve much. It's a sop and a red herring that hides the underlying issues.