Posted on 05/16/2011 7:07:43 PM PDT by decimon
A recent Consumer Reports survey found that roughly 7.5 million Facebook accounts belong to users younger’ than 13 and that as many as 20 million are under 18. While that might seem like a relatively low number given Facebook’s 500+ million users, being a minor with a Facebook account is increasingly becoming a scary thing: Cyber-bullying on the site has reached frightening proportions and child predators are a well known concern associated with the site.
Considering Facebook’s apparent reach with children and the risks associated with having an account, it’s surprising it took this long for a bill giving parents increased access to their kids’ profiles to be proposed.
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For now, the bill has only been proposed in California, so those would be the only parents lucky enough to have such powers. Of course, with such power comes responsibility, and Facebook isn’t entirely certain parents can handle it. Spokesman Andrew Noyes called the bill a “serious threat,” and it stands to reason that parents could abuse the system, asking for heaps of information to be removed from children’s profiles. There’s also the problem of objectivity: Some more conservative parents might want reasonably tame photos removed, or wall posts with foul language taken down – which could eventually become a large expense for Facebook not to mention the complicated moral objections this bill may raise.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
For the children ping.
You forgot the BARF ALERT!
So teach your kids about “unfriend” and “report this user”, so if someone bugs them they can use the built-in Facebook ZOT function.
That’s the end of cyberbullying, built in.
The issue usually pushed leads to the end of net anonymity.
Why do minors need access to Facebook or phone texting?
At what do you aim your spew?
They have access. If not at home then elsewhere.
That’s the end of cyberbullying, built in.
The issue usually pushed leads to the end of net anonymity.
It's not just bullying but what they are exposed to. Where do you draw the line on what pictures and language they are exposed to? Different parents will draw different lines. They will, that is, if they know what their kids are seeing.
“It’s not just bullying but what they are exposed to.”
There is no reason parents can’t know what their kids are exposed to online, or to limit that exposure.
How can they know what the kid is seeing on FB if they can't see it unless they're standing over the kid? How about when the kid is out of the house?
You can download all of the contents from a cell phone onto a PC. For parents of minor children, this should become a normal task. How many of you think snooping in your children’s affairs is not proper behavior for a parent?
FB is accessible everywhere, not just in your house. There are software solutions to this, that lead to the parent always having the password.
At this stupid nonsense from the article:
Some more conservative parents might want reasonably tame photos removed, or wall posts with foul language taken down – which could eventually become a large expense for Facebook not to mention the complicated moral objections this bill may raise.
As a parent it is MY DECISION what is reasonably tame, and it doesn't matter a bit if I'm conservative, liberal, or whatever.......I'm the parent.
I guess I'm overly sensitive, but this kind of stuff -- arguments opposing what amounts to parental responsibility drives-- me nuts. That the government is getting involved just rubs me the wrong way.
The children are minors so the parents have, or should have, extraordinary rights and responsibilities regarding their welfare. Within reason, it should be the parents and not the schools deciding what the children are exposed to. Ditto Walmart, McDonalds and Facebook.
So, is this proposed legislation a good thing? Beats me but I thought this a good topic for discussion.
my husband gets every message, every comment that comes to our son’s FB... he usually sees it before our son does...
I guess having the FB password would work. Without that you wouldn't know what your kid is doing on FB from some other kid's PC or tablet.
By some Facebook function or by other means?
Wholeheartedly agree. I have a minor child. Trust, but verify... and trust builds character. Haven't had a problem with it.
That’s stupid. I set up my kids’ Facebooks. I control them if necessary. And if they set up clandestine pages, they won’t have access to a computer any more.
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