Facebook Unveils 'Safety Center,' Refuses To Install Child 'Panic Button'

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Facebook is unveiling a revamped internal site designed to help people stay safe while surfing online.

Facebook's "Safety Center," which features new tools for parents, teachers, teens and law enforcement, is the first major endeavor from the social networking site and its four-month-old global safety advisory board.

The board is composed of Internet safety groups Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute.

Some new features of the safety center include four times more content on staying safe, such as dealing with bullying online, an interactive portal and a simpler design.

Controversy erupted earlier this year after Facebook nixed the idea of installing a 'panic button' that children could click to instantly report danger.

Facebook's Richard Allan, director of policy for Europe, explained the site's decision to implement a Safety Center in place of a 'panic button,' which he said could 'intimidate' and 'confuse' users:

From our experience big graphics of 'buttons' produce less good results - in terms of people actually reporting abuse. They intimidate and confuse people. We think our simple text link, which gives people the option to report abuse to CEOP as well as to the Facebook team, is a far more effective solution.

The presence of sexual predators is a problem for social networking sites and their users, as a controversial Daily Mail article explored earlier this year. Only recently, for example, a serial sex offender admitted to using Facebook to rape and murder a teenage girl.

Previously, Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., has helped identify, and has disabled accounts of, registered sex offenders. In 2008, Facebook said it agreed to assist 49 Attorneys General to protect kids against Internet predators.

Comments

[SwingingFromCenter]

11:39 PM on 04/14/2010

God, must we dumb down EVERYTHING in our society to the point where a re.tarded monkey can use it?

So they didn't put in the "p.anic button". Probably a good idea, since kids would just abuse it. And now they're complaining that the parental settinsg are "too confusing"?

Here's an idea for you: If you're a parent, and you're too STUPID to figure out how to create privacy or access settings on a web site, then sell your computer and give your child up for adoption, because you don't deserve to be breathing. I mean really, how hard is it to READ a line of text and then either check a box or uncheck a box?

[nola70119]

11:04 AM on 04/14/2010

How do we protect our children from sexting?
We don't give them phones with cameras.

How do we protect out children from online porn?
We put our computer in the common rooms of the house. and not allow chldren to have personal computers until they have proven themselves. Plus, we activate controls on the family computer to block out such information. We should not force the whole nation to do it for us.

How do we keep children from online predators?
We teach our children about sex, sexuality, and the dangers associated with predators. Plus, we teach them the same about social networking sites so they are more savvy. Each parent should be the mentor, otherwise you leave that up to strangers.

How do we keep our children safe?
Through honesty, education, and personal responsibility.

Is this 100% gauranteed?
No. Life is not absolute. But, we live in a free society so we must be able to foster our children to navigate through life- good and bad.

Is this easy?
No. Responsibility is not easy, nor is raising children. But we all knew that from the start, didn't we?

[KIVPossum]

05:05 AM on 04/15/2010

There you go...putting responsibility for parenting on the parents' back.

[Blixa]

09:05 AM on 04/14/2010

All these pearl-clutching child advocacy groups are pushing everybody towards dangerous precedents of internet censorship. Can we please see some statistics about how big a problem internet pedophilia is before we go bullying everyone about "internet safety"? Look at Australia and New Zealand - they are in the advanced stages of internet filtering. Let's determine if we actually have a problem before we go forcing our will on everybody else.

[NoMercy]

04:59 AM on 04/14/2010

I think it's a terrible idea, unless it is optional for parents to place it on computers used by their children.

Otherwise, you're just going to have people using it to create trouble for others. I could just hit someone I didn't like with it, and now they'd be in an FBI file somewhere.

[Caru]

07:21 PM on 04/13/2010

Cue the abuse of the panic button.

[Deaninphilly]

04:59 PM on 04/13/2010

It already has a button, it's the little x up in the corner.

[Amy McCarthy]

03:00 PM on 04/13/2010

@penguinlinux - that's silly. "Twidiot? Have you ever used the service?

All of these sites have their downfalls, but require common sense to use them. I honestly believe that kids have NO place on social networking sites, but it's also up to their parents to make sure that they're not FB chatting creepy men. Monitor your kid's online use. Make sure you know who their friends are and where they're going.

These are NOT new ways to prevent horrors like this.

[Deaninphilly]

04:59 PM on 04/13/2010

That would require taking responsibility for raising your kids, not going to happen.

[FrankenPC]

09:57 PM on 04/13/2010

How do you monitor a wall technology like Facebook? Do you log every single piece of text that scrolls on the screen and later review everything? It's impossible.

Children shouldn't be allowed to interact with strangers on the web. you know, just like on the street.

[Neuromaster]

06:37 PM on 04/14/2010

You're absolutely right. Children shouldn't be allowed on the street.

[PenguinLinux]

12:23 PM on 04/13/2010

Well, I'm no Twidiot. I've blocked twitter.com on my router, so no messages and no website. Same goes for facebook.com linkedin.com and myspace.com. All forever blocked.

[CollinJE]

03:45 PM on 04/13/2010

way to go.

[FrankenPC]

09:58 PM on 04/13/2010

That's the way to do it.

[curiousasheck]

12:18 PM on 04/13/2010

Law of Unintended Consequences

Let me guess no one anticipated that criminals and psychopaths would be tempted to jump on board and take full advantage of opportunities when this model was developed?

[JStading]

05:25 PM on 04/13/2010

I'd rather have the pedophiles prowling face book than hanging around school yards.