Children “at risk” from Social Network Sites

Research by Ofcom suggests that a quarter of all UK Children with internet access aged between eight and 11 years old have created accounts on a social network site such as Myspace or Bebo. It also indicated that two and a half million children aged eight to seventeen have created profiles on a social networking site.

Ofcom quizzed 5,000 adults and 3,000 children as part of the research on social networking, which was undertaken “to encourage industry to do the right thing.” The research found that 33% of parents set no rules for their children’s use of social networking sites, indicating that they knew little of the security risks. Indeed, Robin Blake, Ofcom’s head of media literacy, said: “Parents who allow their children to go online without supervision need to recognise that their children could be at some risk.”

Four in ten profile pages on social network sites are thought to be open for anybody to look at, which makes the user very vulnerable. Social network sites have been linked to the recent Bridgend suicides, as well as a number of paedophile scares, so the risk they offer to children is very real.

Many social network sites have a minimum age requirement of 13 or 14 years to join, but this age limit is not currently being strictly enforced. In order to address this problem, the Home Office is set to announce a voluntary code of conduct for social networking sites, which will suggest that sites like Facebook, Bebo and Myspace explore age verification technology. It will also suggest that these sites provide their younger users with more information on the privacy settings that are available, as well as some explicit warnings about the possible consequences of posting their personal details online.

Source:

BBC
The Times