Facebook Gets A Panic Button
Facebook have announced that they will allow a “panic button” application onto their website in a bid to keep children safe.
Facebook initially rejected the idea, but have conceded after lengthy negotiations with the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre that the button could help vulnerable youngsters while using the social networking site.
The application appears on the users homepage, informing them that “they are in control”, and if pressed will report abuse to the CEOP.
Facebook had wanted to avoid following Bebo and Myspace in installing a “panic button”, but pressure mounted after 17 year old Ashleigh Hall was raped and murdered by a 33 year old man posing as a teenager.
CEOP’s call for Facebook to install the button was backed by the signatures of 44 police chiefs across England, Scotland and Wales.
CEOP’s chief executive Jim Gamble said: “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.”
Facebook’s Sophy Silver said: “Both sides are happy as to where we have got.
She added that: “We still have the Facebook reporting system and by having a pre-packaged application that users play an active part in, you not only help keep them safe, it makes all of their friends aware too, and acts as a viral awareness campaign.
“Ultimately though, this makes for a safer environment for users and that’s the most important part.
Posted by Joel Rush
on Jul 13 2010. Filed under Latest News, Technology.
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