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Social networking websites run rampant in the world of the World Wide Web and there are many legitimate uses that a person can have for all major websites, like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo or Xanga. Unfortunately, not everyone does have good intentions, but instead there are those people who carry the concept of social networking to feed their own habits - stalkers finding an innocent teenager to stalk and prey on, groomers who look for adolescents to commit their next crime, and others who only use social networking websites as a way to continue statistics of crime |
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Age Restrictions There are age restrictions to using Myspace and you cannot have a Facebook account if you are young. The age restrictions for Myspace, however, include not being able to create an account unless you are at least 14 years old. On the other hand, Facebook's Terms state that users can use a Facebook account if they are 13 years of age or older. The age requirement for Bebo and Xanga is also 13 years old. It has been reported that almost a quarter of children aged between eight and twelve have been evading the age restrictions that have been put in place on Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. |
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These results were taken from a poll commissioned by Garlik; it shows that over 75,000 children are illicitly using the sites. The alarming fact shows that children are allowing themselves to become exposed to communicate with strangers. Tom Ilube, chief executive of Garlik has said “The fact that parents feel compelled to monitor their children on this scale should send a powerful message to the big social networking sites.” |
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Myspace - Even though Myspace automatically makes a user's account "private" for children under 16 years old, they do have a glitch in the system. For a child under 16 years old, no one can add that user as a friend until they input some personal detail, like their email address or last name, about the child they're trying to add. That might stop a predator from adding a child under 16 years old to their friend list, however, it does not stop them from messaging the user under 16 years old. Therefore, users on Myspace can be threatened, harassed, stalked, and otherwise preyed upon through the use of the Myspace messaging system.
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Facebook does not have any safety precautions when it comes to the safety of children under 16 years old. Furthermore, Facebook's terms state that children under 18 are not allowed an account unless they are in Year 12 (equivalent) or above - how many children begin their AS levels at 13 years old? Not many, but this is not to say that 13 year olds cannot have Facebook accounts and falsify the information they pass along to Facebook to say that they are in higher education. Facebook wouldn't necessarily have to verify the teen's account, nor would they have enough time to do so. The openness of information on Facebook, while authored by the user, can sometimes lead them to become victims of blackmail. |
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Xanga is probably the worst of the three social networking websites when it comes to safety precautions for young children allowing children who are at least 13 years old to have a Xanga account. Of course, Xanga does state in their Terms of Service that Xanga is not to be used to harm or stalk anyone else. However, this doesn't prevent the meeting of young children and predators, paedophiles, and stalkers. But Xanga admits and even states that they have no responsibility to filter or monitor any of the content that is put on their website. |
