Re: Internet is full of bullies, not pedophiles

No Easy Answer for Protecting Kids Online

Study Finds Risks Children Face on the Web Aren't Too Different From
Real-World Problems

By EMILY STEEL

There is no simple technology solution to protect children from
bullying, pornography, sexual predation and other online threats, a
new study says.
More

The highly anticipated report -- results of a year-long study ordered
by 49 state attorneys general -- found that "a combination of
technologies, in concert with parental oversight, education, social
services, law enforcement, and sound policies by social-network sites
and service providers, may assist in addressing specific problems that
minors face online," according to a draft of the report reviewed by
The Wall Street Journal. The report also found that the risks that
minors face on the Web -- notably bullying and harassment by peers --
aren't very different from those they face in the real world.

The report is scheduled to be issued Wednesday by the Internet Safety
Technical Task Force, led by Harvard University's Berkman Center for
Internet and Society. Task-force members included representatives of
several top Internet and security companies, including News Corp.'s
MySpace, Google Inc., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Facebook Inc. (News
Corp. also publishes the Journal.)

The 278-page report is a boon for the Web companies, which have long
argued that technology isn't the sole solution to the dangers kids
face online. It is a disappointment for those in favor of stricter
technological controls, such as age-verification and filtering tools.

Attorney General Roy Cooper of North Carolina said in an interview
Tuesday: "Clearly, the main responsibility is on parents." But he
added that "because technology companies are providing this gathering
space and encouraging children to come, they have a duty to put in
place technologies that can help protect kids."

As children have made more use of social-networking sites, a series of
bullying and predation cases has drawn increasing scrutiny. State
attorneys general in the past have harshly criticized MySpace in
particular for not policing its site better. In 2007, eight states
called for changes at the site. Last year, the 49 attorneys general,
led by Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Mr. Cooper of North
Carolina, ordered MySpace to work with researchers and other Internet
companies to determine how technology could address online safety
risks.

MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam said in a statement that
MySpace "fully supports the key conclusions of the report."

The group reviewed several different types of technologies, including
age and identity verification, filtering and auditing, text analysis
and biometrics, and found they came up short of a comprehensive way to
protect children and teens. In addition, the report found that
deploying these technologies would be costly and could create broader
privacy and security problems.

At the same time, the report highlighted how the sites have made
substantial progress in developing their own standards to protect
minors. For instance, MySpace agreed to an array of site-design and
policy changes that included acknowledging consumer reports of abuse
within 24 hours, giving parents the right to submit children's email
addresses to the site for blocking and automatically making a greater
number of profiles private. MySpace also uses technology from Sentinel
Tech Holding to eliminate child predators who establish profiles in
their own names.

Mr. Blumenthal said these measures are a step in the right direction.

"We see in our police work, in the trenches, that young people
continue to be lured and enticed to very dangerous situations,
sometimes resulting in criminal assaults as a result of contacts on
social-networking sites," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123187498732078111.html

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WM
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