Chris Kidd – applied youth ministry

As you may have seen in the press this week, Facebook and the Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (the police agency set up to tackle child abuse) have joined forces to make young people safer online by launching the new ‘ClickCEOP’ application. Launching this week, all young users of Facebook – and their parents – are invited to add the new ClickCEOP ‘app’ to their profile. Through this app, they will be able to access advice, help and support from the CEOP Centre. Crucially,young people and parents can get support from CEOP on a range of issues – viruses, hacking, dealing with bullying online and they can report someone who is acting inappropriately towards them online.

The ‘app’ is the outcome of collaboration between CEOP and Facebook who have combined Facebook’s expertise in connecting and communicating online with CEOP’s expertise in helping young people stay safe. Once added to their profiles, young users will receive regular messages from CEOP and its partner organisations who operate ‘behind the button’ to make children safer. CEOP’s new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ClickCEOP) will also contain polls, news alerts and status updates. The page will look at topics that teenagers care about, such as celebrities, music and exams and will link these subjects to questions about online safety.

Users can either add or bookmark the ‘app’ so it appears on their profile, as not only a constant source of help and reassurance for them but also as a strong visual signal to their friends, family and others that they are in control online.

The move is also being supported by an advertising campaign on Facebook that will encourage take up. This will include an automatic advert appearing on every profile of users aged between 13-18 years inviting them to add the app.

Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said:

“Today represents a huge step forward. By adding this app, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCEOP button and this should provide reassurance for the many parents whose teenage children use Facebook. We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online. We urge all Facebook users not only to add the app, but also to bookmark it so that others can see that they’re in control online. Our dialogue with Facebook about adopting the ClickCEOP button is well documented – this is a good day for child protection.”

Joanna Shields, Facebook’s Vice President for EMEA said:

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our users, which is why we have invested so much in making Facebook one of the safest places on the internet. There is no single silver bullet to making the internet safer but by joining forces with CEOP, we have developed a comprehensive solution which marries our expertise in technology with CEOP’s expertise in online safety. Together we have developed a new way of helping young people stays safe online and backed this with an awareness campaign to publicise it to young users. It is only through the constant and concerted effort of the industry, police, parents and young people themselves that we can all keep safe online – whether on Facebook or elsewhere.”

Facebook seems to have not taken seriously the crucial issue of online safety of young people in their recent discussions with the Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP).  Over 40 Chief Constables from UK police forces signed a letter organised by Jim Gamble, the chief exec of CEOP, urging Facebook to put a CEOP branded button on each user’s profile page – instead of the text link at present.

This week a four hour meeting happened in Washington between CEOP and Facebook, where Facebook refused to add the CEOP safety button to each user’s profile page, but did announce some new safety measures which it believes will be more effective in protecting children’s safety online. Instead of the button, UK users under the age of 19 will be able to click on the ‘Report abuse’ link on each page and have the option to report the abuse to CEOP as well as to Facebook.

Richard Allan, Facebook’s director of policy for Europe, said:

“We completely accept that our users should be able to report abuse directly to CEOP but we disagree on the best design solution to implement that.  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.”

Speaking after the meeting, Gamble said :

“What I am pleased about is there is a commitment from them to improve what they provide to UK policing.  Given that and the positive nature of it and their commitment to working much more closely with us, I still remain of the same view that the button is key.  I felt that at the end of what were lengthy and at times tense negotiation we are able to move towards a position. They are one small step away from doing the right thing.  I am more optimistic than when I came. They are not saying no, that is very clear. But they were equally direct and they came with their own agenda.  There is no doubt they are looking to improve their position around child safety and we recognise that. What I am looking for is turning words into action.”

Because of this Gamble organised this letter, signed by police chiefs, including Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, urging for the CEOP branded button to be added onto each user’s page by Facebook.  The letter believes the button will also act as a deterrent. It says: “Visible signs of police presence activity or alerts, alters the behaviour of criminals and deters them from committing offences.”

In the UK this is even more important following the case of Ashleigh Hall, who was murdered by Peter Chapman – a serial rapist who she met through Facebook.

FarmVille, a game on Facebook, might be fun, but it can also be expensive:

A mother has warned of the risk of children spending hundreds of pounds on “free” online games available through Facebook after her 12-year-old son ran up bills of more than £900 without her knowledge.

The woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, discovered last month that her son had spent £905 on FarmVille. He had emptied his own savings account of £288 and had used her credit card to the tune of £625 to pay the bills. [...]

She contacted her credit card company, HSBC, but was told she would only qualify for a refund if she reported her son to the police and obtained a crime number. “He would be cautioned and I have been told that this caution would stay with him. Obviously the idea of a stupid farm simulation jeopardising his future earnings is not something that I want to consider,” she said.

She added that her son was “very shocked” when confronted with the amount he had spent, but it was clear he knew what he was doing. “When I asked him why he did it he said that they had brought out ‘good stuff that I wanted’.”

It does lead to some interesting ethical questions, should these games be able to charge money, and parental controls – facebook is clear in rule 4.3 You will not use Facebook if you are under 13 and yet this child was only 12 – I’m aware of many young people on facebook before they should be but it does highlight why parents need to know what their children are doing.