Why Facebook Should Ignore Ceop's Demand for Panic Button
Guest post by: Linda Criddle, president of Safe Internet Alliance
Facebook has come under fire in the UK from their Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (Ceop) for being unwilling to insert a 'Panic' button on their service.
The thinking by CEOP is that such a button would deter pedophiles and other criminal behavior. Citing more than 297 cases where UK users reported abuse to Facebook that did not receive a response - and where the users then turned to Ceop - Jim Gamble, head of the agency said their investigations found sexual grooming, bullying and hacking, and that some suspects have been arrested.
While CEOP has identified a problem, their solution is flawed.
In this particular case I agree with Facebook. Placing a "panic" button that routes abuse reporting directly to Ceop is a very poor choice for 3 reasons:
- Little of what is reported will actually be a police matter, and giving this information to the police is then highly inappropriate - it's none of their business. You don't want your child investigated by the police simply because someone chooses to report them; that's a form of bullying in itself.
- It is a poor use of police time to sift through the flood of 'panic reports' that don't actually merit their attention. Shifting the burden of responsibility and cost that should appropriately fall on the company to the public is an inappropriate use of tax funds.
- A 'panic' button circumvents the service's abuse system, which in turn means the service cannot effectively manage what's happening on their service, or understand how to take remedial action - including blocking users.
The real solution is for users, parents of users, and governments, to hold service providers accountable for providing strong abuse detection capabilities, combined with appropriate real-time response by moderators to any abuse that's reported.
THIS is where Facebook, and other companies providing online services for consumers need to step up.
Facebook doesn't seem to
Facebook doesn't seem to understand that the button will be a deterrent to paedophiles.
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International Issue
I think where this gets difficult is due to this potentially becoming an international issue. What if someone from the UK places something on Facebook about someone from the US? Would there be international arbitration or is the an issue dealt with in the US? or UK? This makes it extremely difficult to police.
Facebook/CEOP
While I totally agree it is time for Facebook and the likes to step up the CEOP is more than just a body to report to the police. At first contact it offers useful information and advice to any kid in online danger and has a useful way of making sure only the most important incidents come to the police.
I think it's much more important that a government agency decides how much police time to 'waste' on these reports than an internet site.
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Facebook/CEOP
I am not in the UK, but in Canada. My daughter (16) had an abusive (altered) picture of her posted on someones facebook wall - it was awful. We are in a small town and this picture is literally everywhere now. Immediately it was posted I contacted the Police, who told me to contact Facebook which I have been doing - for 3 days. They are ignoring everything, I have searched out email addresses and explained the situation and they just keep ignoring everything. I don't know if a panic button is a good way to deal with these issues, but Facebook postings can do a serious amount of damage especially to younger kids and teenagers. My daughter is being laughed at and ridiculed by almost all her peers, she won't go out, won't eat (the start of the whole thing in the first place was an eating disorder). This is huge and extremely serious and I cannot, no matter what I do - get them to address it. So yes, I believe something needs to be done to make Facebook responsible for removing abuse on their website and dealing with things immediately. I also believe you should be able to call or email someone directly instead of all this automatic reporting which doesn't even let you state the seriousness of the issue. I dont' care what it takes, just make these people responsible.