Social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo have, in the past few years, revolutionised friendship groups but they have not been without their problems, as the Government guidelines to be issued on Friday are expected to recognise.
The growing misuse of these online communities and the study published today by media regulator Ofcom, which states that by using social networking sites children can be at great risk from paedophiles and bullies, has led the Home Office’s child protection taskforce to address the matter. The guidelines are expected to urge such sites to act more responsibly when alerting children to the dangers.
Facebook and other similar networks will be encouraged to clearly publish guidelines “on prominent locations” informing children of the possible dangers and how to protect themselves, however IT Security company, Imerja believes that these warnings should extend to all users.
As well as the fear that paedophiles are masquerading themselves as young people to groom potential victims, innocent information such as dates of birth, or maiden names, which in isolation do not seem to pose a threat, can be used by conmen to build false identities.
“An increasing number of people, and indeed businesses, have embraced online networking but not all are fully aware of the possible danger they can put themselves in and the potential for identity theft,” comments Mark Evans, marketing and communications director at Imerja.
“Whilst the danger to children is a very serious one, the Government should not stop at encouraging these networks to be more responsible in all levels of security.
“Other websites such as online shopping sites are obliged to display a badge of security and this should also apply to networking sites, where safety is equally important.”
Following recent research which showed that one in five employers used the internet to check up on candidates, several charities have also appealed to the Government to make it illegal for companies to trawl social networking websites for personal information.
“Social networks have become an integral part of many people’s friendship groups and it is a shame when they are abused by individuals or companies using them for their own means. It is encouraging to see organisations taking steps to regulate this as the freedom of the internet can also often be its downfall” concludes Mark.
