Harvard setups Internet Security Task Force
Harvard University will lead MySpace, Facebook, Google and others in examining how to keep children safe on the Internet. Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society was named Thursday to head the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, formed from a pact that popular social networking site MySpace made in January with all the state attorneys general except Texas. MySpace also agreed to set up a 24-hour hot line and remove sexual predators from its site. The industrywide task force, organized by MySpace and turned over to the Berkman Center, stems from concerns as children and teens spend more time on the Internet and particularly on sites like Facebook and MySpace to hang out with friends and meet new ones. Reports and threats of online predators posing as teenagers and contacting them through social networking sites have fanned fears.
“I’m committed to ensuring the Internet is safer through this task force,” said John Palfrey, the Berkman Center’s executive director, who will lead the project. But, he added, “No one-size-fits-all answer is going to keep kids safe.” Palfrey said that some Internet safety concerns have been misunderstood and overstated, and that one of the first tasks will be to identify the problems that young people face today on the Web. He expects the group to study how to keep children from stumbling across content that they shouldn’t be seeing, and how to prevent unwanted and inappropriate contact online. The group also will evaluate current Internet safety practices, such as age verification technology, and recommend best practices. Does this mean we are about to see more and more age verification forms? Hopefully not, as they are completely useless anyway.
Source: SF Chronicle
Ch33KY Monk3yz!
Leave internet alone >=(
@2 are you stupid? They’re helping children omfg u want those child abusers on myspace and facebook or any sites like that?
bad parents will still be bad parents not parenting correctly…
@3 the same people that would abuse a kid thru contacting the internets would just find another means to meet kids, its not like it would be hard.. Theres a reason the saying “dont talk to strangers” exists. This will probably just be used as a ploy to institute more government controls in future applications. Ever heard of ip v6?
When i was a kid we used to make fun of the old geezers in telephone chat rooms (20 years ago, there were free ones) pretending to be little girls, t’was hilarious.
D34TH Penality for child abusers and that Canadian Peophile that was caught in Thailand doing !*Really*! bad things to young boys. Those monsters deserve nothing less than a public hanging. Caning in Singapore is not enough punishment for those los3r!
@5 Of course I know that but then that way is closed atleast, haha government have already done that.
i doubt they’ll rid those jokers
Oh please, if the runts have a problem with the concept of not meeting their “12″ year old new friend in a real life shady alley, they shouldn’t be on the Internet
And #6, f***ing children isn’t something you should die for, no matter what rabid soccer moms might scream in their berserker maternal rage. The whole concept is ridiculous
“The whole concept is ridiculous.” Well it is America. God help us all.
Academia, the State and private corporations uniting to further erode our rights and stick their nose into areas they shouldn’t be involved in. This type of non-sense is being pushed by twisted shows like “to catch a predator.” People who abuse children should be punished and should be treated. How far do we go though with this insanity? My dad met my mother when she was a teenager back in the 70’s. I don’t consider my father a “sexual predator.” Let families deal with their own problems. Lets focus our time and efforts on bigger issues or violent predators. I am frankly getting tired of the “moral” policing.
another group of individuals who think they can police the internet. we dont need you to protect us from ourselves. putting harvard in front of the name does nothing but make me sick to my stomach.
i dont want your ‘order’ on the internet or in real life. you can keep it.
Honestly, let the parents deal with this.
It’s a good idea to have the hotline, but it will get abused.
If people don’t teach them, the only way they’re going to learn is the hard way. Blame the schools if you must since they aren’t teaching common sense anymore.
Oh, and some of my best friends are ones I met on the internet. We never met in real life and that’s fine. Don’t talk to strangers is bad advice, instead, they should say ‘use common sense when talking to strangers’. However, lacking common sense renders this useless.
“f***ing children isn’t something you should die for”
I don’t know, I can’t think of anything I find worse so I guess it comes down to your view on capitol punishment in general. I’m no expert but “treating” pedophiles isn’t exactly working like gangbusters. Can I assume you don’t have children? I don’t think it’s ridiculous to think about it in any case.
On another note- I love the title of this blurb. I’ve read it several times and while I’m still not totally sure what it means, the humor lies in the word “setups”. It’s killin’ me.
rrpostal, Yeah I know. It looks like Harvard is setting up the pedophiles with the kidz. LoL! It should be “sets up”
@10 What if it was your kid that was getting reemed by an 0ld c0ck? Then what, you sit there and watch? Sick. Kill the pedophiles and their sick-uncureable nature!
Harvard setups Internet Security Task Force??
maybe:
Harvard Sets Up Internet Security Task Force
@17
i was just about to say the same thing.
these internets that you speak of, how do they work?
just keep your eye on the ones that get just a bit too wound up about this subject
First they kick me off myspace and now this. I’m getting sick and tired of not being able to lure your children into my sex cave as easily anymore. I give them candy and toys, I think I’m entitled to stretch their tiny holes with my pedo schlong. Pretty soon I’m gonna have to revert to the old days and get a job as a child daycare worker/scout leader/gym coach where I can molest all the kiddies at will. Like taking candy from a baby! MuHAhahHAha Le’ Snort! o.o;
Please forward the posters above IP so we can track him down + his comment to our email.
Thank you
You cant save people from themselves, you cant stop people from liking what they like, and you cant stop kids from doing what they feel like doing christ im sure all of you have made plenty mistakes, cursing, getting angry, or trying something like this, will not help, only make it worse.
This is the internet, No one is forced, just mislead.