Facebook Warned On Safety Claims

New York AG's Office Tells Facebook It Could Face Consumer Fraud Charge

(AP)  The social networking Web site Facebook has been warned that it could face a consumer fraud charge for failing to live up to claims that youngsters there are safer from sexual predators than at most sites and that it promptly responds to concerns, a spokesman for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.

"We expect an immediate correction eliminating the dangers exposed by our investigation," said the spokesman, Jeffrey Lerner.

Cuomo announced last week that he had subpoenaed Facebook after he said the company did not respond to "many" complaints by investigators who were solicited for sex while posing as 12- to 14-year-olds on the site. Officials from Cuomo's office discussed the issue with Facebook by phone and fax Friday after they said Facebook took three days to answer calls and e-mails from state investigators.

An official in Cuomo's office said he and others are scheduled to meet with Facebook representatives this week and anticipate changes will follow immediately.

"We said, `You have got to make accurate representations on your Web site," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because court filings haven't yet been made. "What we told them is, `Correct the language describing the site and stop marketing yourself as this pristine Web site ... parents have a misimpression. You can't mislead people."

Lerner said Facebook's contention of being safer than most sites was accurate when it started out as a closed site 3½ years ago. But it's now much larger, and the safeguards and apparently the response times for complaints aren't what they once were, he said.

There was no immediate response to e-mail and phone messages left for a Facebook representative. But a statement issued a week ago stated the company was concerned about Cuomo's claim that sexual predators could use the site to meet with children.

"We strive to uphold our high standards for privacy on Facebook and are constantly working on processes and technologies that will further improve safety and user control on the site," Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said in the statement.

Lerner said Facebook has continued to promise to cooperate.

[mitch0927]

Who in their right mind depends on someone else to ensure our children''s safety? It is OUR JOB AS PARENTS to monitor our children''s Internet activity. It might mean that some parents will need to take some computer classes and not allow their kids to know more than they do. I for instance have a router set up in my house, and a program that allows me to enter my child''s computer without them even knowing it. I can monitor the activity silently and if I see something that''s not appropriate, I can block the computer from accessing the Internet or block certain websites. This blocking has nothing to do with a third party blocking software; it is grabbing the URL and IP address inside the router and blocking access to them. In the late eighties and all of the nineties, we put our children in front of a VCR and video games. Then the personal computer from the mid nineties to now. This was done to keep the children occupied and letting these devices %u201Cbabysit our children. Now we are confronted with the unsafe Internet and those creeps that prey on our children, making it easier for them to pounce on them, all because parents %u201Cdon%u2019t have time%u201D in their busy schedules to monitor and just hang out with our kids%u2026%u2026.

[ladyephesus1]

I have to shake your hand on that statement mitch0927. Couldnt have said it better myself! ;)

[rosey1949]

You know I think the parents should be horse whipped. Why do they let there children on these sights. I have teenage grandchildren all 17 and they have myspace sights and they are careful and listen to there parents but my oldest daughter let her 14 year old on myspace which I fully disagreed with and what happens he runs off on his bike gets it stolen and then walks for 35 miles trying to get to michigan to get to this other 14 year old girl that could have been a child abductor. Luckily we contacted the michigan police in her town and they went right to her house and set up a watch for him we lucked out and our highway patrols here in calif found him walking down the roads headed for michigan. That was 1 month ago and we had an all family turnout of about 30 people looking for this child I go over to her house and there he is back on the myspace what the hell is wrong with my daughter. Her brother and sisters say she is nuts and needs to see a shrink.

[safetygal]

mitch0927 is right - parents need to be better educated about online safety. Check out ConnectSafely.org, a nonprofit org that helps families with Internet safety issues. It was founded by two Internet safety experts who wrote the book MySpace Unraveled. (One is also on the board of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids.) The site has a forum where you can post questions or discussion topics, and some excellent articles from experts in kids%u2019 online safety.

Maureen Kochan
ConnectSafely.org