private messages

[mycats]

Ed how are you going to ensure that this is safe?
As we are always being reminded, this is a family site, so obviously there are young users and possibly children on here. I am very scared that they could be befriended by someone dodgy in private and give away personal details or worse! How are you gonna stop that happening? Especially due to concerns recently about users pretending to be young girls.
It had been VERY obvious lately that people can register as many user names as they like so there is no way of establishing that the details they give about themselves are genuine.

[aka pixi]

I completely agree cat, since the other night when it was mentioned about an adult posing as a kid I have been worried for every childs safety on here

[AB Editor]

Thank you for your concerns mycats and pixi.

Before we unleash the new facility all these issues will be addressed during testing.

[dot.hawkes]

can I be in on the testing please please ed? And cat and pixi too, just us three please please, we will behave :))))))

[aka pixi]

ahh so during testing you will find a foolproof way of ensuring any adult posing as a kid cannot pm another kid.

sorry if i sound argumentative on this but I really dont take child safety online or anywhere else lightly

[Kerplunk]

Let's start a campaign to ban all IM software and all chat sites then.

[mycats]

No kempie, I am just asking how AB can make their message system safe. I hardly think there is any need to be sarcastic. Dont you think this is an issue they should consider?

[kazza12345]

but the ed has said they are considering it. Personally, i think it's up to kids parents to make sure their children are safe whilst using the web, not the people who provide the software to chat to people
There is nothing at the moment to stop a child putting their email address on here and then being groomed, or leading to unsafe situations, so i can't see why they would have to put anything special in place for private messages, because thats what emails are anyway. I don't think its up to ed to secure anyones safety, its up to people themselves. Or in the case of children, their parents

[Octavius]

Yes, from this recent story it transpired that all these young 9 year old girls, groomed by that evil Canadian bloke, had a computer in their bedrooms - with a webcam attached.

How on earth can the Ed or AB, or anyone other than the parent/guardian be responsible or prevent that sort of thing?

As the Ed said, these things will be adressed during their testing, and interrogation of the AB lab rats.

[mycats]

Oh I totally agree thats it's up to the parents Kazza, my son isnt allowed online unless I'm here.
But at the moment, if a child was being "groomed" on here it would be out in the open on public boards! we would all see it. It wouldnt be in private messages where they could be persuaded to give details about themselves without us lot stepping in. Peodophiles arent stupid, they are not gonna say anything in front of tens of thousands of people,
(sorry kerplunk, I called you Kempie before)

[mycats]

Octavius - I'm not saying that AB or the ED are responsible for monitoring every child with access to a computer, but people cant say "oh I cant stop it all, so I wont try and stop any of it"

[kazza12345]

well in that casr the parents should be monitoring, or instilling their kids with stranger danger vibes (as when we were young)

If your child (and when i say "your" i mean your in general not your) dosen't have the nous to not get sucked in when people talk to them, then dont allow them on the computer unsupervised (as you don't). I just can't see how this is ab's problem? they will probably have some sort of legal disclaimer on here that it's not responsible for messages form 3rd parties, etc

[mycats]

"if your child doesnt have the nous to not get sucked in when people talk to them" are you serious??? So it's the kids fault for being stupid???

[Pippa68]

I can see both sides, but I steer towards kazzas comments. One of the problems these days seems to be the idea that organisations, schools, workplaces etc are responsible for looking after peoples well being. Personal responsibility is disappearing.

My stepdaughter isn't allowed on MSN..her mother regards the decision to stop her daughter from using it as a sure fire deterrent..there wil be no evil in her life whatsoever! however, when she is in my house both her & her step/siblings are allowed to use it but only closely monitored. I check all the emails, message history etc. it is my responsibility to make sure they are safe & aware of the dangers.

I do however understand the concerns.

[nicki twigs]

although i think its a very good point that mycats has made here , i think you are onto a losing fight mate as this is only one wee corner of the cyber universe and theres plenty of other chatrooms etc where these dodgy dealings can happen .

[mycats]

Fair enough nicki twigs but as I said thats no reason to make it easier for dodgy people.
and I only asked ED what they were gonna do to make sure it was safe.

[nicki twigs]

ok mycats i can see that you are getting slightly riled up over this and i have no wish to get into an arguement with you , you have your ( obviously strong ) opinions and everyone else is also entitled to theirs , so instead of you getting on your high horse about it why dont you just calm down and let the ed do the job they are getting paid for .

[kazza12345]

does that mean noone else is allowed to answer? or just that noone is allowed to disagree? i'm not saying it is a childs fault if they are naive .. just if you know children are naive, why would you as a perent allow them to get into situations where that naivety could be taken advantage of? (again when i say "you" i mean the general "you" not the mycats you). I agree with pippa. Where is personal responsibility in all this? As i said, i would imagine a disclaimer along the lines of not being responsible for 3rd party messages would suffice

[nicki twigs]

also find it slightly strange /amusing that you have only given stars to the people that agreed with you lol

[kazza12345]

why is that strange? I dont usually give stars, but if i did, i would make sure i only gave them to people who agreed with me!

[kazza12345]

btw i meant to add that i dodnt usually give stars, not because im miserable, but because i'm more of an answerer than an asker