Comments on: Facebook’s Panic Button: Who’s panicking? And who’s listening?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:20:08 +0000

Strangers are scary but abuse comes mainly from relatives and friends.

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:24:49 +0000

Hi D
I think the real debate (or should I say, the real intelligent debate is one that we have yet to have) and it is this – what risks kids should be permitted to take as part of their personal development and well-being. Note: children playgrounds – and the idea that children’s playgrounds should be spaces supervised and monitored (ie safe play).
See also
http://www.commongood.org/assets/attachments/CottonWoolKids_LR.pdf
http://www.futurecities.org.uk/articles/CottonWoolKids.pdf
We are doing to the digital playground what we have done in analogue spaces.

By: Knigge Blog

Knigge Blog — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:20:54 +0000

Even though i don’t want to belittle the tragic cases of Ashleigh Hall and others, I fear that this topic receives way more media attention than warranted (how many millions of social networking users are there and how many incidents like this happened?).

This panic button is imo just another pr stunt pulled by FB, to counter some of the negative publicity. I really don’t think it will help preventing such tragedies in the future.

By: claire quinn

claire quinn — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:14:01 +0000

The pressure to add this button to social networking sites is fuelled by the culture of fear created by the media around online predators. This is counter productive. Firstly, it’s not the most effective way to deal with the issues of grooming and predators. Secondly it deflects from other key problems such as bullying. As chief of safety at weeworld.com I have been reviewing the CEOP button and it’s pros and cons for some time. WeeWorld’s biggest audience is in the US closely followed by the UK. I’m based in the UK and have been trying to work with CEOP. We need to marry its expertise with the knowledge and experiences of those of us running sites and working within this environment. Only then can we start to address the issues in an effective way. I have a meeting with CEOP next month and am looking forward to making some progress.

By: Jo

Jo — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:59:12 +0000

Have just read Larry Magid’s thoughtful take but I am still inclined to follow much of Danah’s thinking. The best way to articulate my sense of why I think the App is not about empowerment/education is this:
What does the App teach users about online safety? None. What it teaches us is still this – fear and mistrust. Given the public dispute between CEOP and FB – a victim approach to online safety tends to inform much of the debate.

By: Laura Madison

Laura Madison — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:43:14 +0000

Hi Danah, interesting and insightful write up! Here is one i wrote a few days back.
Keep up the great work ~Laura

http://cops2point0.com/2010/07/13/728/

ps. For me it’s not that Facebook as a corporate entity does or does not “care” it’s about the release of relevant data.

By: Yowassup

Yowassup — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:58:14 +0000

I think the way the button is framed to users could make a big difference in terms of its success. Currently, the way that it’s framed is not usable and is not going to entice youth to participate. In the end, it’s just a button. as Mark says, what’s important is to teach people skills to be safe. So, the goal is to teach youth to be wary to the fact that people misrepresent themselves all the time. the sooner we can teach youth to critical, the better. I don’t see why education, in this case it’s a “help” button, cannot help youth in this situation, especially if the button is framed in a way that is usable and accessible to help youth figure out if they are in danger. Ideally, every person who is under the age of 18 would automatically get a help button, and it could connect to a live person – for any privacy or safety concern they might have. Earning youth’s trust is necessary and framing the button as “police” is not very inviting. Currently, the button’s framed to appeal to adults views of the questions youths should be asking, not the actual concerns youths might have. Craigslist now shows warnings about all types of scams in relevant sections, of course it’s an adult audience, but I think these “Surgeon General Warnings” or whatever you want to call them, which alert consumers in short factual sentence can be effective.

By: Jo

Jo — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:42:48 +0000

It is typical of Law enforcement and well-meaning safety offices to advocate measures like the Click-Ceop App. We will never know whether this App will be effective – there is no independent oversight/audit.
Why did Ashleigh Hall not use the App on MSN? Would the FB app have made a difference?
See http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/loneliness-and-mental-health/
Familial abuse and road accidents figure prominently in child fatalities – cannot see much being done here.

Blaming FB is like:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1020519/Headmaster-blamed-death-pupil-playground-fall-wins-appeal-conviction.html

Mr Gamble – should we not ask Parents with children (below the FB TOS age limit) to take some responsibility?

By: zephoria

zephoria — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:01:02 +0000

From my perspective, we need an army of social workers, therapists, and volunteer 20-somethings dedicated to walking the digital streets. In most cases, we don’t need law enforcement but we do need social services. We need infrastructure that is set up to support that. But this isn’t the kind of thing that a tech company should implement for a whole host of reasons, starting with the fact that engineers should not operate as therapists. I’ve been begging for social services to put in place a reasonable program that would allow them to do meaningful outreach if given access. I’m confident that the social network sites would be more than willing to help social services do their jobs better, just as they work with law enforcement in missing children’s cases and with other youth-oriented legal cases. But whenever I approach social services, I’m told that there aren’t enough resources and there’s no interest in doing things online because there are enough problems in the “real” world. The problems that we’re facing online are an extension of the problems that we face in everyday life. It’s just that online it’s a whole lot more visible. If we focus on the technology, we’ll miss the bigger picture. And we do that over and over and over and over again.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:08:21 +0000

The thing to make clear is that it’s not a “panic button”.

The CEOP Report button leads to a signposting page for children looking for advice about issues facing them online. Much of what is behind the button is advisory and directs children to resources to do viruses, bullying, mobile phones and other issues.

If you have been the subject of inappropriate sexual activity online then this is where CEOP steps in. In terms of dealing with the workflow, CEOP grades each case that is logged and follows up every one, including hoax messages. As a member of the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) CEOP can call upon the members, which include Interpol and others to share the load and disseminate worldwide very quickly.

If we could dispose of the media handle of “panic” and realise that it’s a helpful resource with a reporting tool that can be used if necessary then this might make it easier for people to understand why it’s there. You may well have a serious issue that you want to report, but it’s just as much about giving advice to young people.

Finally, CEOP is about educating children, not saying “don’t do it”, but just saying “we know you are going to do it whatever we say, so do it safely, and here’s how”.

Take a look at the Report Button’s destination for yourself at http://www.ceop.gov.uk/reportabuse