Facebook Won't Install 'Panic Button' to Report Child Predators

Facebook should do absolutely nothing. Zero. It's the PARENTS who have failed here. One of my all-time pet peeves is people who believe in changing things for everyone is somehow better than taking a proactive stance locally.

This girl's parents should have been doing their parental duties. The girl met this man because she WANTED to, and all the panic buttons in the world will not change that. The parents dropped the ball and failed to find out what their daughter was doing.

If a panic button had existed at the time this girl had contact with this man on Facebook, would she have pressed it? Who knows. But what I do know is that Facebook can't control the decisions its users make. If I had a child I would be mightily tempted to monitor their Facebook page. But even very vigilant, involved parents can't control every single thing a child does. It is a fact of life that children sometimes do foolish things. Unless we keep children locked in cages, there is no way to be 100% certain nothing horrible will happen to them or that they won't make any stupid decisions.

How would you like your "button" pushed by a prankster. All of a sudden Child Protection shows up at your door. I think things would get a little out of hand. And yes, parents should step up to the plate for their own faults and stop blaming others for their failures.

The panic button is a weird issue. I don't think a tween/teen child would even stop and say hey this person I am talking to is a predator. Half of the time they think they are talking to someone else their age. I don't like the fact that younger teens have a page. I don't think they need one and my teen does not have one. She knows that she has time on the computer in the family room. We check the history when she is done and her e-mail. Also the unfortunate death the of the young girl mentioned, you have to remember she was 17 years old. Pretty much one year from being "legally" an adult. A panic button would be good but realistically the idea that children would actually use it would be low for serious cases and high for "lets see what happens."

Parent should step up and look over their children. Facebook already has security settings. It's common sense, if you don't know them, don't add them. Too many people are putting their life on facebook then wondering why everyone knows about their private life or people they don't know, know way too much about them.

I prefer NOT to be on Facebook, nor do I want my teenagers to have an account. They can email or text or call their friends as they need to.

One or some commenters asked would she have used the panic button??
We'll Never know will we?? How would you feel if this were your daughter?
To have an option to use something as sensable as a panic button, and to better safe than sorry is always better than what happened!

I had no interest in facebook till my son put up a profile. Both his father and I now have profiles. We monitor who he friends and chats with. We don't interfere and won't unless we see something suspicious. It is our job as parents to know what our kids are doing and who they are doing it with.

please excuse my typo of the word *sensible. I'm sure those who do not agree will use it as their pulpit to spew their righteousness from. I say it's always better to be PRO-ACTIVE than RE-ACTIVE. I'm a Community Activist, who cares about where I live and the residents who are here. we have to do so much to ensure the safety of our youth, it's not just playing in traffic that is scary anymore. You gotta worry about them being on the wrong site with the wrong person. God Help them! I pray for them all.

Also, just for the record? Age of consent in the UK is 16. The guy was not, under the laws of the country where he committed the crime, a child predator. Now, obviously what he did was brutal and disgusting and wrong, but the idea of installing a 'panic button' so that 'children' can press it when they're being 'targeted' is ridiculous. For one thing, the killer was posing as a 17-year-old boy. The victim here would not have known to press any kind of reporting button until it was too late. For another, there's a fairly simple solution: all of the "common sense" netiquette that the kids who grew up in the mid-90s learned - you don't go meet someone you only know from the internet without at least a few people you know present, and you never do it in a private place. I'm not trying to blame the victim here, but to point out that the kind of reform that these children's advocates are trying to push would do absolutely nothing to prevent this kind of tragedy in the future.

OK, last post of the Morning some of us have to go to work.

It isn't practical to say "parents watch your kids" I watch mine like a hawk, but I cannot do it 24/7. If you do then you are smothering them, you have to raise them to make good, reasonable decisions. My Children know what a "red flag " is. As a survivor of molestation, I have had many talks to my children of being careful because even those who are suppose to love you the most- can be the ones who hurt you the most.

WHILE I BELIEVE IT IS A PARENTS DUTY TO KEEP AN EYE ON THEIR CHILDREN WHILE ON THE INTERNET, IT CAN BE DIFFICULT. I AM A FACEBOOK USER, I HAVE NEPHEWS THAT I HAVE INVITED TO JOIN AND PLAY GAMES AND HAVE EXCEPTED OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE INTO MY GROUP. TWICE I KNOW OF, A COUPLE PEOPLE WHERE POSTING INAPPROPRATE SEXUAL CONTENT. FOR THE SAKE OF THEY YOUNG PEOPLE I NOTIFIED EACH IDIVIDUAL CONCERNING THE CONTENT AND REMINDED THEM OF CHILFREN ON THE SITE. WHEN THAT GOT ME NO WHERE, I MADE SURE MY NEPHEWS REMOVED THIS PERSON FROM THEIR LIST, AND THEN MADE A PUPLIC OUT CRY ON THE ISSUE, I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY MORE NEGITIVE CONTENT. MY POINT BEING WE SHOULD ALL BE A RED BUTTON, NOT ONLY FOR THE SAFTY FOR OUR OWN FAMILY MEMBERS BUT FOR ALL THE CHILDREN WHO USE THE INTERNT. WE CAN NOT SIT ON OUR HANDS AND EXPECT THE SO CALLED EXPERTS, OR THOSE WHO RUN THE SITE, TO TAKE THIS SERIOUS, WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO DO IT OURSEFVES.

Lets face reality for a second. The world would be a much better place if everyone educated themselves, and everyone that has bared a child was actually fit to be a parent. Unfortunately, we cannot make parents take better care of their children. There are simply too many ignorant and/or busy parents out there. The only way to protect these children is for the social networks to put a system together. Serioulsly! How many times has a child lost theair life due to a social network? I have an idea, but I;m sure the conglomerants that run these networks would not go for it, because they woul lose alot of under 18 users. But consider this;
In order to become a member of a social network you should submit a valid ID # proving that you are a legal adult. If you are under 18, then your parents would have to submit their DL #, and e-sign a contract stating that they are solely responsible for monitering their children's activity. The network could even set up parental control options where the parent must confirm any new freinds on their childs profile and have access to veiw the profile. Think about it, the lazy parent's wouldn't go throught the trouble, and while the unfortunate children whose parents cannot fully participate may be upset, they will be a little bit safer in this god for saken world.
I know it sounds like alot of trouble for something we have had such easy access to. But something HAS to change. It is obviously not as innocent as it was originally intended to be. We should be willing to do anything to protect the children that don't have parents that can/ or will.