

Facebook in talks to add a "panic button" - naz
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8614787.stm

======
_delirium

      Facebook had previously said it would not install a "panic button" on its
      main pages for users to report suspected paedophiles ... Mr Gamble said
      he could not understand why Facebook would not agree to adopt the button
      on every page as it was a free way to "help save some children".
    

Yeah, because a "tell the cops this user is a paedophile" button on _every
page_ sounds totally reasonable. Perhaps it'll look nice alongside "report
user as terrorist" and "accuse user of dealing drugs" buttons.

------
zbyszek
_a free way to "help save some children"._

Free to whom? I don't know how much it costs to make a regional UI alteration
to Facebook, but I suspect that Mt Gamble doesn't either, and I doubt that
it's free. I presume it can only help to save children if it results in the
conviction of a paedophile. How many have been convicted as a result of the
button on Bebo or elsewhere?

 _Last week Mr Gamble announced the agency had received 252 complaints about
Facebook during the first three months of the year - with 40% of them about
the potential "grooming" of children._

Were these complaints about specific incidents or were they of a general
"Facebook sucks" variety? If the latter, bear in mind that Facebook has 23
million users in the UK (according to
[http://www.clickymedia.co.uk/2010/01/facebook-user-
statistic...](http://www.clickymedia.co.uk/2010/01/facebook-user-statistics-
january-2010/)).

 _He said the complaints had come via e-mails and people using other means to
complain to the centre as they could not do so via Facebook._

So people who wanted to complain to CEOP did so by emailing CEOP rather than
Facebook. What's wrong with that? Or is Mr Gamble implying that it is
impossible to send a complaint to Facebook, or that Facebook will not act on
an allegation?

Finally, the sad story of Miss Hall suggests that the real problem is not the
absence of a button, but the difficulty in identifying the likes of Peter
Chapman as potential rapists and murderers in the first place.

Maybe Facebook _should_ provide CEOP's button, but CEOP has so far failed to
make good case.

------
ryanwanger
Call me old fashioned, but without exaggeration, Facebook is THE site where I
am least likely to engage with strangers.

