Websites should pay for failing to protect children

Published on Sunday 29 November 2009 19:33

AS TECHNOLOGY gallops ahead of the law, it has become clear that nothing much is going to happen fast to tame the beast of social networking.

Most technology-savvy adults will by now have worked out the obvious risks and how to avoid them – for example, don't slag off your employer on your blog as you could get fired.

But there is a darker side to social networking for our kids – it is a new tool available 24 hours a day, seven days a week that can be used by bullies and child predators.

Following on from the national anti-bullying week earlier this month, it is certainly a step in the right direction that social networking site Bebo has teamed up with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) to embed a new "CEOP Report" button on every profile.

This allows users to access advice about bullying and abuse and to make reports online to the police, both locally and internationally if necessary. The hope is that this will make a difference to online security for young people by increasing awareness of the problems and how to deal with them.

It can be difficult to find a legal remedy for bullying unless the behaviour is so extreme that it justifies a prosecution, seeking an interdict against the bully, or is actionable through the laws on defamation.

If the bully is under 16, it is even harder to find a legal remedy. Nonetheless, the old adage is that most bullies are cowards so perhaps the existence of a button to report bullying will be a worthwhile deterrent.

Abuse is something of more obvious concern to parents. The problem with the "CEOP Report" concept is that the user needs to be aware the abuse is happening before it will be reported.

However, as we read in the papers a few weeks ago, some young teenage girls might think it is glamorous and exciting to plan online to take a train to Scotland to meet an internet friend who turns out to be much older than he said he was. Of course, they are not going to tell their mums, who would undoubtedly report the abuse.

We must not forget that the law on child protection does apply equally to activities carried out online and at least once abuse is reported the web record can actually be useful in securing a conviction. However, the point is that the existence of social networking sites is a gift to child predators but, as yet, there is nothing in the law that forces those making the money out of social networking to do anything about it.

Although Bebo's button is therefore commendable, there is a lot more that Bebo and co could be doing to prevent the abuse from happening at all.

Surely what we need to do is prevent these kids from being in online communities accessible by adults in the first place.

Currently, there is no legislation that requires actual age verification online. Unfortunately, the Online Age Verification Bill, which could have required online service providers to take active steps to verify the age of online users, did not make it through parliament this summer.

In the meantime, social networking sites should take note of the Data Protection Act 1998 and subsequent guidance. This establishes that it is not legal for children under the age of 13 to use social networking sites at all because they are not capable of consenting to that use of their information.

In addition, it is not legal for children under the age of 16 to post any images of themselves online without parental consent.

But the reality is that most teenagers in the world are online, merrily uploading pictures and videos of themselves and their friends. So despite this Act, most social networking providers pay lip service to establishing the age of users and getting parental consent.

For example, although the small print of the Facebook privacy policy states that users under 13 are not allowed on the site, it is easy to circumvent the security measures by entering an incorrect date of birth.

Traditionally, the Data Protection Act 1998 has not been seen as a great deterrent as the levels of potential fines do not exceed 10,000. However, that is all set to change: from April 2010, much higher fines will be issued under this Act – with the currently anticipated level being up to 500,000.

Until we get some better law to protect our kids online, perhaps the threat to their balance sheets will make social networking providers take more positive steps to protect that community of underage users whose existence they currently don't even acknowledge.

&#149 Helena Brown is an associate at Burness LLP