AG announces victory in Internet safety

LYNN – While schools in Lynn and across the country are fighting a war against Internet predators and bullying, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced a breakthrough safety and security agreement with one of the Internet’s most successful Web sites this month.Coakley, along with her 49 counterparts from across the country, reached an agreement with Facebook.com this month to better protect children from predators and inappropriate content on the Web site. As part of the agreement, Facebook.com will also participate in the Internet Safety Technical Task Force that was established under a similar agreement reached between Myspace.com and the attorneys general in January.The safety and security upgrades on the social networking Web site, where anyone can create a profile and communicate with others via email and instant messaging, should help bolster the efforts of local law enforcement and school officials to keep children safe when they are surfing the Web.Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett has been running a campaign of his own recently, sending representatives to local schools to give a lesson to students and parents about the dangers of including personal information online, and chatting with unfamiliar people who may be predators posing as teenagers.At the Tracy Elementary School in Lynn this week, a representative from Blodgett’s office held seminars in the morning and evening on the topic of Internet safety in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club.As part of the AG’s agreement with Facebook.com, the Web site agreed to several key changes, including providing messaging where there is a significant risk of an under-18 user revealing personal information to an unknown adult, restricting the ability of users to change their listed ages, acting more aggressively to remove inappropriate content and groups from the site and requiring third party vendors to adhere to those guidelines.Facebook will implement “age locking” so when a user wants to change his or her age, a member of the Web site’s staff will review the profile to determine whether the change is appropriate. The Web site will also prominently display safety tips for all users, and require users under 18 to affirm that they are familiar with those tips.The Web site will now include educational tools for parents, and has promised to acknowledge and address consumer complaints within 24-72 hours with information on proactive steps it has taken to resolve the issue.The agreement culminates several months of negotiations between the country’s attorneys general and Facebook.com, led by an Executive Committee consisting of representatives from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.Facebook.com is also required to participate in a Joint Statement on Key Principals of Social Networking that establishes principals of Internet networking. The statement recognizes that providing children with a safer social networking experience is a primary objective for those operating the sites.”We are excited to announce this agreement with Facebook.com because yet another leader in the social networking industry is not only acknowledging the importance of protecting children from inappropriate content and contact, but also making significant changes to its site to enhance the safety of minors using the site,” said Coakley.