Age Verification on Social Networking Sites - 1613 Words

Today, social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace are some of the most visited websites on the Internet. Minors have played a significant role in the popularity and success of social networking. With children having such an active presence on these types of sites, parents and legislators alike are concerned about the child’s online safety. A common suggestion is age verification. Ideally, age verification would exclude users over a specified age or under a specified age. However, age verification for social networking sites has its flaws. In Adam Thierer’s article, â€Å"Social Networking and Age Verification: Many Hard Questions; No Easy Solutions† he discusses the issue of children’s online safety. Thierer argues the†¦show more content†¦Cardillo, President and CEO of Sentinal. â€Å"Most people are ignorant of what we do. They hear the words â€Å"check† or â€Å"verification† and they assume a full backgroun d check will be run on the individual.† Most parents and children see age verification and they feel they are entering a safe online area. They let their guard down and this is when the users become most vulnerable. Cardillo goes on to explain how this could allow for convicted sex offender could be verified. â€Å"Mandated age verification, as proposed, would allow the hundreds of thousands of offenders †¦ who are over 18, unrestricted access to sites. Worse, it would allow these offenders the ability to vouch for children that might or might not exist. This is where it gets dangerous.† Not only is there a general misunderstanding, there is a risk for false positive verification. There is no age verification that is 100% accurate. The article noted that Cardillo tested the security processes on Imbee.com. Cardillo and his security team were able to create several fake children because of Imbee’s process of third parties vouching for minors. Ca rdillo used a fake name for the parent, another fake name for the Yahoo! e-mail account and his own credit card information. Imbee allowed him access to the site and his â€Å"fake child† account had access to chat with other children on Imbee. This clearly shows the danger in false positive age verification. â€Å"Verified† user accounts a clearlyShow MoreRelatedDangers Benefits of Social Networking942 Words   |  4 PagesThe Dangers and Benefits of Social Networking The Do s and Dont s: Social Networking Dangers * Adults use the sites * Innapropriate language, nudity, alcohol use, sexually provocative images, etc. * Predators use it to gather information * No real method of age verification * Some social networking services allow people to view profiles without logging on Social Networking Do s * Set profiles to private * Read saftey tips on ALL SN websites Read MoreOnline Predators and the Need for Preventative Measures Essay example1103 Words   |  5 Pagesluring children in on the internet is a horrifying image, it is happening. It is through the internet’s easy accessibility that children continue to become vulnerable to these internet predators while engaging in social networking sites. 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