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Social Networking sites aim to stop "cyber-bullying"

by on11 February 2009

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Deal brokered by the EC

 

Social network sites across the EU have agreed to a pact that aims to stop "cyber-bullying" and protect the privacy of under-age users, The pact, which was brokered by the European Commission has 17 signatories including  Facebook and MySpace.

According to a press release from the Commission the pact will cut the risks of children harassing peers online and curb he practice of adults befriending children online with the intention of committing sexual abuse. Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media said in a statement that it was an important step forward toward making  children's clicks on social networking sites safer.

Under the terms of the agreement private profiles of users under the age of 18 are not searchable on the websites or search engines.  There will be an easy to use and accessible "report abuse" software button, allowing users to report inappropriate contact from or conduct by another user with one click.

Online profiles and contact lists of website users who are registered as under-18s are set to "private" by default. Oher sites that signed the EU agreement include: Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Netlog, Nasza-klaza.pl, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel, Yahoo!Europe, and Zap.lu.

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