Facebook Fails to Act on Child Pornography

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have claimed that Facebook knew about pages on the site containing illegal child pornography but failed to report them to authorities (The Age). This follows from a successful AFP operation which resulted in 11 offenders being arrested in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada - 3 people were arrested in Australia (AFP Media Release) . Offenders had allegedly created fake accounts to post and view sexually graphic images of children.  One of those arrested in Australia told police that he had sent at least 10 messages to Facebook. Facebook had responded by removing the content and deactivating accounts but had failed to pass the information on to authorities (The Australian). Despite its alleged failure to cooperate with authorities over illegal child pornography, Facebook are still not indicating whether they will station a liaison officer in Australia (as reported in The Age). A later report on ABC Radio PM indicated that the AFP and Facebook were agreeing to cooperate but that the details of this arrangement were still not clear.

As a result of these police operations, two men arrested in Victoria include a 33-year-old due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on October 6 and a 18-year-old due to appear in Geelong Magistrates Court on September 24. An Illawarra man is due to appear in Wollongong Local Court on October 14 (Bigpond News).

Facebook have consistently adhered to their policy of accepting no responsiblity for the actions of its users – even when this includes illegal behaviour – beyond providing mechanisms for other users to report misuse. At least now it seems that Facebook may have been embarrassed into taking a more responsible stance.

Articles on Facebook at Sapidblog can be found by following this link:

http://sapidblog.wordpress.com/category/social-networking/facebook/

Social Networking Safety

After my posting yesterday about the Facebook Troll that was charged, I thought that I should post more positive information today about social networking safety. There are some great rules for parents about socializing network usage by their teenage children at the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec14.shtm. The US FTC also run the Onguard Online safety site which features some interactive online games to help educate tweens and teens about their online safety.  These games seem both fun and challenging for 14-year olds and up. The game illustrated below is about  choosing your online friends safely. Tim (aged 16) thought it was “orright but pretty common knowledge.”  Give it a go and see what you think  (it might take a minute or so to load). There are numerous other interactive online quizzes availble at the  Onguard Online safety site for you to try as well: topics include phishing, identity theft, malware and spyware, laptop and wireless security and others (the “Friend Finder” interactive game will appear in the space below).

Facebook Troll Charged

Jessica Cook, 22, pleaded guilty earlier this week in Gympie Magistrates Court for helping to create a fake tribute page on Facebook for murdered Sunshine Coast woman Justine Jones and posting hate messages along with pornographic and offensive images (as reported in more detail in the Courier-Mail). The fake “tribute” page was created under the false name of Wendy Woods and she had apparently boasted about the media attention that she was receiving (as reported in The Gympie Times) .

The magistrate said that the case was “absolutely sickening” and warned that “heavy hand of the law will come down on you.” In this case the heavy hand of the law amounted to a  three-month suspended sentence,  a good behaviour bond and being banned from using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. If she re-offends she’ll lose her $3000 bond.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/facebook-troll-jessica-cook-pleads-guilty-to-defacing-a-tribute-page-to-justine-jones/story-e6frfrnr-1225900174784#ixzz0yTxFsoVf

Importantly, this represents a warning to everyone using social media that they had better be aware of their personal safety while online because there are predators like this out there, all too ready to take advantage of you.

I think that this case also demonstrates that I wasn’t over-reacting when I deleted my Facebook site earlier this year or in making the numerous postings on Sapid blog concerning desecration of Facebook memorial pages:

http://sapidblog.wordpress.com/category/social-networking/facebook/

Facebook Defacer Faces Court

Disability pensioner, Bradley Paul Hampson, 29, of Tarragindi has faced the Brisbane Magistrates court over defaced Facebook tribute pages for deceased youngsters Elliot Fletcher (12) and Trinity Bates (8), that were defaced with pornographic images (more details in the Brisbane Times). He faces 5 charges over offensive use of the internet and possessing and distributing child exploitation material. He faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, according to a report in The Australian. He was denied bail.

This could be the first prosecution of its kind in Australia according to ABC Lateline – but about time in our opinion. At least now there is be some kind of legal deterrent for such offensive behaviour on social networking sites. It also establishes a will by the police to apply state and federal laws in virtual space as they would anywhere else. This we applaud.

Read-Write-Web have labelled the AFP as the "crocodile stasi" - click on the image above to read the original story.

However, the report in The Australian ["Facebook urged to ban teen tributes"] raises more worrying aspects to this case: apparently the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have urged Facebook to ban under-18s from posting memorial pages. This little attempted invasion of civil liberties can’t be applauded. Furthermore, it’s reported by the social media site Read-Write-Web ["Australian Police Deputize Facebook"] that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have called for Facebook to hire a compliance officer and for Facebook to install a “rat button” on its pages in Australia that will allow reports to be sent the police with a click. This prompted Read-Write-Web to label the Australian police as the “crocodile stasi” and to suggest that:

Orwell may have been British but his nightmares must have wintered in Melbourne.

The Australian authorities have been slow to understand that heavy-handed attempts to control free access to the internet, be it by the Federal Police, or from Minister Stephen Conroy’s filter, presents a very negative image for Australia internationally.

You can follow all the articles on desecration of Facebook memorial sites on Sapidblog using this link:

http://sapidblog.wordpress.com/category/social-networking/facebook/

Virtual versus Actual Desecration

This afternoon I heard Kelly Higgins-Devine talk on ABC radio Brisbane 612 about a case against 4 people accused of vandalising 82 gravestones in Toowong Cemetery being dismissed in a Magistrates Court because “it couldn’t be determined that the owners had not given permission for the headstones to be damaged.“

http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2010/04/a-while-back-now-august-last-year-in-fact-you-might-remember-we-talked-about-dozens-and-dozens-of-headstones-being-damaged.html?site=brisbane&program=612_drive

Putting aside the obvious question about the impossibility of obtaining 82 denial-of-permission slips, presumably, from the surviving family members. The next question that occured to me: is there any connection between the desecration of physical graves and memorial Facebook pages to the recently deceased that have been discussed in Sapid Blog in recent posts?

Either in vandalising physical graves or in vandalising virtual memorial sites, its a small minority of delinquent buffoons that are acting in both cases: delinquent buffoons that in both cases need to be made aware of the consequences of their thoughtless and cruel actions by being brought to justice by the court system. But in both cases seem to be evading justice. One can only wonder what they’ll think they can get away with next?

I may be wrong, but its seems to me that our society has changed with regard to its permissiveness to such actions. Perhaps its the increasing materialism that we’re all exposed to that has made us think that spiritual world doesn’t matter so much anymore. Perhaps we are so busy keeping up with material possessions that that we are becoming oblivious to other more spiritual realities. Now that Facebook has brought a virtual dimension to millions of people’s lives: in the 3-realities of the work-a-day actual world; the virtual world of cyberspace; and the spiritual world; that the spiritual world is coming a poor last in many people’s lives.

So with our lives been spent in the enjoyment of the here and now it’s easily to forget about an afterlife and the need to respect the lives and memories of those deceased.

Who’s in charge? We are.

RE: recent posts on Sapid blog concerning Facebook, trolls and the desecration of memorial pages.

I found this post on Marc Pesce’s The Human Network blog :

Everyone, everywhere, looks to authority for responsible solutions. There is no authority anywhere. Either we do this ourselves, or it will not happen. We have to look to ourselves, build the networks between ourselves, reach out and connect from ourselves, if we expect to be able to resist a culture which wants to turn the entire human world into candy.

As we have seen we can’t rely on politicians such as Kevin Rudd, Stephen Conroy or Anna Bligh to somehow control new media such as Facebook. Nor can we expect Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg to come out and take control. The answer seems to be its up to the user community to exercise their own control and responsibilty – which seems like a good thing. But are we (that’s all of us) up to the job? Or are we more intent on “amusing ourselves to death” (to once more quote from Marc Pesce). That’s the challenge.

For example, see
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/state-politics/bligh-hits-out-at-sick-net-sites/story-e6frgczx-1225834063831
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has no-more control than anyone else; social media is an authority-free zone. For good or bad, the authority lies with the users, despite what Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy might plan with network filtering.

Facebook’s Belated Response

Yesterday, the Courier Mail carried an article: “Facebook acts on web trolls who vandalise tribute pages” which indicates that Facebook have finally taken some action against vulgar trolling. The action is in the form of a blanket email sent to all Australian Facebook page admins setting out the security settings that they can use to moderate the content of pages.

So this is a positive step in that Facebook are at least acknowledging that there is a problem. However, they have not moved from their previous position that the user community is ultimately responsible for policing the content of Facebook pages.

Facebook are still not admitting that they bear any responsibility to protect ordinary users from the vile trolls who have continued to make a mockery of their own security and safety policies. The lastest victims being the grieving family and friends of New South Wales teenager Michelle Morrissey, whose memorial page continues to be vandalised even after Facebook issued its email statement to page admins.

So while Facebook has earnt a few points with me, it still falls far short of winning back my trust. I won’t be re-activating my Facebook account until they can take more effective action to protect their users.

Facebook Trolls

The weekend Courier Mail in Brisbane featured an article: “Parents stalk cyber vandals after Facebook memorial site attacks” about Brisbane and Gold Coast parents trying to catch out those responsible for the hideous vandalism and desecration of Facebook tribute pages. They are reported to be close to tracking down the identity of some of these trolls and bringing police action against them.

This article has attrached more than 50 comments. In the following I’m just trying to extract what seems to me to be gist of public reaction and respond in point-counterpoint style. Many of the comments were to the effect that: “‘Don’t feed the trolls.’ If you ignore trolls they go away” (Anthony of Logan).

I don’t think that they’ll go away if ignored because they find that there are no consequences for their actions they’ll be encouraged to be even more vile and go to even greater lengths to torment and bully.

Some feared that internet freedom of speech was being threatened and that the spector of censorship was looming: “Nice to see some hyped up propaganda getting the sheep ready for the censorship” (James).

Giving freedom to those who want to be offensive and destructive only limits the freedoms for the rest of us. If we’re truly interested in freedom of speech then we’ll seek to bring to account those who only want to make a mockery of it.

Many questioned why tribute pages were posted on Facebook in the first place: “It all raises the question… why do we even NEED ‘tribute pages?’” (Jimbob).

This sounds simple but, as the Courier article pointed out, the trolls themselves often post the tribute sites as bait to lure innocent familty and friends. They then spring their trap by posting vile pictures and comments to extract perverted pleasure from the added grief, distress and humilation caused.

Another response which came up once or twice was that Facebook can’t be blamed: “It is simply impossible for a website like facebook to censor/remove content before it gets posted” (Lachlan of Bisbane).

After all, this argument goes, Facebook provide mechanisms for the user community to police itself by reporting inappropriate content and pages and to block offensive users. This was OK until the trolls started to manipulate the rules against the ordinary user and to work in an organised manner. Thanks to continued complaceny and inaction from Facebook the problem has escalated to the point where trollish behavior is becoming uncontrollable.

Why I’ve Deleted My Facebook Account

The Sunday Mail in Brisbane last weekend featured an article: “Facebook bans nude pics of bubs” about how a Brisbane mum was sent a curt warning to remove an innocent happy snap of her semi-naked, then 3-month old, because it apparently breached Facebook’s terms of service over nudity.

In contrast, Facebook had been slow and ineffective in reacting to vandalism and desecration of tribute sites such as those dedicated to deceased Queensland children Trinity Bates and Elliott Fletcher. Both of whom lost their lives recently in tragic circumstances. The posting of obscenities and pornography on these Facebook tribute pages had been condemned by both Prime Minister Rudd and Queensland Premier Bligh. But Facebook’s response was to stick by their policy of having users report unwanted content.

I decided to do some poking around on Facebook over the past few days and quickly found a tribute page to Saxon Bird who had tragically lost his life in a surfing accident last Friday. What I saw horrified and appalled me. Moreover, the Facebook system of reporting pages and images was clearly not working: the trolls were posting images faster than they could be taken down and baiting visitors to the site to leave attack messages; all the time gaining perverse pleasure from the grief, misery and mayhem that they were causing.

I’ve decided that until Facebook can ensure a safe environment from attacks on ordinary folk by trolls that I want nothing more to do with Facebook and I have deactivated my account. Though I wanted to, apparently deleting isn’t possible with Facebook accounts. The best you can do is to deactivate your account.