Even If it Works, Some Still Deny Age Verification
As the Internet Safety Task Force hearings continue, there is suddenly a lot of talk about whether age verification for visitors to social networking sites is actually a good idea.
It seems obvious that children would be safer if they know they're communicating with other children on sites such as MySpace, rather than adults posing as children. But there are some on the executive boards of some websites who wish to scare people into believing that any solution would be worse than the problem.
Let's dispel that argument first -
September 5, 2008:
In Virginia, Daniel Sosa, 19, allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl he met on the social networking Web site MySpace.
September 3, 2008:
A Cincinnati man has been charged with having sex with a girl he met online and then helping her run away from her parent's home. The victim is just 15 years-old, and the suspect allegedly met her on MySpace.com.
August 28, 2008:
An Alaska man has been found guilty of giving heroin to a 16-year-old girl who overdosed in March. Charles H. Johnson, 22, entered a no contest plea in Dodge County Circuit Court where he was charged with one count of manufacture and delivery of heroin. Johnson told investigators that he had met the teen on her MySpace page.
(source: myspacemurders.org)
There are more cases like this every month. What could be worse than this?
Unrestricted online interaction between children and adults allows predators to discover which children are most likely to succumb to predation. As the FBI points out, it is a qualifying ground for offline predation. This is a problem that must be solved.
At first, the objections to age verification presumed the creation of a vast government database and mandatory populace participation. Obviously, they argued, this is another nefarious means for the government to gather information on its citizens and how they spend their time online. Plus, what if hackers managed to infiltrate this database?
It's amusing how those who don't wish to protect children online either portray the government as Orwellian masterminds out to control the populace, or bumblers who can't be trusted to protect a database, depending on how it suits their argument.
Regardless, these concerns are possibly valid, but ultimately irrelevant, as the eGuardian solution does not require government involvement, nor the creation of a detailed, Web-facing database of children. With eGuardian, the public database includes only an encrypted eGuardian ID, a child's age, gender and geographic locations. If, besides safeguards, it became compromised, no identifying information is stored on the public-facing databases. And even that information is secured with industry-leading financial-grade security protocols.
Yet, when we demonstrated the safety, reliability and effectiveness of a system that verifies the ages of children through their schools to anyone who would listen, the argument against age verification suddenly changed.
Currently making the rounds among those who might be adversely effected by age verification is the idea that even a little information being shared about children can be dangerous, and while the schools might be an agreeable resource to collect the information, they have better things to do than cooperate with this initiative.
At eGuardian, we agree that as little information as possible should be disclosed about kids, and definitely not their identities. The eGuardian solution would expose no identifying information, would be opt-in by parents, and would simply tell a website that it is being accessed by a child, so protect him or her accordingly. Sites like MySpace and Facebook have spent a great deal of time and money to create child protection safeguards that are not being used because children identify themselves as adults.
As for the attitude of schools toward eGuardian, we have already worked extensively with schools throughout California, as well as the PTA, and their response could not be more enthusiastic. Schools want to protect children and help parents. In fact, we've had schools approach us to implement this program. Not only does it protect their students, it provides a fundraising opportunity that is welcome in this time of shrinking education budgets.
Those who strive to maintain the dangerous status quo on social networking sites are rapidly running out of excuses for their inactivity, and leading many states and the Federal Government to consider mandating a solution.
Tell us how you feel.