Internet "panic button" for children?

What. The. Fuck.

I can't believe my tax dollars are going towards shit like this. I'd rather spend it on making parents less shit.

Quote:
Children who feel they are being bullied, harassed or groomed online could call for help instantly using a "panic button" on their PCs under a plan being considered by the Federal Government's cyber-safety working group.

Parents would be offered the ability to download and install the "widget" on their children's computers and, if the kids encounter serious trouble online, pushing the button could connect them instantly to police or child protection groups.

"The decision hasn't been made - it's still in the discussion stage - but I think we're getting pretty close," said Hetty Johnson, chief executive of Bravehearts, which supports survivors of child sexual assault.

"There seems to be a consensus of opinion that this is going to be very good."

Johnson sits on the Government's consultative working group on cyber safety along with several law-enforcement officials, Government representatives, child-welfare experts and members of the mobile and internet industries.

The group next meets on Monday and Johnson said the panic button idea would come up for discussion again.

It is understood the group is strongly considering obtaining the necessary technology from Hector's World, a non-profit group from New Zealand dedicated to helping children stay safe online.

The panic button would be a recognisable icon that children can relate to (such as a cartoon dolphin) and would sit in the background while they are using the web. Children would be directed to different resources depending on the type of issue (bullying, grooming, etc).

"Triple-0 is the universal number for when the proverbial hits the fan, but what do you do online? When the proverbial hits the fan, you hit the panic button," Johnson said.

Bernadette McMenamin, another member of the working group and the chief executive of child protection group ChildWise, has also thrown her support behind the panic button idea.

She claimed one in four children had been "sexually harassed" over the internet but only 3 per cent of children would ever tell anyone about sexual abuse.

"The panic button may take you into a site and it will say 'do you need advice?', 'do you need to contact police?', and then there's almost like a choice of what you do," McMenamin said.

The panic button idea has been gaining ground in Britain. Social networking site Bebo recently implemented a similar button on its website, offered for free to web companies by the British group Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop).

But Facebook and MySpace have so far resisted Ceop's calls for them to follow suit. A sticking point is the fact that the panic button sends users away from the sites and their internal safety teams.

"It's crucial that social networking sites can monitor activity on their platforms so they can review and improve safety procedures," a MySpace UK spokesman said.

Having a universal panic button that operates independently of the social networking sites, such as the one proposed by the Australian working group, would seem to negate this issue.

Panic button plan to beat cyber-predators

http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/06/02/hetty-johnston-henson-debate-a-healthy-sign/

s/panic/power/

honestly, 'serious trouble online'? TURN THE FUCKING COMPUTER OFF, TROUBLE AVOIDED

also, how does a cartoon dolphin convey a sense of 'push me in an emergency'?

you're telling me when you see a crime being committed you don't have an urge to push a dolphin?!

Push it.

haha i can see it now, the dolphin will pop-up "I SEE YOU'RE SURFING KIDDIE PORN!" it's fucking clippy in a pedo suit

Quote from rec;374285:
What. The. Fuck.

I can't believe my tax dollars are going towards shit like this. I'd rather spend it on making parents less shit.

Your money would go far, bullets are cheap.

All this seems to be is another means to make parents less responsible for their children and their activities.

Why don't they just put block buttons on sites like that. Wouldn't that be easier than calling the cops?

This will be great for the 3 people who downloaded the free net filter the gov offered.

Kids can be highly manipulated by somebody online, this goes even for adults. Just look at the amount of dollars leaving Australia each year because of fraud. I for one think that children will be exposed to this material either directly or indirectly via their peers and their school group and community. Even to a point I think the media and the community play a bigger role on young children's attitudes, belief and value system after the age of 8.

Though, this just tell me reading the material that this generation and the previous generation who are having children are not responsible adult's. This is just a manifestation of the attitude who is to blame for the children upbringing. Its the governments fault or the parents fault, or the community fault. Once everyone gets over this diffusion of responsibility and be responsible adults who make logical decisions the better.

Though, Seeing that some parents are not responsible parents or can think about their children safety I think its up to the community and government to set boundaries.

Although, maybe this is just a case of the changing social demographic of Australians. For better or worse it's going to be interesting.

Maybe parents could stop being fuckheads and watch what their kids are doing...what's the word for that again...oh yeah, PARENTING.

Seriously, wtf, even the most computer illiterate mouth breather should know not to let kids online unattended in this day and age.