May 8th, 2008
Facebook reaches safety plan with states
Facebook has joined MySpace and inked a deal with 49 state attorneys general on a safety plan. Texas was the lone holdout.
News.com’s Caroline McCarthy reports:
“We’ve agreed with 49 states and the District of Columbia to set up principles around Internet safety,” Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly explained in an interview with CNET News.com. The agreement is centered on “largely features that (Facebook) has in place already, but that we’ve committed to continuing and to enhance over time,” Kelly said.
In the deal, the social network has agreed to develop age verification technology, send warning messages when an under-18 user may be giving personal information to an unknown adult, restrict the ability for people to change their ages on the site, and keep abreast of inappropriate content and harassment on the site.
The agreement also has some security hooks. Kelly noted that “there is a specific provision in the agreement around phishing, and antiphishing tips, which we’ve already implemented.”
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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