Teenagers should be better protected on social networks, EU says

Brussels - The privacy of underage users should be better protected by social networking websites, the European Commission urged Monday, on the eve of the so-called Safer Internet Day. Last year the commission - the EU's executive - got 20 web companies, including industry leaders such as Facebook, Google-MySpace and Yahoo, to sign up to a charter promoting safer internet use, especially for minors.

A year on, it found that just 40 per cent of them "make profiles of under-18 users visible only to their friends by default and only one third replied to user reports asking for help," a press release released Monday explained.

"I expect all companies to do more. Minors' profiles need to be set to private by default and questions or abuse reports have to receive quick and appropriate responses. The internet is now vital to our children, and it is the responsibility of all to make it safe", stressed the EU's outgoing commissioner for Media, Viviane Reding.

YouTube is one of the websites that do not respect recommendations on teenage privacy, according to a fact sheet supplied by the commission.

The others negative examples are Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Hyves, Xbox Live, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, Piczo, Ratee, Skyrock, VZnet, IRC Galleria and Zap.lu.

Facebook escapes criticism on this front. However, it is not among the 14 websites out of 25 surveyed that provide safety tips for minors that "is both easy to find and easy to understand", the commission's fact sheet warned.

The Safer Internet Day is set to be celebrated on Tuesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Reding, as well as incoming commissioner for Digital technologies, are scheduled to attend.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308133,teenagers-should-be-better-protected-on-social-networks-eu-says.html.