Young people using Windows Live Messenger or MSN Messenger to chat online with friends can now make a report to police with one click if they are concerned their online 'buddy' is a sex offender.
Microsoft has partnered with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – the UK's first dedicated organisation focused on tackling child sex abuse – to introduce the safety element to the UK's most popular instant messenger product.
The move sees the incorporation of a new Messenger tab and features the CEOP Centre's distinctive “report abuse” icon which links users in the UK directly to online police services. This allows young people and adults to report suspicious behaviour and instances of inappropriate contact of a sexual nature they have encountered whilst chatting in the virtual environment.
Also, through the icon and link to the CEOP web site, people from anywhere in the world can access the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) – an international alliance of law enforcement agencies – of which the CEOP Centre is the UK's representative.
The tab will appear on both MSN Messenger, and its replacement, Windows Live Messenger. As well as a 'one click' link through to a report to the police, each week, CEOP and Microsoft will provide a new safety tip as part of the tab, for example, how to safeguard your personal details or to how to spot a potential threat.
Jim Gamble, chief executive of the CEOP Centre and chair of the VGT said:
“What Microsoft and the CEOP are doing today is saying is 'enough is enough'. By working together in a very clear and tangible way we can safeguard children from online sexual predators.
“Behind the report abuse button will sit police and intelligence officers who have been specially trained to tackle child sex abuse. We will tell you how to capture information and how to seize online discussions and then proactively do all we can to track down the perpetrator.
“CEOP is an integral part of the VGT and therefore by working with MSN in this way we are offering users access to a global police response. If you make a report as a UK citizen then we at CEOP will investigate. If you make a report as a user from other countries then our counterparts in the US, Australia, Canada or Interpol will take the matter further. That is a truly global response to a worldwide issue.”
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-revprez, with yet another brilliant rebuttal.
Oh joy, I can see it now. Little bastards spamclicking the report button when someone won't tell them how to do a trick or how to get free porn.
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Shit on the web is intrinsically less real than off. I expect parents will have a hard time explaining to their whelplings that that one particular button is as important not to misuse as 911.
Boy who cried motherfucking wolf. Jesus, are people really this stupid?
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I don't see how they expect kids to actually take this thing seriously. Especially considering that people tend to be vastly less mature online than off.
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Hah! Considering the things kids use MSN for here, the results of such a button could be quite hilarious.
Though I suspect the police would tell people that abuse it to simply fuck off. Well, not that we have enough resources to divert any of our three policemen from hunting file sharers to do this kind of thing in this country anyway...
Also, "seize online discussions"? Did someone forget how to spell 'cease' or what's that supposed to mean...
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My first thought is that as a moderator on a forum that has as percentage of young members, and who has used MSN to discuss forum issues is that this could easily be abused in such cases where the kid doesn't get unbanned/get someone else banned.
Thats ignoring the far mroe real probibility of a kid having an argument with a friend and then hitting the button.
I would hope it has some kind of method for attatching some kind of evidentiary content to the report via the button, presumably an automated method hopefully proofed against tampering. If it doesn't it shoult have, because if it's not sending some kind of evidentiary content, then the button is pretty much worthless, and shouldn't be admissable anywhere.
If it's creating and sending a chatlog, any instances of button abuse should be easily identifiable. I would imagine there to be very definite sanctions for button abuse to be implemented shortly after the introduction of this feature (if not alongside it).
I.e. The button will be abused horribly, then punishments will be put in place for the abuse of the button and it will die down to only the occasional case of button abuse. (that's my personal feeling on what will happen.)
I wouldn't expect them to get it right first time, but the system is fundamentaly a good idea. Once it's been tweaked to work properly it'll be a great asset.
I feel bad for the investigators attached to this, but anyway just being reported doesn't amount for shit under criminal charges. The report button will probably send the contexts of the IM box to the investigator, and then they'll determine if it's worth following up on.
Bad things will only happen if the investigators are stupid.
As long as they have enough investigators to wade through seas of bogus alarms, I don't see this as a bad thing. If you have to hire a few dozen people full time to go through it all, but it saves just one kid, isn't that worth it?
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Odds are they won't (have enough investigators to wade through the number of hits that's about to innundate them) secondarily knowing human psychology, It may not help even if an actual predator or say an internet stalker was reported, due to the large numbers of false positives generated by click happy teens.
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Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:As long as they have enough investigators to wade through seas of bogus alarms, I don't see this as a bad thing. If you have to hire a few dozen people full time to go through it all, but it saves just one kid, isn't that worth it?
And how many innocent peoples' lives will be ruined by false reports? All it takes is the mere accusation of sexual crimes, and a person will have to move to a new city if they want to not get dirty looks when out in public.
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Justice League:BotM:MM:SDnet City Watch:Cybertron's Finest "Well then, science is bullshit. "
-revprez, with yet another brilliant rebuttal.
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:As long as they have enough investigators to wade through seas of bogus alarms, I don't see this as a bad thing. If you have to hire a few dozen people full time to go through it all, but it saves just one kid, isn't that worth it?
And how many innocent peoples' lives will be ruined by false reports? All it takes is the mere accusation of sexual crimes, and a person will have to move to a new city if they want to not get dirty looks when out in public.
What country do you live in? Being reported of a sexual crime does not get you placed on the sexual offenders registry. You must first be convicted of a crime.
*Edit - Not to mention if they wrongly arrest you then you can sue for lots of money.
We're talking the mere provess of investigation+gossip being all that is nessesary to "convict" some people. Look at the McMartain child abuse case of the 1980's no physical evidence of the rapes, the alleged secret rooms were never found, no child porn was ever found. yet they were convicted because the jury was influenced by the investigation period news reports.
The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
Kamakazie Sith wrote:What country do you live in? Being reported of a sexual crime does not get you placed on the sexual offenders registry. You must first be convicted of a crime.
And yet there is still the social stigma that you were in fact accused in the first place. To some people, someone being accused is still more or less pretty close to being guilty, even if they were cleared of all charges.
People have been fired and divorced, etc... over merely being accused of a crime, you know...
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Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:As long as they have enough investigators to wade through seas of bogus alarms, I don't see this as a bad thing. If you have to hire a few dozen people full time to go through it all, but it saves just one kid, isn't that worth it?
And how many innocent peoples' lives will be ruined by false reports? All it takes is the mere accusation of sexual crimes, and a person will have to move to a new city if they want to not get dirty looks when out in public.
What country do you live in? Being reported of a sexual crime does not get you placed on the sexual offenders registry. You must first be convicted of a crime.
*Edit - Not to mention if they wrongly arrest you then you can sue for lots of money.
Incorrect. May I raise yet again Tasmania's insane legislation that was THANKFULLY not passed (but was fucking considered -which is bad enough) where merely being in a position to commit a sex crime would be a registrable offence...
Kamakazie Sith wrote:What country do you live in? Being reported of a sexual crime does not get you placed on the sexual offenders registry. You must first be convicted of a crime.
And yet there is still the social stigma that you were in fact accused in the first place. To some people, someone being accused is still more or less pretty close to being guilty, even if they were cleared of all charges.
People have been fired and divorced, etc... over merely being accused of a crime, you know...
Exactly my point.
Mayabird is my girlfriend
Justice League:BotM:MM:SDnet City Watch:Cybertron's Finest "Well then, science is bullshit. "
-revprez, with yet another brilliant rebuttal.
weemadando wrote:Incorrect. May I raise yet again Tasmania's insane legislation that was THANKFULLY not passed (but was fucking considered -which is bad enough) where merely being in a position to commit a sex crime would be a registrable offence...
Talk about "dammed if you do, dammed if you don't".
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Kamakazie Sith wrote:
What country do you live in? Being reported of a sexual crime does not get you placed on the sexual offenders registry. You must first be convicted of a crime.
*Edit - Not to mention if they wrongly arrest you then you can sue for lots of money.
A lot of people will assume "no smoke without fire".
