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THE CHILDREN’S MINISTER Frances Fitzgerald has admitted her concerns about the difficulties in regulating websites which are regularly used by Irish children who may be vulnerable to cyber-bullying.
Fitzgerald’s comments come after she asked authorities in Latvia, where the popular site Ask.fm is based and hosted, to look into the “lack of safeguards” applied to the website, which is popular among teenage users in several countries, including Ireland.
Ask.fm offers its users the ability to receive anonymous questions from other unregistered visitors to their pages, purportedly so they can exchange anonymous messages with their friends who may not wish to attach their names to discreet inquiries.
However, the site can also be used to send abusive messages to its users, to devastating effect. The site has been linked to the suicides of Donegal schoolgirl Erin Gallagher, 13, and Leitrim teen Ciara Pugsley, 15.
Fitzgerald admitted, however, that it may be difficult to apply any method of regulation to Ask.fm, “given the global and open nature of the internet”.
The founder of Ask.fm has previously told RTÉ that the abusive comments made by Irish users were not replicated by Ask.fm users from other countries, and suggested that Irish teenage culture was more at fault than the medium he provided himself.
Mark Terebin told an Irish documentary maker that his site was “just a tool which helps people to communicate with each other – [the] same as any other social network, [the] same as [a] phone, [the] same as [a] piece of paper and [a] pen”.
Responding to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fail’s Billy Kelleher, the minister said she had also met in recent weeks with Simon Millner, Facebook’s policy director for the UK and Ireland, to discuss features which can help children protect themselves against abuse through that website.
“I was impressed with the child-focussed and user-friendly safeguards and supports which Facebook have put in place to protect children and respond to concerns over cyber-bullying and inappropriate online behaviour,” she said, adding that she had arranged meetings between Facebook and the National Anti-Bullying Forum.
She admitted it was “a matter of concern”, however, that certain other websites popular among Irish teenagers do not include similar safeguards.
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There is one clear safe guard to this phenomena; a trusted adult!
The Government can’t and should not be seen as the body that can censor online activity!
But a parent, teacher or community youth leader should work more with children. The Government needs to invest in services that can support the family and child!
I agree with you. However, I believe the emphasis and attention should be placed on the parent. Ultimately, the parent should be held responsible for insuring that their child isn’t being bullied or instigating bullying. However, many parents transfers their responsibilities to others while their child runs amuck. All the while claiming ignorance. We have seen it time and time again, with drinking and juvenile delinquency.
I think the first action by our ministers, is to inact a law which legally makes a parent responsible for their child’s actions and then follow through with consequences that will be enforced. These consequences could range from fines, social welfare cuts to relocation of tenancy if in government financed housing. The most extreme of consequences would directed to families who are consistently unable to manage anti-social behavior in the home.
Zero tolerance is the key for everyone.
Or as my mother always says, don’t smack the child – smack the parent..
Great point!
As See My Vest has pointed out I’m not going to give my real identity to you lot because there are lunatics among you.
However I would give my identity to a trusted third party and allow the fact that this account is associated with an identity to be made known.
That way you know that when you interact with me on line that there is someone behind the account who can be held to account if I act inappropriately and hound someone to suicide or whatever.
Obviously I’d expect you all to do the same.
Seem reasonable?
Bullshit. You should use your real name, cos otherwise what you write is total garbage and true real namers like me think you may be a gang member or worse.
I’m onto you…..
As you can see above, reputation – even for anonymous accounts – give some level of credibility for comments, and whether they are to be taken as part of the argument. Anonymous one-commenters would obviously not be trusted compared to serial opinionists such as Damocles, but if he (or she) was targeted for abuse or bullying, they can disappear. Using real names does not allow this.
I always encourage my kids to use anonymous online identities and share them only with real friends; there is no way in hell I would give personal details to some of the viewers on thejournal, especially anything abortion or Sinn Fein related.
Same here.. I chose to set up this twitter because I saw some of the comments from the online stalkers here.. Sorry, but I wouldn’t call out my address if I was giving a public talk. The journal don’t get my name and face..
“serial opinionists” Sweet.
“they can disappear”, But I wouldn’t. I’ve been using this pseudonym for nigh on 20 years. Try it.
What really gets me is that when I proposed this elsewhere: http://www.thejournal.ie/regulation-children-websites-741676-Jan2013/#comment-831188, it was rejected outright.
Same proposal, suggestion that parents might be thus able to exercise responsibility over their children, vague mention of bank cards as verification method, utter indignation.
still can’t understand why the site allows comments to be sent secretly, if you have something to say surly you need to put your identity behind it.
People do it here all the time.
I used to use my genuine facebook account to comment but ended up with one or two unsavouries sending me abusive messages because they disagreed with my opinion.
In the case of ask.fm the anonymity is the USP. sometimes you just might have something embarrassing to ask you’d rather not put your name to.
Next we’ll be forcing graffiti artists to sign with their real name.
There is a major problem with identity….
Sometimes kids simply don’t feel they have any outlet and with anonymous websites they can feel free to express and, importantly, ask questions or empathise with others. Once you are forced to attach your name to what you are saying, you self-censor. People are less inclined to ask for help if they know their name is attached.
I know that this might seem glaringly obvious but if you are getting bullied or abused on a site like Ask.fm then just don’t log on to it. Parents should teach their children from day one as to how to use websites safely and what to do if they feel uncomfortable or threatened by online content.
You’re right Brian, it is indeed glaringly obvious. But I think we need to remember what it was like to be teenagers and how a developing self image and raging hormones magnify feelings.
I’m not saying you’re wrong – just that it needs to be taken into account.
All schools have anti-bullying policies. As part of that bullying in all its forms, how to deal with it, what to do etc is discussed in the curriculum in religion, civic social and political education(CSPE) and Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) as well as events in school to raise school spirit, class tutor groups, caring for others through many different ventures.
The fact is though begrudgery, sarcasm and sharp commentary are inherent in many Irish people. Children don’t lick this off the stones. Obviously many others are extremely hurt by comments that others see as having a laugh, taking a dig i.e. people not thinking or caring about how their actions or comments might impact upon someone else. Unfortunately, children can be cruel and write silly things that in x years time they will regret and would love to be able to take back. The Internet isn’t forgiving.
Over the last 24 hours another case of cyber-bullying has ripped through the Internet for one young Irish girl. I’m not going to get in to what it is as I don’t want to give it any further airtime but safe is to say if you’ve seen it you know what I’m talking about and if you haven’t you’re probably better off. I’m really glad thejournal.ie has not given it any airtime so far too, this article on cyber-bullying being perfectly timed if intentional.
Now while I agree that ask.fm’s secrecy policy creates the perfect breathing ground for cyber-bullying, I think there is a bigger picture that we need to look at. I’ve read through thousands of comments on video hosting websites, Facebook fan pages and most worrying some of my friends on Facebook that opening slate, abuse and forward this most recent case. Society has become a very cruel place and it has amazed me how many people (adults and children!), and as I mentioned some of which are friends of mine, will happily jump the bandwagon of abuse for a cheap laugh or “like”.
Something is inherently wrong when people believe it is okay to do this or when they don’t see the damage it can cause particularly given the recent suicide cases highlighted in this article.
It really does truly sadden me.
Well said.
IMHO, if those questions/comments on Ask.fm weren’t so serious/offensive/illegal we can’t accuse them, these teens probably were quite unstable and other human interactions could have caused same effect. And if those comments on Ask.fm really were so offensive, aren’t they (Ask.fm) supposed to keep the IP address of every single user at any single time so it’s possible to know who said something? If they aren’t, they should.
If we adjust our internet policies for the conjured suicidel minority then we would have no freedom at all.
As an educator and facilitator of a cyberbullying workshop for junior school students my answer to this problem is simple EDUCATION, education of both children and also parents. While we are awaiting legislation on this issue parents need to take responsibility for their own children
Demand passwords from kids for their social networking profiles so you can track online activity and monitor usage, also stop using the PC as a childminder, time needs to be allocated and the PC needs to be used in a room with adult activity …
If we all play our part as parents at least we are reducing the odds of our children becoming targets or indeed instigators of this nasty, cowardly cycle of behavior
A computer, mobile phone, and social network8ng account should be a privilege to a child and not a right. Just because a child wants it, doesn mean they should get it. It’s up to a parent to judge whether a child or young adult has the maturity to use any one of the above without abuse. Unfortunately, it appears that many parents are unsure of how to manage their children. If they did, then their would be fewer cases of juvenile delinquency and cyber-bullying.
If you cant deal with it, dont sign up, there is no need for regulation .
Kids these days are getting too weak, as tragic as it is, 2 girls killing themselves because they cant deal with a few words online , is no reason to ruin it for mentally stable people who can just ignore the comments and move on.
Having, in many cases, made the comments in the first place? Because the “weakness” here is displayed by the bullies, not their targets. It takes more guts to show compassion and generosity than some among us could imagine, let alone develop.
Stephan. The internet bullying probably played a small part in the first young lady taking her life. Depression more than likely played the largest part. It’s an illness, and is as bad and dangerous as any other serious illness.
Why are parents allowing them on these sites ??? Thats where the problem lies.
First world problems. If they had bigger things to focus in life they wouldn’t be bogged down by such minor things. Parents responsible for not providing guidance and direction in life, their own for seeking it in the wrong places and being addicted to it, and the bullies for having a go at someone else’s expense. And ours for our views on bullying
Come on guys, everyone has a hand in this. Don’t be painting everyone as angels
have your say