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Australian Govt. Proposes Internet "Panic Button" For Kids
CuteSteveJobs writes "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 by the Australian Government's cyber-safety working group. The button shall look like a 'friendly dolphin,' who will connect the child victim instantly to police or child protection groups. Australian Internet Censorship Advocate Hetty 'Save the Children' Johnson says the Internet needs something like 000 or 911. Will this be another scheme wasting taxpayer dollars in lieu of parental supervison, or could it actually work? Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet? Can flaming and trolling be classified as bullying?"
Will this be another scheme wasting taxpayer dollars in lieu of parental supervison, or could it actually work? Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet? Can flaming and trolling be classified as bullying?
I'm sure there are plenty of experts on Slashdot that are very qualified to answer. ;)
...the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Calling 911 because someone is making you feel bad? Calling 911 because some guy 1000 miles away wrote some words that made you feel bad?
out in my van
actually it seems I have one right here in my pants
http://www.panicbuttons.com/
My wife has one of those on her keyboard, it's pretty funny.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
I am sexually abused by the interwebs daily...
Y'know what else looks like a "friendly dolphin"? Come over here and let me show you.
How long then until a worm emerges that floods the govt with hundreds of thousands of fradulent calls, making the signal to noise ratio too burdensome to navigate?
Reply to That ||
Of fucking people......certainly more than some anonymous internet perv.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Your access to the Internet is limited basically to the box on your desk, or the phone in your hand, or other devices that are similarly entirely under your control. It's not like normal harassment or bullying in that you can easily get away from it simply by turning off the device you're using to access it. If you're getting bullied in real life, you have to try to run away and get help immediately before your attackers catch up with you and continue the beating. Online, you can simply get off the computer and tell the proper authorities (be that the police or your parents or whoever) at your leisure. There is not the same need for immediacy.
Also, the whole idea of grooming children (or more often FBI agents posing as children) is that the pedophile gets the child to believe they're safe, and so they would have no motivation to push the little dolphin button. The kids that go off to meet pedophiles do so because they don't perceive that they're in any danger. If they don't perceive the danger, why would they alert the police to anything?
Or are children using any kind of unsupported OS on their own? Click the little red devil for help.
Making a big friendly button just sitting there, shining at them? Kids are going to pushing that thing like crazy.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cPI1-kGAMoY/SsIe_WaE5gI/AAAAAAAAACA/U2qgupZJsU0/s1600-h/stimpy.jpg
and thanx for all the filth!
At least this looks to be somewhat close to (an attempt at a) solution for an actual problem, instead of blanket bans on "baaad content" that apply to everyone, not just those deemed unfit to stand up for themselves. If it gets the censor out of everyone else's hair I'm for it.
Still and all, kids have had to put up with bullying in school since whenever, right under the noses of strategically placed nearby teachers and there too most can learn to stand up for themselves. Maybe it's really hard for kids to ask their parents for help with the internet, though in following generations that may change. Growing a thicker skin is part of growing up, so why won't we let our kids do exactly that?
A national panic button, just because a few kids, boys and girls alike, managed to get lured into whatever it was that made the news last week? Because that's what we're talking about. How many incidents on how many kids with access to the internet in the entire country? Well? How many?
achievement unlocked
you are a regular pusher, well done!
pressing the panic button 50 times in a minute unlocks this award and gives you access to Juvie hall.
Extra Rewards: Parents must pay $500.
liqbase
No need for the government to get involved.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
as long as the panic button dials the parent's cellphone/ sends a text to the parent/ sends an email to the parent
not to some intrusive government bureaucracy with an agenda having dubious additional goals beyond just good parenting, not tailored to the specifics of each different parent-child relationship, and costing tax dollars
otherwise, its basically just a good business idea for someone to invest in and flesh out
i look forward to unintentionally humorous late night tv commercials for the internet panic button
"mom! i've fallen into porn and i can't get up!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I've_fallen_and_I_can't_get_up!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I'd think a lot of kids would just click on a dolphin icon just because this represents something "good".
Shouldn't the icon be something that the average kid knows to be representative of "bad"? Like spinach or something?
Don't we already have one of these? I think its called the "Power" button unless I'm very much mistaken. There's even a key-combo for it "alt-f4" or "ctrl-w".
Or is turning it off just too much to ask?
The dolphin thing is a little too weird.
I think the little tykes should punch the monkey.
Or perhaps it might be a little more taxpayer effective to just re-purpose all those old turbo buttons.
You know the absolute first thing that will happen is that some pedo-hacker will use a PC virus to hack into the Dolphin and send all "panic" help requests to themselves.
I wonder if they told the police... cause your average 911 line is going to be just thrilled if this starts automatically forwarding whiny kids to them. I guess it could be a huge make work project for social work grad students, god help them.
Your attitude is exactly why people don't ask for help when they're in a bad place. The result is school shootings, suicides, and other depressing events. Not just among teens either. Adults in general listen to your kind of belittlement and think they're weak if they ask for help.
This is a particular problem in first responders and members of the armed services. They see all kind of horrible crap, need help in dealing with it, and are afraid to get it because they don't want to seem "weak". This is a particular problem in the Army, which is seeing a spike in suicides lately.
Mind you, I'm not equating a bullied teenager with a GI who's seen his friends blown up by an IED. But they do have one thing in common: they need for it to be easy to ask for help, and people like you make it hard.
are sexually abused by the Internet? I always knew that its only a matter of time before these large "pipes" would start doing real damage, and the "service providers" would think of other ways to screw innocent kids over
"Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet?"
Err NO, exactly ZERO (0) children have ever been sexually abused by the internet. Nor for that matter have any children EVER been sexually abused over the internet, on the internet, or even around the internet. The internet has undoubtedly been a tool used by sexual predators to get access or to provide information on the location of children which they would then prey upon and abuse, but just like a gun has never shot anyone by itself, a interconnected system of computers has never abused or neglected a child, it takes people to do that....
http://www.pandys.org/whatissexualabuse.html
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Halp! Halp! I'm being groomed online!
Oh, wait, I just remembered I'm a forty-something guy, instead of a 12-year-old girl. Maybe I just misinterpreted something somebody said, or maybe my luck is actually turning for the better...
The way the large percentages for sexual propositioning/harassment on the internet are pretty misleading. In order to get that number they are counting fairly tame stuff such as mildly lewd comments from friends over IM and the like. For example, a teenager asking another teenager if the other was a virgin would count or possibly even asking "hey, did you end up making out with that cute guy." When one looks at what one would normally call a real problem, such as sexual solicitation by strangers and the like one gets under 3%. See http://www.csicop.org/si/show/predator_panic_a_closer_look/.
There's already a panic button on every desktop, laptop and netbook. It's called the Power Button. It will automatically disconnect you from whatever you were doing and turn off your computer. Combine this with a talk with whatever parental figure(s) the child has (both before and after online access is granted) and kids should be covered. Not every "think of the children" problem needs a government mandated solution.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I don't know whether to laugh because it is so ridiculously stupid or to cry because whoever suggested it was serious.
children cannot be abused by the internet. My question is, how is it that the "defenders of children" never have a clue about children? How many law enforcement resources does Australia plan to throw at answering calls from kids who just wonder what the pretty button does, who think the police should arrest Bobby for calling him a troll, who get scared of the "2012" preview they stumbled onto, who just want to stir things up? If we really want to "protect" kids we'd be better off banning idiocy like this and restricting parenthood to those with the capacity to do the job.
How can Dolphins save you from the net when they get caught in them all time?
I think that, if I were a small child, I'd probably pound on that dolphin button all day long. Hey, pounding the dolphin! New euphemism! Kids, don't try this at home...
Steve O.
I am really, really exhausted.
So could I use this to report Internet "bullying" the next time Windows Genuine Advantage pops up to see if I have handed over my lunch money to Redmond as required?
Can we go a few months without an article on slashdot describing yet another moronic idea from someone in Australia?
Seriously, there's something wrong in that place and I'm very curious to know what. Or maybe, these stories are coming from the Australian equivalent of WeeklyWorldNews?
Samsung took back my unlocked bootloader because Google wants me to rent movies. They're both evil.
Maybe they can just stick a dolphin sticker over the power button.
WTF are they thinking?
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/12/sexual-predators-200912
The short version is that the police and the media are contributing the hysteria of online child predators and blowing things WAY out of proportion. In the huge majority of the cases where minors are involved in sexual conversations online, they are engaged in them with other minors.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
How about a button for when my ass begins to itch?
Fata viam invenient.
Here's a neat button and everytime you press it a bunch of cars with with flashing lights and screaming sirens will come zooming up to your house!
Reminds me of the diapers with the moisture sensors that played a little tune every time the kid needed changing, which was pretty often once the kids figured out how to make the music play. : - )
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Hi all,
I know this may come across as extremely controversial but I urge you to hear me out.
For decades parents have looked to schools, sports, and the telly to be their babysitters, and the latest is for myspace, yahoo, and AOL chat rooms to watch over their preteens. This has proven to not work out so well - child molestation is becoming more commonplace, children's attention spans are about the same as that of a goldfish, and they have become very unruly and disrespectful, dropping the F-bomb to old ladies.
Now people are urging the gubbament to step in and introduce a panic button their children can hit, so the government will babysit their children.
The crux of the issue is personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is a thing of the past; viewed as outmoded and harmful. After all, if government doesn't take care of you, who will?
No, what I suggest is revolutionary. It's also frightening, and it takes effort. However, in the long run I think it could work.
My suggestion is that we bring back personal responsibility. Parents should actually supervise their children. If your child isn't old enough to go out on a date by her or himself, or isn't old enough to go to a pool hall and stay out of trouble, then that child is young enough to require constant supervision. Grow a set, put in some time and actually be PARENTS. You made the conscious decision to conceive a child, now frigging raise the child. Don't look to me to pay taxes for the government to do it for you.
Oh, and on a different-yet-similar topic: bullying. Don't push for laws against bullying, because what you are doing is creating thought crime. The current bills being introduce don't make bullying a crime based on action and intention, but on perception. They are worded such that if, for example, I have a migraine and my brow is furrowed and I glance in your direction, you could interpret that as intimidation or harassment, and press charges against me. Or, similarly, if you're listening to a podcast and are LOLing at it, and you happen to be glancing in the direction of someone with low self esteem on the subway, that person could think you're laughing at them and press charges for bullying. Instead, you should be instructing your kid who is being bullied to just grow a pair. He should beat the snot out of the bully - or at least make his very best effort to kick the bully in the family jewels. Bleeding hearts claim violence never solves violence, but that's bullshit. Appeasement never curbed the aggression of axis powers, but a nuke ended WWII in seconds. Israel has attempted to appease radical Muslims for decades and yet the Muslims will not be happy until all the Jews are pushed into the sea and Muslims occupy that puny strip of land they had ZERO interest in prior to 1947. What HAS worked is attacking the Arab states back in definitive, decisive blows.
Bullies have been bullies since man started to walk, and you know what has worked? Not ignoring them. Not killing them with kindness. Not tattling to the teacher or principal. No, what works is not taking their shit, turn around, and beat the shit out of the bully - or at least try to. Then, the bullies stop because they know you're not an easy target.
Stop looking to government to solve all of your personal problems.
Personal responsibilty; Crime and consequences. If you do not want to engage in an interactive, responsible relationship with your children, or are unable to, do not bring children into the world - or give them up for adoption by a couple who is willing to put forth the effort.
We're creating a nanny state and allowing too much government interference in personal lives as it is.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Here in Norway, the police is present, and has a big, red "POLITI" button on Facebook, Twitter as well as in Windows Live Messenger, and on Norwegian social networks (biip.no, nettby.no). The button is linked to a chat service with officers from Kripos (National Crime Unit). Apparently, children have reported abuse (violence by parents) as well as bullying, enabling Social Services to react.
Let me know when they add a boss key.
What a complete waste of time, money and resources. They will spend a few years deciding on parameters, spending money on consultants for a few more years, spend more money building a center somewhere, hiring and training agents, millions on hardware and proprietary software, once it is done, another year to get it to actually work, then when it's running there will be a rash of false alarms and confusion, clarification on when children should use the system, millions spent on an informational campaign educating the public on how to correctly use the system all before the system is scraped entirely and called a big waste of money and a complete failure.
How can they be sure a child will know how to identify a sexual predator? Since when is trolling a crime? Also where are the parents? Are parents okay with an unknown adult be it a police officer or a social worker getting into their child's business? Since when did it become the governments job to parents peoples children? Why not allow the parents to make the choice on if the police should be called. Leaving that decision to a child is just opening the door to all sorts of problems.
Also why is it that we now need programs like this? Kids will always be kids. Children have always been bullied in one form or another why is now that this day in age it is a crime and a huge problem? Why not focus on the problem of why now in this day in age when a kid is bullied they shoot up a school or try to commit suicide. Lets find out why kids today are "soft" and let things like name calling or different opinions send kids over the edge where 20 years ago this sort of thing would not happen. If we do not solve that problem kids of today will be in for a rude surprise when they hit the real world.
I am not saying if a child is being sexually assaulted by a 50 year old in yahoo chat that the authorities should not be notified, I think they should and in regards to that I think the parents should make the decision to notify the police. In regards to bullying I think in some cases kids of today should grow up a little and prepare for real life and accept that sometimes people are assholes.
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
(User has been arrested for this post)
Wouldn't an animated Chris Hansen be a better display?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
This seems to be the next "big new shiny thing" in crime prevention. In Germany a trade union of law enforcement officers and a foundation called "German forum for crime prevention" pushes for a system called "web-patrol" since the beginning of 2009. You can find a blog (http://webpatrol.wordpress.com/) and a presentation here (http://webpatrol.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/2009-06-09-vortrag-web-patrol-auf-14-dt-praventionstag-hannover.pdf). Nice (fake) screenshots with the panic button integrated in a browser menu bar. Sorry, but german only. Does anybody know about similar initiatives in other parts of the world?
Instead of having a button on the computer to connect you to police, let's have someone stationed with the child while they're using the internet! Maybe one person per 1 or 2 or 3 kids. This way, the workload is dispersed amongst more people and it doesn't have to go to the police.
Oooh! We can even have this person, or even two people per 1 or 2 or 3 kids, perhaps working in shifts, raise the kid or kids and team them right from wrong and other stuff like that. We'll call them "parents"! Man I am so clever sometimes.
...and found nothing.
NOTHING!
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Good idea -- incorrect routing.
Have the dolphin button ring the parents cell phone with a message like:
"(Kid's name) is having an Internet Panic Attack --- If you don't respond to this message, then the call will be routed to your local law enforcement division -- Remember, please monitor and talk with your children!"
Supply a pager to the parents without a cell phone. Seems like a far less costly method than having to hire thousands of police and/or SS workers to handle the plethora of "I wanna see someone jump when I feel bad" abusers.
And don't forget the legions of lawyers that will be necessary to sort through the pile of litigation!
"We are now cleared to launch the missiles"
Keys are turned, glasses are broken, secret passwords are entered
"Whenever you are ready Mr. President, push the cute dolphin button"
Because... as we all know, dolphins are the new panic button.
"I see undead people" Warcraft III - Necromancer
WTF happened to setting limits as a parent? This seems to be the classic "surely we can find a technical solution to a people problem" hole. What about requiring parents to take child-rearing classes that cover internet predators and how to limit children's activities on the 'net until they are ready to handle the mostly adult online world? This seems like anti-virus tools; the OS is broken so let's build a band-aid that covers the holes. It seems like it would be better, a la the US Head Start program, to educate parents early in the process so their kids don't get into these situations until they are mature enough to handle them.
Computer Science is all about trying to find the right wrench to bang in the right screw. -T.Cumbo?
if those little whiners weren't on the internet in the first place this wouldn't be a problem.
What's 000? I'm British.
I don't know, that ethernet cable has been giving me creepy looks lately. :-)
Of course i can't pick up a PC and use it to fire deadly metal pellets at you
No, but you can easily bash someone over the head with it. The danger is in the wielder of the object, not the object itself.
GUNS KILL PEOPLE. GET OVER IT.
I hate to break it to you, but you are on the losing side of this issue in the United States. GET OVER IT.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Yes, it will/would be another scheme wasting *billions* of taxpayer dollars in lieu of parental supervison... And where exactly is the problem? Is anyone there physically attacking you? Didn't think so. You do know where the "off" button is, right?
'Cause, like ya, that won't be totally abused to the point of uselessness.
Instead of cute dolphin, about about a really really sad wolf crying...
...for that matter have any children EVER been sexually abused over the internet...
OK, you can feel free to pick your own narrow definition of abuse, but by most standards sexual abuse has taken place over the internet.
Examples:
Flashing kids.
Showing pornography to kids.
Encouraging kids to take part in sexual acts - E.g. masturbating.
Generating child pornography - E.g. taking and sending nude self-pics.
I'm not implying that the dolphin thing is a good idea, but I am implying that you're an idiot.
I could also use my ThinkPad to bash your head to a bloody pulp, still doesn't mean Lenovo's at fault.
Child molesters on the 'Net (although not as common as the press would have you believe) are an excellent teaching opportunity for kids. If the kids are trained to recognize them, they can easily delete the message, or call mom and dad over to see the weird e-mail. At this point, the perv can't reach out and do actual harm to the kid. Mom and dad are in a far better position to judge the seriousness of the incident and decide whether to just log off or call the cops. And they can add a little lesson about why pics of private parts are inappropriate. The 'Net isn't a babysitter. If your kid uses it, you are going to have to help them navigate it. Including the nasty bits, just like real life. Better to teach them where the fix is the Delete key than the weirdo in the bushes.
Anybody mods me down and I'm hitting my dolphin button!!
Have gnu, will travel.
My computer already has a button to push if I'm being harassed in a chat room. It's a 'X' button in the top-right corner of the window. In the pre-GUI days, "/leave", and in more extreme cases, "/quit" also did the job.
Now, if I was worried about being physically assaulted while using my computer, I'd simply have to install a hold-up kick-switch under my desk, like in banks.
And what happens when the bullying is unintended. Say I'm posting on /. and call someone an jackass for some comment they made. The majority of people on this site are old enough to be able to handle being called a jackass every so often. But what if by chance it's a little child? Am I at fault because I made the assumption that the person I was commenting on was an adult when they were actually a child? I don't want to be dealing with the police for some off the cuff comment on a site that is not necessarily intended for children.
And before anyone starts posting about how they aren't an adult but they visit /. Let me put it this way, you're joining the adults and you have to be able to deal with it. If you can't then go back to facebook.
"Educate the mind but never at the expense of the soul."~Blessed Basil Moreau
that children who feel they need to bully or harass someone now have a new tool.
Which is funny, because I did the same thing and found your comment.
Hey! Maybe they should use a picture of a friendly bear that loves children for the image on the panic button. Because the only friendly dolphins I've ever read about on the internet will try to rub up against you.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Is this a joke?
Let me rephrase that. This is a joke!
I've been cultivating an idea for a while now that perhaps the reason we have become so incredibly blindly overprotective of our children is precisely due to how safe they have become. Up to maybe 50 years ago infant and child mortality were comparitively high. Death of a dearly loved child while undoubtedly horrible, was part and parcel of the human experience. Is it possible that the other worries that parents seem to be obsessing about in the absence of death; paedophiles, bullying, educational failure, are somehow a symptom of an unfulfilled dread about our childrens safety. Without a real threat from diseases, we have manufactored a bogeyman, made legion by our many dark fears.
And money. And government resources. etc etc. The list goes on.
But really, is this a joke? Hope to god it is.
nonexistent sig
I'm thankful the U.S. won't be the only country raising a generation of pu55ies.
No. Guns are a tool, just like the Internet, AND just like everything else in this world. They can be used for both Good and Evil. Based on your analysis: if I give you a gun, then someone WILL die. Based on reality: if you give me a gun, I will coddle it, clean it, and have a lot of shooting range fun, but it would never be pointed at someone by my hand. See how guns are not the problem?
Another way to look at it: someone who killed someone with a gun would have used a knife or other weapon if guns weren't around. Just look to history (pre guns) for tons of evidence of that.
A thinkpad isn't made with the intent of bashing someone's head into a pulp.
If kids don't like what people are saying on the internet, they can just go to a different site.
But if kids don't like getting beat up at school, they can't simply stop going to school.
For some reason, teachers like convincing themselves that this sort of abuse and humiliation isn't going on, so kids get away with it and other kids suffer.
Do something about THAT.
Giving a panic button to an ideal child might work, but I have yet to come across an ideal child. All the children I've met would think, push button - get attention!
Who will be dispatched when my cat steps on the power button?
"Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet?"
If you ask organisations such as the NCMEC - who know that their funding depends on misinformed hysteria over children's safety - one in five children are sexually abused online. The reality is that the NCMEC and similar organisations use bizarre definitions of child abuse, so if a 13 year boy asks a 13 year old girl to show her breasts, the girl is reported to be a "victim of sexual abuse".
Most studies on this topic are remarkably biased (for financial reasons, or because they have been commissioned by governments) and based upon grossly inappropriate methodologies, so that question will probably never be answered. Consider Bennett Haselton's article article about NCMEC "research" as an example of how such data is biased.
"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free" ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four
Finally I can REALLY get recognition for when I troll Australians!
So how are they going to enforce anything with this?
Everyone here on /. is really in trouble!
Four words: denial of service attack.
``Will this be another scheme wasting taxpayer dollars in lieu of parental supervison''
Yes.
``or could it actually work?''
Yes. They will claim "5 fantasillion emergency calls per month! The system is a great success!"
And then they will write in their re-election programme "Passed legislation that enhanced the safety of children."
And the suppliers of the technology will make money.
And that's all the proposal is meant to accomplish.
Perhaps, as a nice bonus, parents will feel the safety of their children has improved, too.
Real safety matters only in the mind of a small minority.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
A thinkpad isn't made with the intent of bashing someone's head into a pulp.
Sure it is. There is no legitimate reason anyone could need a laptop that durable. We must ban Thinkpads.
DATABASE WOW WOW
Oh, no! Kids being bullied on the internet!
Seriously? If they're young enough to require this waste of money, then they shouldn't be using the bloody internet in the first place.
The real solution is for the button to contact child protective services, and when the child presses the button, they ask where the parents are, and how often the child is left alone at the computer.
Turn off the computer if you are in real trouble. Kids don't understand that when you are on the Internet you can just walk away.
guns kill people / people kill people is a stupid argument i think.
if a person of the criminal sort is threatening my life and limb, it doesn't really matter if i kill him or if my gun kills him.
i'm not seeing a downside either way.
also to keep things on topic, the internet is for porn.
http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Internet community proposes "Stupid" button for Australia.
If parents are worried about what their kids are going to see on the Internet, maybe they should, you know, spend some time with them? Teach them? Oh, wait - that won't work. They're to busy replying to the latest email hoping to make money from the latest scam.
I hope they do this. 50,000,000 fake alerts a day triggered by malware/viruses/whatever should be interesting ...
There that was easy.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
This is basically just a governmental response to keep the public pacified into thinking that THE GOVERNMENT is thinking about their safety and wellbeing online. Unfortunately, the case is more along the lines of "they don't really give a stuff and aren't really going to do much of anything because they're still not up-to-snuff about the entire sphere of technology and it's implications on society et al." IF the Australian government REALLY wanted to make a show for protection of the Australian public, they'd enforce FAIR PRICING for internet access - starting with Telstra. THAT would have more TRUE impact than this type of tripe/BS/PR/Marketing.
YankDownUnder Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire
I think GP is complaining about the grammar of the sentence, "Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet?"
This is a badly-worded sentence, probably included in the summary specifically in order that several people would post to say "But you can't be abused BY the Internet".
I believe that Slashdot's editors may introduce mistakes like this deliberately in order to keep people on the site. They look like lousy editing, but actually they are invitations for corrections and counter-corrections. It works, especially if the mistake is subtle.
The sentence should of course read "abused using the Internet" or similar, and that's exactly what a normal person would assume it meant. Just as, if we heard that "Mr John Doe was killed by a gun", we would assume that somebody else fired the gun and thus was responsible for the murder, rather than assuming that the gun had somehow become sentient and decided to murder Mr Doe.
You're an immobile computer, remember?
http://www.break.com/index/burger_king_911.html
Kids will be pushing the button nonstop for nonissues. Kids do the majority of bulling as it is.
it's implementation needs to be thought through, but the idea is a good one.
I would rather it's texted me or my wife. Contrary to what the childless on /. think. kids aren't always around their parent.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet?" Err NO, exactly ZERO (0) children have ever been sexually abused by the internet.
The word "by" here could also be interpreted as "via", meaning that claim matches with your statement that the internet is a tool.
I need to read posts more carefully, I just read
Show me where on the dolphin he touched you.
as
how me where the dolphin touched you.
I was afraid that I might have to start watching out for dolphin sapienophiles on teh intarwebz...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
I searched! I found one, AND IT WAS YOURS!
That's what the button should be shaped like.
Here's a brief history of Australia:
A few hundred years ago, the British decided to make a penal colony on a far-away island. They sent their worst scum there, probably with existing mental conditions. These male inmates all procreated with each other and the result is generations of scruffy-clothed, unshaved inmates with sub-normal IQs. If you don't believe me, take a boat to Australia and when you get to the port, don't dock, just look at all the people going about with iron balls shackled to their feet. You'll be safe on the boat because they can't swim over to you.
Help! I'm being raped by my modem!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
The only true danger for kids on the Internet is if they get tricked by child predators into meeting in real life. A "panic button" does nothing in that case, since the child does not think he/she is in danger. Here's a better way to spend tax money to protection children on the Internet: Pay a software company to develop a good, free "Net Nanny"-style software program and make it available for everyone to use. The market for software like that has always been weak, since most parents don't care enough about protecting their kids from the Internet to actually want to spend money and time buying and configuring the software. Part of the reason is because the software is not known to be very good. Government spending could keep software like that universally compatible with all major OSes, browsers, etc., with a very good matching algorithm or a database on which sites are safe and which aren't. And it could be a free download from your government's website.
I'd be a lot more impressed if there was a button to push for "report fraud", with at least as much effort behind it. After all, by dollar volume, most crime is on line now. Breaking into houses is so last-cen. (TVs are now either too big to carry or too worthless to bother. Used furniture, clothes, and appliances have near zero value. And who has expensive jewelry any more?) Stealing cars is getting hard; the vehicle electronics won't cooperate and may fight back. Robbing banks just gets you a very short career on TV. But financial fraud is at an all-time high.
That is why I cited a national organization devoted to dealing with abuse of children, both sexually and otherwise..hence the http link to a LEGAL definition.
"I'm not implying that the dolphin thing is a good idea, but I am implying that you're an idiot" Try reading the response before calling someone an idiot...
What you have cited are lewd and lacivious acts but DO NOT fall under the legal term sexual abuse.
Not that I am arguing that the net isn't used by many to incite sexual abuse or as a tool to gain access to children for said purposes..but it is not my interpretation but a legal definition.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
nowhere in the linked articles are references to the emergency services numbers (911 in USA, 000 in Australia). While including these references has made for some funny posts, it really is quite misleading.
the second link talks specifically about bravehearts, which is a childrens help service for all kinds of abuse. there are also services like the kids help line, a well known Australian organisation along similar lines. My understanding is this "panic button" would relay to these sort of services, which is quite appropriate.
So thanks for the laughs, but how about giving more representative by-lines? I know it's asking a lot...
It's not hard to guess how this will go. Since children do not have an adult sense of proportion, the button will get pressed for any and all occasions including "I like dolphins!". They can't really complain about that, they're the ones who wanted all those kids to have an attractive panic button. They will end up overwhelmed and inevitably miss important calls. The kids will decide that they can't actually rely on the cops when there's trouble.
I just searched for "bear" and found you. Despite a good start we also haven't had a thread demanding an "Australia" section where regular news items on insanity down under can be had.
Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet? Only if you count reading the "fuck you!" that somebody typed at you as sexual abuse. Seriously, one can only do emotional, not physical harm over the net, and chances are anything some stranger tells my daughter over the 'net isn't going to effect her more anywhere near as much as something I myself say when I'm pissed off at her. Yes, parents should monitor their children's internet use, and children should be instructed to never, never provide personally identifiable information over the internet. But if you are doing that, then who cares what some immature asshole says in a chat room? And how is pushing the panic button on the typed input some anonymous coward really going to help anything? You know, at some point you've got to let your kids fall and skin their knees so they learn it is not the end of the world and they can just get up and go about there life even after something "bad" happens. Trying to protect them from everything harmful in the real world just trains them to not be able to handle the real world when you're not there, and since I plan on dieing before my kids, that's probably not a good idea.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Really?! - And why does the power button not work?
The new Panic Button will be the equivalent of:
0118 999 881 999 119 725 3
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
funny, i just searched and found one.
"My question is, how is it that the "defenders of children" never have a clue about children?"
The "defenders of children" are not really "defenders of children". Many of the larger children's charities are self-promoting organisations who do very little to help children. They plead for donations, but rather than using those donations to protect children, they use the money to pay for advertising and other marketing activities. The extra donations which they receive as a result of those marketing activities can be used to pay for more advertising, and the cycle of growth continues, with the organisations becoming increasingly profitable, without helping children.
Frank Furedi dicussed this issue a few years ago, in an article at Spiked Online.
"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free" ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four
On my computer, it looks like a circle interrupted at the top with a vertical line going up from the center.
It was 1998-1999, and I was just discovering an enthusiasm for computers. I had found these things called chat rooms where I could talk to anyone from all over the world!
One day, some of the chat channel started talking about things that I had little to no knowledge of, until I was asked if I wanted to cyber. I asked what that meant, and yes, the answer was indeed cybersex. Now, I didn't usually go around announcing that I was an 11 year old, I think you had to be over a certain age to go on the chat rooms, so it was probably only the regular variety of internet creep.
So, I accepted the invitation, and ended up in a private conversation with two other people. They started talking about a bunch of stuff that I wasn't particularly interested in, and I didn't really know how (or if I even wanted) to contribute. So I left, and went back to the main channel.
Out of curiosity, how would a big dolphin button have helped me there exactly?
from what i understood. but im not sure which degrees, or subjects, are allowed. possibly the cop man handling you has a BA but eitherway probably not a law degree, together with a pass on the bar exam.
please correct me if i'm wrong.
Of course flaming and trolling are bullying. It's not a question, we've seen how bad it can get multiple times. Now it's just a question of what we do about it. And unless a kid tells a parent (which they should, but rarely do) then parents can hardly do anything about it since they won't know (unless they're spying on their kids activities online, which might as well be cyber bullying in itself.)
""Are 1 in 4 children really sexually abused by the Internet?"
Err NO"
Someone hasn't watched Demon Seed...
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
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It's the power button. Feel threatened? Teach your kid to get off the damn internet and turn the PC off.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to propose that the Australian Government hire on a consultant for the sole purpose of pointing out the obvious flaws in sweeping, technology-related legislation, particularly when it purports to protect our children.
Ideally, said consultant would themselves be a child, as the ability of the average small child to use technology effectively, and to imagine the consequences of poorly-thought-out plans, appears to significantly outstrip that of the average Australian politician.
The worm would just redirect the panic button here.
And when the social workers start taking people's kids away 'cause they've left them alone and the kids stumbled on something illegal online... won't that be a treat?
Heck, an ill-tempered child might just press the dolphin repeatedly and start saying horrible things about their parents just to get back at them for some imagined slight. Cue the social workers lining up to handcuff dad and take junior into foster care.
I'm pretty sure it's already illegal to physically discipline your kids in Australia. If that's true, and kids who get their bottoms smacked start crying to the friendly dolphins about it, a whole lot of people are going to be facing some stiff government fines, or even jail time. Guess what your average spoilt youngster would do with that sort of power?
... if you've ever read Danny Choo. ( example )
These nasty bastards attempting to get knee jerk emotional reactions simply redefine existing terms to make their made up statistics look real. If questioned repeatedly they will eventually admit that they are using "sexual abuse" to mean seeing a picture of a girl in a bikini or something. Unfortunatly the funding for dealing with real cases of child rape is getting taken away to provide resources for this insane drive to sweep everything under the carpet instead.
If someone's distressed enough to want to contact emergency services, why wouldn't they just reach for their cellphone and dial 911? Just because you're sitting at a computer means you can't use a phone at the same time?
This is just worthless duplication of what already exists. The internet is just not the right tool for rapid response to emergencies, that's why there's no 911 equivalent online.
They pick a dolphin? the pack-rapist of the sea?
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
whatever happened to good old parental supervision..
are parents just so lazy now they need some stupid animated dolphin to do their work for them now?
seems like a massive waste of money imo..
I fail to see the difference between people being mean in real life behind someones back, and posting nasty things on facebook..etc
people are always going to be nasty.. the sooner kids learn this the better... take every facebook comment as a grain of salt.. or request the post be removed from facebook.. Simple!
Besides, when you really break the problem apart, it becomes quite clear that neither I nor the gun killed him, blood loss was the actual killer in this case.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Hail, hail, fire and snow.
Call the dolphin; we will go.
Far away, for to see,
friendly dolphin, come to me.
So dolphins keep children safe on the net. Did you know they also get in trouble in real life? Where will the dolphin be then? Instead of this half baked approach, we need a real solution. What I propose, is a GPS tracking chip and button combo to be implanted into every child's wrist. It will also be shaped like a cute dolphin button, but will be useful on and off-line! While we're at it why not give all our children tasers, in case they get into trouble?
It's a little button, usually at the top right of your browser, that looks like an "X".
There are people in this world who dream of lording themselves over others. This is just another scheme that they have cooked up using the tried and tested method of presenting that which they wish to control as a threat to children, with the remedy being that they are given more power.
This is horseshit and the people who are proposing it should be beaten to death with a tire iron.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
It's really come to this? How about the dolphin immediately e-mails the child a John Taylor Gatto book?
Statistics show that 91 out of 94 online dolphins are actually human beings!
What strikes me most about this is that the dolphin shape has been decided, while other details, like: what will the button actually do? where do we buy/acquire the tech? is this a good idea? are still undecided. It's like in the hitchhikers guide book where they are back in time on earth with the golgafrinchams and they are wanting to invent a wheel, and the most important decision to them is what color (colour in the book I suppose) to make it.
You do have a point, I think the ultimate cause of any death is lack of oxygen to the brain isn't it ?
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Anti-pedophile activists love statistics like 1 in 4 children are sexually abused online. But it's false.
The study where this number came from was made over the telephone. Kids were asked if anyone ever made sexual comments they didn't want. Many said yes. (There appeared to be no distinctions made between sexual invitations and saying "fag" and "suck a dick" which are incredibly common.) They were asked if they were ever asked to do sexual stuff by adults. Very few said yes. But these and other questions were then piled together into a "child sexual abuse" category, with the assumption that this number -not that it means anything- was about adult-child interactions. I read this report when it came out. Finkelhor is one of its authors. He made a big name for himself with the now-discredited day care scandals of the 1980's. But people in this line of work are never discredited.
1 in 4 is just garbage. Complete garbage.
"Kids get on internet; flog the dolphin"
Show me on the doll where the mouse touched you.
They should make it a big red button. Preferably one that takes up 2/3s of the screen and says "RAPE!" in flashing letters.
I wasn't aware that they were an endangered species.