Life is built up of an intricate structure of hierarchies. Authority controls is from the minute we are born until we day. The Police, the State, our boss, there's always someone telling us how to live our life and it all started with our parents. To be fair to the mums and dads out there though, the majority of them are only interested in the safety of their children and do a damn good job of protecting them, but sometimes they can be a little overprotective.
In the latest attack on the freedom of youngsters a new bill is under consideration in California which would force Facebook and other social networking sites to remove personal information on childrens’ accounts at their parents’ request.
Paranoia is growing over our children's interaction with social networking sites. Currently children under 13 are prohibited from joining Facebook, but obviously the crafty ones lie about their age (as many as 7.5 million kids according to reports.)
The new 'Privacy Act,' if passed would also allow parents to take down their child’s page altogether, and could fine companies as much as $10,000 if they fail to comply within 48 hours .
The new act would also mean that users must set privacy settings as soon as they join. Unsurprisingly, a number of internet companies including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Match.com have submitted a formal letter of opposition to the plans. They say that introducing privacy controls at the sign-up stage could confuse users and actually decrease privacy.
Surely giving parent's to outright delete their child's facebook page is just going to cause unnecessary friction. The kid's going to act out and sign-up for a new account. Maybe the sensible thing would be to simply educate young people on the dangers of social networking.