The Facebook

After a push from the New York State prosecutors office, the social networking phenomena Facebook has agreed to post sterner warnings about the dangers of children using the site.

Facebook, which previously advertised itself as a safe online environment, was investigated by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo for falsely promoting itself as an place minors can met socially that is free of sexual predators.

Mr. Cuomo said the settlement would serve as a "new model" under which law enforcement and Internet companies could work together to protect children and recognize that they share responsibility to police illegal activity online.

"Any site where you are attracting young people, you must assume you are simultaneously attracting those who would prey on young people," Mr. Cuomo said. "Whether you are a shoe company or you’re an Internet company, consumer protection laws apply."

Facebook has agreed to hire an independent company to track complaints, which they claim can range from thousands to ten thousand per day.

"To the extent that the competitors of Facebook say, 'We have to do this now so we can be competitive with Facebook,' that’s a good thing," Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference yesterday. He added that his office was talking to other companies with similar social networking sites, but declined to name them.

So I have been on the Facebook since 2004. I loved it when I first got on because it was only for college students, and only students attending schools that were a part of the network could be on Facebook. Then they let high school students on, now everybody and there momma can be on Facebook. Not only that but Facebook lets you stalk someone from a distance. That news feed that lets everyone know when you update your status, make a new friend, attend an event, your online status, and just about every other thing you do online, is a stalker or sexual predators wet dream. Not only that but when you sign up for the Facebook did you know that they sell your email address. Didn't you notice you started getting more spam after you signed up.

In conjunction with the extra personal information people put on Facebook and the pictures that are borderline pornographic, this good idea to have college students connect has snowballed into a nightmare that our government is trying to clean up. Hopefully no 14-year-old kid gets molested online and then in person while the powers that be are trying to figure things out.