Written by Professor Emeritus Pete Bagnolo   

Is Facebook Inappropriate For Minors?

Wake Up Mr. Mark E. Zuckerberg, and Notification to; Aaron J. Greenspan, Tyler, and Cameron Winklevoss Et Al and all parents::

FROM THE FACE BOOK TOS:
“Membership in the Service is void where prohibited. This Site is intended solely for users who are thirteen (13) years of age or older, and users of the Site under 18 who are currently in secondary school or college. Any registration by, use of or access to the Site by anyone under 13, or by anyone who is under 18 and not in secondary school or college, is unauthorized, unlicensed and in violation of these Terms of Use. By using the Service or the Site, you represent and warrant that you are 13 or older and in secondary school or college, or else that you are 18 or older, and that you agree to and to abide by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement.”

In my opinion, this space should Not allow children! Oh, not that it is pornographic, or degenerative, but it is more a lingering, underground and threatening, lying in the weeds, sort of danger for the Health, welfare and Safety of Minors and women, and of late for some men. It brings up nightmares of a burgeoning of the kind of bloody Serial murderers, rapists one sees on the Criminal Minds TV show where crazies begin using Facebook to set up and entice victims.

The whole "Friends" structure at Facebook is ridiculous and dangerous not only for young people; but also to females and others of any age. Facebook asks one to befriend someone they know very little to NOTHING about. Many of those people offered as friends have much of their Bio’s/profiles and histories hidden unless and until befriended. People using alias’ are rampant.

In order for me, an adult, to make a friendship, I must have more knowledge of a person, their philosophies of life, their beliefs, their likes and dislikes, their many preferences. Why on earth would you befriend anyone without knowing anything about them? Personally I want to first see their bio, who they are, what they stand for, a photo of them, not some silly avatar and a made up name, or cartoon picture and their age. My standard is if you are not 18-21 you should not be on Facebook and any adult with a drop of commonsense should not knowingly befriend anyone under that age. Why are many people not showing their real names on Facebook? From what or whom are they hiding? Have they no courage? Are they a danger to others? How would Facebook know that in order to protect the interests of those which are members? And why do people share publicly the most intimate details of their lives and habits?

Further, people who spill their personal information are sitting ducks for con-artists, scammers, blackmailers, Trolls, predator’s, whether men or women and other greedy or malicious whack-jobs of which this planet, this nation has far more than their/its share.

One more thing, people on Facebook are allowed to join if they over Thirteen (13) years of age? Join at 13? With their elders? Are they crazy? Are their parents Crazy? Are they even aware, if not they certainly ought to be, or do they really even care? Preposterous! There is too much danger for those under age on such sites and younger people should neither be exposed to nor involved in matters of older generations. Children should not have a presence on a site inhabited by adults. There are several sites for children already and they ought to be closely monitored if they are not already by parents and law enforcement, and getting law enforcement at the Federal level to oversee spaces like Facebook, is my goal.

Minimum age for Facebook ought to be 18 or 21, whichever the legal age of consent is. The Founders of this site need to do some ethical homework before they find themselves in legal or even criminal hot water. There has already been at least one attack on a gal of 17, by a man of 33 posing as a 19 year old who raped and murdered her, after having met her on face book. I say no children on Facebook! Instead send them to the several Children's versions of Facebook for those beneath the age of 18/21 and do not allow contact with those who are adults. Further Facebook and all such social websites should verify ages of its members and know where they live in case of trouble, but of course not make that information public. If they do not take such precautions they should be held liable for any harm coming to person under the age of 18/21 as a result of being on Facebook I also believe that the age of consent and for drinking alcoholic beverages ought to be raised to 21. Perhaps there should be a division separating those in Primary school from those in High school in addition to the one restricted to adults.

However, Facebook is not the only site which allows both adults and children to be members. The congress should create a national law restricting the ages of those on various sites into at least three categories, Primary school up to age 14, High school up to age 18/19, and college 18/21 and older. Where are parents when children are chasing each other around the internet, and adults, psychotics, and perhaps serial murderers and rapists are disguised as their peers? Do parents allow 13 years old children to attend bars, strip clubs, night clubs, gambling casino’s? Why have do people have children if they do not intend to care for and protect them? Why do they allow children to attend places where harm could befall them? One has to be 25 years old in many states to run for political office and 35 to run for president, and yet parents expect children to make decisions, that even foolish adults lack the common sense with which to deal?

Sadistic, careerist, prosecutors, whose ambition overcomes their common sense/grace, love to prosecute children as adults. They see such prosecutions as a snap, so I say raise the bar a bit and perhaps we can be rid of such ambitious, sick, fascists, and deal with underage people who commit crimes as those whose minds are not yet fully developed. Remember that there are a great many very sick people having children, and those children grow up to be as, or more sick than their parents. Today a great number of parents still in a marriage abandon their children to nursery schools or baby sitters in order to live a more materialistic life, have a house and autos that will impress.

If the Bush generation has taught many Americans one thing; that to a growing number of people, everything is always about the money. Since FDR passed from the scene we have learned, as we purview presidents and congress-people, governors, legislatures of states, cities and towns, that corruption is as rampant in politics as it is in the business world. There are two reasons for that, those who aspire to political office are mainly either wealthy, or wealthy-wannabes ruled by avarice and believe me in the world of business, avarice/greed and corruption is, even among many of the clergy a dominating factor

Parents are often a part of that avarice and even in many households where one parent makes enough money to support a marriage easily, the other does not stay at home to care for the children. No, instead both work to push their lifestyle to measure up to those of the celebrities they appear to worship and emulate. Money, appears to be more precious than sanctity or the proper upbringing of their children and more important, of greater priority than doing the Right thing, which many confuse with making more money with which to liven their collection of snobbish material things. Please trust your instincts on this, even the most unworthy among us, are snobbish and judgmental of others, especially those they envy the most. The flip side of snobbery, which is both an offense and defense, is envy, and low self-esteem.

And let me add that stopping the wars in the Mid-east and organizing, at a fraction of its cost in time, personnel, and money, a solid Public Health Care program and one to which is added ways and means of protecting our children. That goal is far more important that enriching further, the oil companies, arms dealers and Criminal No-Bid Contractors. By-the-way, a Public health care plan, of which my above suggestion would be a part, would over 25 years - (a single generation, a quarter of a century), cost 1/10 (10%) of the wars America has ill-advisedly waged since 2001. It seems that the same bloodthirsty people in America, want again again to punish others with death and destruction and still have the nerve to call themselves 'Christians'.

The present war has already been in place longer than twice the length of WW II, and these Mid-East wars are costing Americans, fifty times more, than WW II! And yet the treasonous Conservatives and their blind followers would rather spend twenty times more money killing people from another country and them wasting more than ten times as much rebuilding it, than invest far less, in healing people of their own country? How foolish is this? Do these voters think they are immune to illness?

In terms of the dangers to the too-young, the naïve’ and the reckless and their parents, here are few examples of what should never have occurred, were it not for the selfishness of those who are profiting at the expense of victims and the many more to come attributable to social websites, is minuscule, that figure, unless such sites are under the watchful eyes of those honest members of society will Burgeon, in just a few years. I suggest a Cabinet Level Office Of Internet Surveillance be established and manned. Social Websites can be a very dangerous place for anyone.
( http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/the-dangers-of-facebook-are-real-1108445/?pg=4 )

1)-Peter Cartwright/Peter Chapman, a 33-year-old allegedly a registered sex offender, pretending to be 19 years old, raped and murdered 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall in the fall of last year. He was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

2)-One Woman, an aunt of two underage girls, asked: Are there age restrictions on Facebook? My 10 and 12 year old niece & nephew are on there & I want them off!!!? Apparently there was no oversight on Facebook. Are they simply taking a persons word for their age?

3)-In addition, 13-year-old girl allegedly had sex with 22 year old man, and though she lied about her age, saying she was 18, he was convicted of rape. The man with which she had sex, went to her father to tell him of the situation after the 22 year old fellow found out that she was not of legal age and as a result of his honesty in revealing himself, was indicted. This case should be reopened. The same girl it is alleged, had sex with a 24 year old and he was convicted and imprisoned for five years. Many feel that Her parents ought to have been the ones held responsible for her actions, not the men she dated. I would not give her or them the satisfaction of visiting her site, but she is a child and her parents ought be cited, in my opinion. Talk about injustices? How could a thing like this have happened in America? Reread the entire article if that is still a question.
http://www.wftv.com/news/16348047/detail.html

Other cases were noted to have included a girl who was 14, pretended to be 20 and had a faked ID to prove her age, which also got her drinks at a local bar and grill. This is a regular occurrence I am told. This case, however, was not related to Facebook. I bring it up as evidence that not even a driver’s license is viable. In a way this may be a good thing, perhaps it will reduce adulterous sex and the spreading of disease, or it could more likely, result in a worse thing, more rapes, more murders, more STD’s, more pregnancies, more abortions.

In any event if Facebook and other such social websites don’t clean up their acts maybe the FEDS ought to enact the restrictions I list above.

Footnote:
One more thing, those who oppose Health care remind me of Dead Beat Dad’s, and of Men who profit from the selling of poisonous toxic items imported from nations which have even less conscience than some of the slimier American Commercial criminals, some of which include The Legalized, Toxic Addictive Drug Dealing Pharmaceutical Companies (TLTADDPC) and their pushers, the ad agencies and some of the many physicians who profit on average $13,500 in perks from the TLTADDPC.