RSSMySpace Steps Up Safety Efforts with 'Zephyr'
By Ed Oswald | Published January 17, 2007, 3:43 PM
MySpace is continuing to be the focus of criticism for not protecting its younger users sufficiently. Thus the site is developing “Zephyr,” a system that allows parents to control their children’s access to the social networking site.
Existence of the tracking software was first confirmed by the Wall Street Journal in an article Wednesday. A release date has not yet been announced.
Zephyr is a small application that can be installed to monitor profile changes and logins. The program would even alert parents when their children log into the site from computers other than their own. It is not anonymous, however –- a tracked user is notified if the program is watching them.
Access to the actual content of the profile is not permitted, although the parent will likely be able to search for his or her child using the site itself.
The call to take action has become louder in recent months, due to the increasing number of crimes where a victim was first contacted through MySpace. Additionally, Attorney Generals from 33 states is threatening legal action if the site does not sufficiently deal with the problem.
While programs already exist from third parties, Zephyr is the first effort by the site itself to address the issue. The company says that it hopes the program would help spur discussion between parents and children about staying safe when online.
The company has also attempted to sell the idea to other social networking sites including Xanga and Facebook, the WSJ says. However both declined, saying the program would violate their privacy agreements with users.
It has also been marketed to other Internet properties, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL. However, it received an equally cold reception from those parties as well.
Attorney General Roy Cooper says the program stops the child too late: “At best, it's after the child has offered his age. At worst, it's when he's already left to meet a child predator.”
Gates: "Oooooooohhhhhh Fuuuuuuuudddggggggggge."
Ballmer: Steve Ballmer recalls being the first person certifiably crazy over Windows Vista.
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|ATTORNEYS General from 33 states ARE threatening...
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|It's real damn simple, parents need to take more responsibility into what Jr is doing on line...MySpace is also a great networking site that in my opinion got too muchj bad press. You can install filters you can install key loggers but nothing is going to beat good ol Dad's or Mom's direct supervision and being aware as well as teaching kids about answering personal q's or giving out personal infprmation. Knowing who is on their buddy list and being a parent who can speak to their kids. Finally MySpace is a excellent networking site, our Company uses it and my friends and family use it...
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|This is a lose-lose situation. There's NO way an online service can garantee the age of it's users without going to drastic measures like credit card numbers, etc. There's no way parents can monitor their children 100% of the time either. I'm a parent. I have firewalls, proxy filters, and parental controls galore. They simply hit the bazillion proxy servers on the net from school to get around it while in the school labs. Even the school IT can't keep up as new servers come online every day. Often kids will create multiple MySpace accounts, so the parents might see one, but not the others. They're not stupid. If I were 15 I'd do the same thing.
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|Apparently this was too little, too late... http://www.betanews.com/...ault_Victims/1169138757
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|I think it's crazy that myspace is forced to do this. I believe the parents should be policing their children and not thrust it on the companies.
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|Ok, so this "thing" can reach out from the screen and verify the age of the user? Yeah. And I'm Elvis.
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|The best parental control is to look over your kid's shoulder. If they object, take the computer away.
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|Hmmmm, let me see.
That will definitely work because teens won't EVER think of creating another MySpace account that their parents don't know about... (disclamer: sarcasm)
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|"Attorney Generals" is improper. The correct term is "Attorneys General."
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|Zephyr, isn't that a Greek word meaning a breeze? In this case, more hot air from MySpace.
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|zeph·yr (zěf'ər)
3. Something that is airy, insubstantial, or passing.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Zephyr
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