Many children are unsafe on social networks

(April 19, 2011) The European Union, EU says many children using social-networking sites don't use privacy settings, making them vulnerable to stalkers and other harassment. EU data show that 77 percent of the bloc's 13- to 16-year-olds have profiles on social networks, while among 9-to-12-year olds, 38 percent are on sites like Facebook or MySpace. Twenty-five percent of those children don't use privacy setting, and one-fifth of those with public profiles display their phone number or address.
The EU's Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes said on Monday, that these children are placing themselves in harm's way, vulnerable to stalkers and groomers. Kroes urged social networking sites to automatically make profiles created by minors, accessible only to people who are their online “friends”.