FeistyFemale

22/05/2007 In General, Social Media by feistyfemale

I am all for regulation of sexual predators and paedophiles on the internet. I am especially keen on the protection of young children who get involved in online communication and get entangled in sinister events. Children are incapable of foreseeing the consequences and realizing the potential danger in these situations.

I watched an Oprah show that was focused on catching online predators using the same concept as “Cheaters�? – perhaps we could implement such a show in SA – they obviously found an excellent legal loophole.

I am aware that MXIT is a hugely attractive terrain for children and young people. I employed 120 promoters at one stage that were harassing me to contact them via MXIT instead of a traditional phone call or even sms.

I do believe that parents have a BIG role to play. Parents should be teaching their children skills to use technology appropriately and be educating them about the dangers surrounding it. When I was a child my parents had to teach me not to speak to strangers, not to get into strangers’ cars and not to eat something given to me by a stranger. Today it’s slightly more challenging – you now have to include, television, drugs, friends, sex, internet, playstation, sms, mxit and a myriad of other things into your teachings. I believe that the key to education is to BE INVOLVED, know where your child is, know what your child is doing!

I have watched young people that come into my office and I wonder whether their parents know what they’re up to. I have had 14 year olds tell me they’re 20 (and they looked it) to get a job on my team. Unfortunately for them, my application form requires an ID number. Incidentally, I also saw the same 14 year olds in a local (dodgy) club. When I was 14, my mom was watching me like a hawk!

As for De Lille’s blogging legislation – no matter what media you use, yes, even blogging, you can be held liable for criminal or civil action, even under current legislation. (This process is a schelpp to say the very least, but then, most defamation cases are!)

I happened to experience a bunch of really threatening emails sent from an Ananzi email address last year. The mails consisted of a combination of threats and very personal content. I was out of town and concerned for my sister’s safety because we live alone. I went to lay a charge – in order to put a face behind the username (Ananzi can only block the user and send them a warning).

In the time I was sitting at the Rondebosch police station, there was a rape, armed robbery and theft case that came in at the same time. I felt guilty for sitting there for something so irrelevant in a sense (I suppose it would be relevant if something bad happened and you look back on it). There are so many more dangerous and important cases that the police have to deal with and have to prioritize.

Considering the entire South African population, the blogging community is really not that big (effective yes, but not a majority by far). So my question is this – are there not more important things out there than someone’s defamation law suit (just because it’s a politician it’s now a priority) – rape, armed robbery, people not having jobs, the poor etc. Should De Lille not be focusing on things that really matter!