Carol Todd asks Facebook to fix "security failures" putting kids at risk

by Stephen Hui on Nov 14, 2012 at 11:14 am
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B.C. residents are urging Facebook to help protect children from online exploitation.
Photo from Shutterstock

Amanda Todd’s mother, Carol Todd, has signed a letter urging Facebook to correct "serious systemic design defects" that put children and teens in danger.

Released today (November 14), the letter is addressed to Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and also signed by former Vancouver city council candidate Sandy Garossino, children's singer Raffi Cavoukian, former councillor Peter Ladner, and more than a dozen other prominent B.C. residents.

"Facebook has become a brand feared by parents, when it should be one they can trust," the letter states.

The letter notes that Amanda Todd was blackmailed through Facebook by an adult predator who impersonated teens, and that Facebook's photo-sharing app Instagram features "tens of thousands of images of children uploaded by their babysitters" and available for public viewing.

"Known security gaps in a proliferating host of mobile applications have converted mainstream social media sites into highly effective devices for predators and abusive bullies. And in what can only be described as the cruelest irony, YouTube now sells advertising on Amanda’s desperate video cry for help, while in a well-documented trend, her Facebook memorial page was desecrated," the letter says.

The letter writers argue Facebook users should be "secure from contact with unscrupulous predators and abusers". They're asking the company to lead the social-media industry in making changes to block predators from having access to kids on social-networking sites.

B.C. citizens' letter to Facebook

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Comments (7) Add New Comment
Christine Budnack
Nov 14, 2012 at 5:20 pm
You are so right Carol Todd, I'm part of the Amanda Todd Reporting Team on facebook. I never knew such disgusting things existed. I read the article about Amanda and went to see if I could find Carol's page to leave a condolance. What I found were pages making fun of Amanda's death, porn, suicide, bullying, pedofiles. It was unreal. I also saw the team and became a member. We have reported hundreds of pages, maybe even thousands, of pages to facebook. Only a small percentage of them with nudity were removed, not the hate pages or hate pictures that were photoshopped which is against facebook rules. We also found an article http://allfacebook.com/facebook-content-screeners_b78279 that claims facebook hires Odesk employees to patrol and review pages, many of these employees are out of the country, they may or may not even speak English for all I know. I contacted Odesk which denied it. http://www.ripoffreport.com/computer-programmers/odesk/odesk-www-odesk-c... states tons of complaints about odesk, and we know we have complaints about facebook so if you put the two together that equals a perfect playground for repulsive content!
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Hanna
Nov 14, 2012 at 9:34 pm
This has got to stop. These social media websites are like wild dogs on the loose and there is no control over this. If someone can make millions of dollars on these sites, then they can police their own creations. It really angers me that after all this time, there isn't new policies. Twitter allows porn to be posted and they don't even monitor it at all. Facebook is like the worlds biggest bully and nothing is being done about it. This has got to change or more of our innocent children will suffer and not only children, everyone. I am outraged.
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Tracy Woodward
Nov 14, 2012 at 9:52 pm
I am very sad that I had posted on Christy Clarks facebook page that I was very upset at the fact that didn't invite Mrs Todd and I asked why. I did also say that I was disgusted and will not be voting for her in the future. I was very happy to see that many other people had also posted there opposition with the matter that night. The next morning I awoke to see that all posts were deleted and I had been comment banned. I did have one other post that was also deleted that night and in that one I had asked her why she had not taken down the government ads off Facebook as they showed up on these horrible pages with the hate, the filth, porn, child abuse bullying and dead babies. Now I know in my heart that Christy Clark is using Amanda Todds death to her advantage and to her I say Shame on you Christy Clark, my vote is not yours.
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saint stephen
Nov 15, 2012 at 10:37 am
this "summit" was a sham from the get go. photo op for christy. nothing genuine about it. i to have been banned from christys facebook page for several months now. thin skin christy. what a pile not to invite carol todd. could have brought the virk family to this summit also. i bet they have some insite to bullying. more than christy and that plastic doll from real house wives of vancouver. we must all be dillegent against bullies wether they are in the school or the work place. stand up they will back down. i know this for a fact. being the smallest guy on the construction site i would always get harrassed by someone,even though they had been warned by others it was not a good idea to piss me off , it actually feels good to get in some assholes face and take em down a peg. not one would take up my "offer" of lets settle this after work. be strong. bullies are cowards. a good shove will make them cry. can't shove them yourself. then report to someone who can. be strong carol the real people of bc stand by you.
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Nia Morfonios
Nov 15, 2012 at 5:12 pm
This child haunts me... sleep with the angels Amanda. I am in the computer industry, I cannot believe that there have been no measures set up to make sure websites are safe for our children. First of all I believe that all accounts should be linked to a social insurance number. This way trolls predators can be found by the police at least. No one with a record should be allowed to even create an account. Our children need to be protected!!! the government needs to get involved! things need to change...this is getting out of hand. I also want to know how facebook allows such horrible things to be written on their site. I know they can easily implement a program where it scans for specific words. the accounts can be flagged and someone could review the pages. Things can be done but we have to get together as a group and we need to protest. we are such a complacent people. I hope changes will be made ASAP because these predators are destroying peoples lives!
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Psy
Nov 15, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Wow. This thread is full of amazing fail.

Dont like the net? Dont think its safe for the kids? Newsflash: THATS INTERNET FOR YA. Why the Hell should we all bend backwards because you fail at controlling what your child does online?
Problem: kid gets bullied online, or messaged by a pedophile. SOLUTION: block internet access for a while, after: make a new account and watch what your child is doing until they're 16 and know better than to get up close and personal with strangers. RESULT: no bullying, no pill popping and no nerve wrecking. You should all try it sometime, that one method works wonders.

Also, actually EDUCATING your child at whats NOT to do before actually letting them use the internet for the first time would probably also be a good idea. That method is often even more effective than the first one.

Now don't get me wrong, down with pedophiles and predators and rapists and all that scumbaggery, but this is going way too far. Parents need to take responsibility for their childs actions (especially if the child is under 16), instead of trying to find someone to blame, as well as trying to rally up troops of idiots that endlessly spam facebook with their bad grammar and bs posts threatening everything that disagrees with them. (despite what you might believe, that is by far not the best way to make anyone listen to you)
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K Taylor
Nov 16, 2012 at 12:51 pm
I 12-15 year old girls are predated upon on facebook by random older men on a minute to minute basis. There has got to be a system devised on facebook whereby people are positively identified somehow by age, so that minors and adults can be blocked from eachother without parental approval in the case of say, an uncle or family friend.

I cant count how many parents are at witts end because their tween daughters have a majority of middle aged men as "friends" on their facebook pages.
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