Aussie Kids Get Internet Panic Button

In Australia, children who are being bullied, harassed online will be able to call for help instantly using a “panic button” on their PCs. This is a plan being considered by the Australian Federal Government’s cyber-safety working group.

Parents would be offered a downloadable free “widget” for their children’s computers and, if the kids ever encounter serious trouble online, clicking the button could connect them instantly to police or child protection groups.

The panic button idea has also been gaining ground in Britain, while it is a definite future plan for the Australian government. Bebo, a popular social networking site, recently implemented a similar button on its website, offered for free to web companies by the British group Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop).

But other sites like Facebook and MySpace have so far resisted Ceop’s calls for them to follow suit in the crusade. A sticking point is the fact that the panic button would send users away from their sites and their internal safety teams.Courtesy of smh.com