Bebo, anyone got any concerns???

arkonite_babe

Just wondered if any of you who have kids at home, saw the report on Newsline at 6.30 last night regarding a website for kids called Bebo?? Kids use to chat to each other and interact between different schools. I was horrified last night on seeing a report on Newsline, that Bebo is being investigated for people posting pornographic images. Our 13 yo practiacally lives on bebo and we were quite happy to let her use it to chat to friends etc, until we saw last nights news.

Full story here: BBC News

What are your thoughts on this??

holstar

I would say that provided she is only talking to people she knows in the 'real world' ie from school, clubs etc then its fine, but would say its NOT ok to talk to anyone else that she doesnt know.
Theres probably numerous websites on staying safe online so maybe get her to read through a couple of those so she is aware of all the potential dangers of sites such as this.

arkonite_babe

That's the thing, Bebo is very much like here. It's all user names so we don't know who she is talking to exactly. Think maybe it's time I got her password to see what she's been up to. We did make her watchh the news report, but being a typical teen, we just got a grunt in reply

holstar

hmm....that makes it a little tricker....the only bebo-esque thing I've ever been on required uni email address to work (until uni banned it lol) but even then, people from uni's all over the world would randomly start talking to you.

If you know any of her friends parents, and they know the usernames of their kids, and you know your DDs password you could see who she's been tlaking to (but that could involve a lot of effort!).

Other than that...i dunno! So long as she knows the dangers involved and isn't going to meet anyone shes only met on bebo then I would be inclined to let her be....maybe every now and again ask to see some of her recent posts to see content, whos she talking to...see if you suspect anything...again, could be a lot of effort for little gain..

sorry i can't help any more! its too late and im too tired to think of anything else!

bargainaddict

I hate Bebo. Your childs account has picture links to their friends and you can click on them and it opens their page, which has their friends pictures on, you can click on any of them and eventually you are looking at pages of people you dont know. There is the facility to add photos in your own 'album' and one young mans I knew was full of semi naked ladies.

My daughter created my own page and I was therefore able to access the site.

Can you limit her time on the internet, maybe earlier in the evening when not so may of the older kids are on? Is the computer somewhere where you can keep an eye on her?

Good luck, I know it's a hard one.

attritioner

If you have any real concerns about your childs activity on the net maybe you should install some of the monitoring software or a keylogger on your pc. The downside to this, apart from the fact you are spying on your child, is that if they use a different pc you con't monitor that. Just a suggestion.

sunshine

My son (who is 21) and I were talking about it after that news report on BBC. He was saying about friends photo links too and the fact you don't know who you're talking to. He said he certainly wouldn't go near it.

arkonite_babe

I thionk internet access is going to have to be severly reviewed

It was mentioned about security software for blocking sites, anyone got any info on this please??

indiegirl_2

I work in a school and Bebo, along with MySpace and the like have all been blocked - we take great care to ensure that pupils can't get on these sites as they've been the subject not only of pornographic images but a lot of bullying as well. If I had a £1 for every time I've been asked to unblock Bebo though, I wouldn't be working in a school any more

The simplest software to get would be Net Nanny - it's pretty reasonable (about £15 IIRC), and is very easy to install... I've used it before and it has more than just the ability to block specific sites - you can block by keyword and customise the 'block' messages (so things like "mum doesn't want you on this site!"). It does slow things down a bit on older PCs, though.

arkonite_babe

Thanks Indiegirl, sounds like I need to go investigate this

arkonite_babe

Ok, I looked at Bebo last nigh and without being registered for the site, I was able to view some extremely shocking and pornographic pictures. As my DD was told about this through her school, I'm going to enquire as to whether the school wish to remain associated with it. :mad: