A man meets a girl on Facebook, then abducts her and murders her, so the media and many of the public blame Facebook and call for stricter controls.

If the man had abducted the girl from Tesco's would anyone be blaming the store or asking for stricter controls on people going in and out? (I just use Tesco's as a random example.)

The only guilty party here is the man who committed the crime. He's been jailed for life but people (mostly unconnected to the incident) want more retribution. Tighter controls on internet use are virtually impossible to enforce, but better education is possible. If teenagers and others ignore the advice then there's not much else that can be done. Crimes are a part of life, but they are entirely the fault of the criminal. Nobody else needs to be blamed.

Better education would solve most things.

JC wrote:
A man meets a girl on Facebook, then abducts her and murders her, so the media and many of the public blame Facebook and call for stricter controls.

If the man had abducted the girl from Tesco's would anyone be blaming the store or asking for stricter controls on people going in and out? (I just use Tesco's as a random example.)

The only guilty party here is the man who committed the crime. He's been jailed for life but people (mostly unconnected to the incident) want more retribution. Tighter controls on internet use are virtually impossible to enforce, but better education is possible. If teenagers and others ignore the advice then there's not much else that can be done. Crimes are a part of life, but they are entirely the fault of the criminal. Nobody else needs to be blamed.

Far too much common sense for one post. JC, never consider a job in the media.

Your post is absolutely spot on.

Did anyone else read this classic in the Daily Mail :

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1256793...owed-sicken-you.html

It's one of those tabloid paedo stories that leave you thinking it was really written by Chris Morris.

Within five minutes of the profile going live on one of the biggest social networking sites, messages from men poured in. The first three who approached me were aged between 20 and 40. Each asked 'A, S, L?' - teen text speak for: 'What is your age, sex and location?'
These hunters know their prey chillingly well; using teenage language nourishes girls' trust.


errrm...I think everybody uses such shorthand in chatrooms.

They could have easily turned themselves into teenagers - as I had done - but many make little effort to disguise themselves because they think they'll get away with it. And many do.

He seems to be slamming them for NOT trying to 'groom' these youngsters.

Their audacity was shocking - they made no attempt to hide their intentions, despite the fact that having sex with a 14-year-old girl is classed as rape

The writer claims to be an experienced child protection detective with an MA in criminology. Having sex with a 14 year old is not legally classed as rape, having sex with under 13s is.

Really, I think he made the whole thing up. If you read the comments below there are a lot of girls saying that they have used facebook for years and never encountered anything like this.

Like the Chris Morris sketch : "I drew pictures of him (the paedomonster)...and they were disgusting".

And the tragic girl in this case was 17 - only a child according to retarded nulabor definitions. If she had been one year older would the Daily Mail be running warnings against 'adults' going online?

Coming soon: Tonight Special: Trevor McDonald asks 'Are your Children safe Online?'.

Cue alarming music.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/11/facebook-daily-mail

Facebook has threatened to sue the Daily Mail for damages after the paper wrongly claimed in a piece published on Wednesday that 14-year-old girls who create a profile on the social networking site could be approached "within seconds" by older men who "wanted to perform a sex act" in front of them.

Yep.

I propose a new law against :

'the exploitation of crimes against children for the psychological, sexual, or financial profit of adults.'

Of course, the tabloid industry and most politicians would be behind bars within days, but still..

might mean we can start to rebuild a civilised society again.

using teenage language nourishes girls' trust.


Try telling teenage boys that!

I notice they don't mention these silly girls who pretend to be older so that they can attract men. Unfortunately, when they succeed they are classed as victims and the adult as an abuser.

So many grey areas, but the media paints everything in crisp black and white.