Making social networking sites safer and more law enforcement friendly
By Dr. Frank Kardasz
Social networking sites are very popular among people who wish to meet and communicate with others. They are also the venues for some unlawful activity. The following suggestions would make social networking sites somewhat safer for users and more law-enforcement friendly.
1. On every social networking site web page, display a link to information that describes to users how they can report misconduct.
2. Require that all new users enter verifiable credit card information when first subscribing.
3. Require that all subscribers pay a nominal fee.
4. For new users of social networking sites, make the default settings for viewing and sharing all account information ‘private’. This means that new accounts would be automatically set to exclude others and to not share information. The new subscriber would have to actively choose to share account information by checking the appropriate boxes in the account settings section.
5. For new account subscribers, remove the requirement that users complete the section regarding the month and day of birth. Even though there is no requirement that users enter their true date of birth, some users do enter their true date of birth, thus giving identity thieves additional information.
6. Include an admonition on profile pages advising users that revealing personal information could lead to identity theft or victimization by offenders who are intent upon harassment, stalking, fraud or identity theft.
7. On every web page, display a link to the National Missing and Exploited Children's Cybertipline. Their link is www.cybertipline.com
8. On every web page, display a link to the national sex offender registry.
9. On every web page, display a link to the Internet Crime Complaint Center for incidents of theft or fraud. Their link is www.ic3.gov
10. Proprietors of social networking sites can install filtering software on servers to flag or eliminate obscene words.
11. Include a provision in the terms of use that notifies users that they have no expectation of privacy with regards to any of the content they post using the site and that law enforcement may obtain any and all of their postings through the use of a subpoena only - without a search warrant.
12. Remove the browse and search functions that permit users to locate one another.
13. Preserve changes to user’s pages and the Internet protocol address associated with the change for 90 days.
14. Retain profile information for deleted accounts for 90 days.