Facebook had its face pushed to the wall by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and as a result is taking steps to protect its members from sexual predators. They'll now be responding within 24 hours to user complaints about nudity, pornography, harassment, or unwelcome contact, and an outside examiner will ensure Facebook complies over the next two years.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of New York State announced on September 24 that it was looking into Facebook's safety controls. This action was prompted by the results of undercover tests conducted earlier by OAG investigators. Posing as underage users between 12 and 14 years old, the investigators set up Facebook profiles and found out how vulnerable children and adolescents are to the advances of adult sexual predators. As a news release from the Attorney General's Office stated:

Within days of opening these accounts, the OAG received numerous sexual solicitations from adults sent to several of the underage profiles, including:

l “u look too hot....... can i c u online (webcam)? im avl at . . .”
l “i'd love to get off on cam for you hun ; P”
l “do you like sex?”
l “if u want call me [number deleted] or u can give me ur number?”
l “call me if u want to do sex with me [number deleted] ok”

Underage profiles set up by the OAG received several other solicitations of a more graphic nature.

Cuomo's initial charge - that Facebook either did not respond or was slow to respond to complaints made by OAG investigators posing as the parents of the underage users - was accompanied by a subpoena requesting documentation of complaints received by Facebook about inappropriate solicitation of minors and inappropriate content such as pornography on the site.

Web-savvy young women and teens may shrug and say, "Sure, that goes on, but you just make your profile private so only your friends can view it, or you just ignore the creeps that are out there." But it begs the question: Why are female users subjected to this in the first place? The fact that this behavior occurs suggests it's the cyber-equivalent of that ugly rationale "she wanted it - she was looking for it - she was asking for it." It's anonymous - it's online - and it's easy to become a victim.

Way back when, when the internet was new to me (and new to most people) I eagerly signed up for an online account from my new internet service provider. I also filled in a few vague details under my Profile - first name, age, marital status - nothing too personal.

You can guess the rest. I removed everything once I started getting messages in the middle of the night: "r u lonely? what r u wearing?" and others more specific. At first, I thought these were from people I knew. But it was quickly apparent that they weren't.

As an adult I was smart enough to know what was going on. But when you're young and curious and a peek into something you don't know is just a click away (and no adult is nearby), then chances are you'll click. And that click may take away your innocence, your sense of security and anonymity, and expose you to images, situations, and people that can hurt you. All from the 'safety' of your own home.

Facebook isn't curtailing any services or shutting down anything. They're just making good on their assurances of user safety. And for the sake of women and children everywhere, that's a good thing.