The Paper of Montgomery County announced today the Winning Essays on Child Abuse. One of the essays was written by a 5th grader about Internet Safety, in which she relates an experience on Facebook:
One day I was on the computer and I was on Facebook. All of a sudden I saw a message that I didn’t like because it was like it was threatening me. I told my mom what just happened and she told me to get off the computer. The next day I saw a program called “Kid Smarts” at school, and then I knew why my parents told me to get off the computer.
The “Kid Smarts” told me all the rules of the Internet….
I wonder whether KidSMART mentioned the importance of following Facebook’s Terms of Service (TOS). Facebook specifically prohibits children under the age of 13 from using Facebook:
4(3) You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.
Apparently the essay judges, parents, and writers at The Paper are unaware of this, as well, and the KidSMART page on Social Networking mentions nothing about honoring age restrictions on social networking sites.
I searched for the budding essayist on Facebook and could not locate her, so I’m assuming the kid wised up and deleted her account, got kicked off Facebook for a TOS violation, the parents forced her to delete her account, she was using a phony name, or she is still using Facebook, safely of course, using a new phony identity.
