Clunky Flow

“Amity Island had everything. Clear skies. Gentle surf. Warm water. People flocked there every summer. It was the perfect feeding ground.”

As we all know. MySpace, Bebo and Facebook draw predators of their own.

“The police chief of Amity Island tries to protect beachgoers from a great white shark by closing the beach. Tourism is the town’s major source of income. The town council must decide whether it is better to protect the livelihoods of their townsfolk. Or the actual lives of a very small percentage of those visiting tourists. The decision to close the beach is overruled. ”

Tired of waiting for the social networks to do anything to protect users that might compromise their business, New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s bill Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) was introduced in February 2008.

“As the attacks continued, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter.”

Bebo has been keen to push its credentials in online safety, including the high-profile appointment of Rachel O’Connell, a forensic psychologist, and her work on a number of industry and government councils.

Perverted-Justice volunteers put profiles on social networking sites as decoys order to collect incriminating evidence against the predators.

“We’re going to need a bigger boat”

The sheer scale and complexity of social networks makes it impossible for policing activity to have much of an impact on the problem overall.

The dramas of Amity Island and Social networks both pivot on a conflict of interest. Amity Island and social networks depend on public confidence to ensure profitability. In the absence of any real solutions to defend against predators, their businesses depends on their ability to play down the risks. Policing initiatives and warnings to be careful will never solve the actual problem. But they can help lull users into a sense of security that is good for the business. The real effect of policing initiatives and warnings is to confuse the issue of who is responsible when trouble arises.

To cut through the confusion again we only have to ask. Is the individual to blame for attracting the predator? When predators are known to be active, is it okay to promote destinations such as Amity Island or Facebook as safe?

By the way, Jaws, the movie and book was inspired by this true story of the Jersey Shore attacks of 1916:

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