Microsoft Offers Tips to Keep Kids Safe On Xbox Live

[StriderShinryu]

Wow, I must say I'm surprised and disappointed that there are so many in this thread who are blaming everyone but the bastard who wanted the nude pictures of the 10 year old boy.

Did the child make a mistake in doing what he did? Sure. Did he know it wasn't a good thing to do? Possibly, but if he did it's not beyond reason that he didn't think it was that big a deal or he figured it was worth the MS Points. That's not entirely his or his parent's fault though. If the predator didn't exist, the situation never would have come up in the first place. Also, his age isn't really an issue as you hear stories all the time about teens much older than him who send pictures of themselves to others with no thought about how it will impact them later on. It may be basic online safety and it may be common sense, but it happens all the time whether the person doing it knows better or not.

As for the parents not protecting him. It actually sounds like they did try, but just didn't drill down deep enough into the options. He did have to create a second account just to interact with this guy after all so obviously his main account was at least being monitored if not protected on some level. And the kid may have had Live for any number of reasons. MS doesn't seem to mind the kid having access seeing as how they have created all of these settings (and have a new Live family plan coming out soon).

 

[kajinking]

So much is wrong with this situation but to simplify my thoughts I'm just going to write down the first thought in my head when I read the story.

"WHY DID THAT KID THINK SENDING NAKED PHOTOS TO ANYONE IS A GOOD IDEA!!!"

I knew about child predators at ten (thanks to a certain episode of smart guy) and I knew not to do this kind of stuff online. I'm not saying the kid deserves anywhere near as much blame as the actual predator but honestly this mess could have been avoided with some common sense.

P.S. Sorry for the caps but this situation calls for it.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Microsoft shouldn't have to do a thing about this. Parents should KNOW to monitor their children. It's ridiculous that this even happened.

I couldn't have said it any better.

Retard parents is the root of the problem here. The stupidity leaks into the next generation. The result is online sex predator cases.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Here's the thing, more parents watch news programs and buy more newspapers than MS employees, therefore the media won't blame parents, they'll blame MS, and they sure don't see what mere 'facts' have to do with it.

Therefore MS have to do all they can to prove that they're on the problem, doing things about it.

Also, we didn't need an option to withdraw internet access, when I was a kid, and my parents thought I'd been on the games too long, they'd just come in, turn it off, and take the power cable away.

OF course, some lawyer would probably find a way to get that thru court as 'child abuse' nowadays.

 

[bjj hero]

I cant believe all of these people saying its the kids own fault. He is 10 years old. I did all sorts of dumb shit far after the age of 10. He is an easy target for a predator to manipulate. You could say its his parents fault for leaving him to his own devices on XBL but thats different than saying its the kids fault. He's the victim here.

Children can be easily manipulated, thats why there is legislation to help to protect them. Did this happen in the US or the UK?

 

[superbatranger]

Didn't the kid ever think, "Hmm, sending nude pics of myself might be a bad idea"?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Because Child Predators are a totally new thing. We never had them before the internet.

Hey, Parents? How about teaching your kid, playing with them or talking to them once in a while?

 

[imnot]

This is good news but I can't help but not feel for the kid, his own fault really, when I was his age there was thousands of kid friendly websites telling us not to do these things

This. I mean they should know this already.

 

[xbrandon]

I never really socialize online anyway, plus I don't have an XBox and I doubt my allowance will be enough to pay for the online subscription fee. I do feel sorry for the kid though

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

If you're too young/immature to understand the ins and outs of the internet and it's seedier side, you're too young to be on Xbox Live unsupervised.

DING! Ten Points, top of the clas etc etc!
It's not MS' responsibility at the end of the day. I would think that raising your kids, as well as keeping them safe (on or offline) was top of the list of 'Things To Do When You're A Parent.'

Same as with Game Ratings, parents should familiarise themselves fully with the product before allowing their kids to use it, instead of freaking out when Junior starts playing and/or quoting an 18-rated game.

 

[DigitalSushi]

While this is excellent work on behalf of Microsoft to keep children safe its does tickle my PR cynic bone, this site is for 13's and older.

Microsoft need to get this message out to the admins on Xbox's, spam yes but its for child safety so it shouldn't be moaned at.

Anyone got a better idea of getting this message out you should notify Microsoft, stat. Or notify the lovely [user]Vansau[/user] since he's got a batphone linking him directly to MS PRcave.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

If you're too young/immature to understand the ins and outs of the internet and it's seedier side, you're too young to be on Xbox Live unsupervised.

DING! Ten Points, top of the clas etc etc!
It's not MS' responsibility at the end of the day. I would think that raising your kids, as well as keeping them safe (on or offline) was top of the list of 'Things To Do When You're A Parent.'

Same as with Game Ratings, parents should familiarise themselves fully with the product before allowing their kids to use it, instead of freaking out when Junior starts playing and/or quoting an 18-rated game.

Yay! What do I win?

Did I not make it clear? You win ten points!! You save 'em up, then you get a prize never at some point in the future!!!

 

[Radelaide]

Wow, I must say I'm surprised and disappointed that there are so many in this thread who are blaming everyone but the bastard who wanted the nude pictures of the 10 year old boy.

Did the child make a mistake in doing what he did? Sure. Did he know it wasn't a good thing to do? Possibly, but if he did it's not beyond reason that he didn't think it was that big a deal or he figured it was worth the MS Points. That's not entirely his or his parent's fault though. If the predator didn't exist, the situation never would have come up in the first place. Also, his age isn't really an issue as you hear stories all the time about teens much older than him who send pictures of themselves to others with no thought about how it will impact them later on. It may be basic online safety and it may be common sense, but it happens all the time whether the person doing it knows better or not.

As for the parents not protecting him. It actually sounds like they did try, but just didn't drill down deep enough into the options. He did have to create a second account just to interact with this guy after all so obviously his main account was at least being monitored if not protected on some level. And the kid may have had Live for any number of reasons. MS doesn't seem to mind the kid having access seeing as how they have created all of these settings (and have a new Live family plan coming out soon).

Pretty much this. A lot of parents don't know how to set parental controls on consoles because, honestly, how many of them actually get access to them outside of gaming?

The responsibility needs to be shared between the parents, the child and Microsoft (or Sony, or Nintendo):

Parents need to be aware of what their kids are doing and need to educate themselves on the growing dangers of the internet and online gaming.

Kids need to be aware of what is right and wrong, and to be aware of stranger danger.

Microsoft need to have in place, measures that make sure that stuff like this doesn't happen again.

People who blame the parents obviously don't have kids themselves and can't comprehend someone who doesn't have the insight or knowledge that a lot of people on this forum have.