To think that the government should take action to make the internet safer?

[ElasticGirl]

I am so upset by the story about the 10 year old boy who accidentally strangled himself playing a youtube game? How can we protect our children from this? How can Youtube allow videos demonstrating how to strangle yourself?

They have laptop or device in family rooms so that one swishes by casting an eye, ten years old alone in a bedroom with Internet access is a really poor idea imo

There's always an Internet challenge around. We've discussed the Kylie Jenner challenge at the dinner table and wondered why people were doing it despite numerous reports of them going wrong and people ending up bruised.

When you upload a video to YouTube, it's there straight away. It would take a shocking amount of man power to watch videos before they're uploaded and there'd still be ones that slip through the net because censoring would be done by a human judgement.

On facebook comments people are tagging their own kids with comments like "you better not be doing this x" wtf?!? Are people that stupid? I can only hope it's followed by an appropriate discussion face to face too.

RebelRogue that is all good advice, and we can report Youtube videos. I wonder if the government could introduce fines if action is not taken quick enough to remove a video, or if the video isn't taken down

but how can you really control outwith your jurisdiction

the gvt tried it with the torrent sites making isp ban access to them but a google will tell you how to circumvent that

You need to be 13 to sign up to YouTube account WITH patental permission.

My child (aged 9) wants to watch videos. So she uses YouTube kids. I also have MY YouTube set to filter out age inappropriate content.

This is nothing to do with the government policing the web and EVERYTHING to do with needing to accept responsibility as parents.

We spoke to DD about stuff like this long before this case. We wanted her to have access to YouTube and the like because that is what kids are in to now - it's a different world to the one I grew up in.

We told her to be wary of any new games or challenges and to tell us about them - this came up after the 'ice bucket' challenges that some of her friends were doing.

We told her not to click on links that her friends sent her without checking them out through our internet security.

We told her to tell us if her friends started talking about challenges etc that sounded dangerous or 'icky' (her fave word for anything sexual )

We told her to set up a fake profile, fake email, but to be honest about her age. We told her not to accept friend requests from strangers, even if they looked like kids or they were friends with friends.

We have given her a lot of 'freedom' but it comes at a price (and actually I see most of what she sees at the same time as her, so it's unlikely to go wrong). She is doing well and I think more people should do what we did rather than rely on 'the government' or 'the virus checker' (which I raise as one of her friends recently got stalked/trolled online and it was pretty hairy at the time. When the school told her parents their first reaction was "how did that happen, we've got a virus checker on the PC")

YouTube is based in California, it would be under US jurisdiction, not ours.

The terms of service for YouTube are tight. They include being above 13 years old, and "7.3 You understand and agree that you are solely responsible for your own Content and the consequences of posting or publishing it. YouTube does not endorse any Content or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and YouTube expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with Content." and "7.9 You further understand and acknowledge that in using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is factually inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable to you. You agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against YouTube with respect to any such Content."

I don't think anyone, UK or US, has ever managed to successfully take YouTube to court over content hosted on the site. I'll have a deeper look later, but essentially, they are a hosting platform.

YouTube Kids is slightly more regulated, but that wasn't being used in this case.

So elasticgirl, have you removed YouTube from your child's list of permitted sites yet?
How do I find out about stuff I don't know yet? By reading, or by actually talking to my children. My children are not allowed access to YouTube, or any other social media, unless me or DH is present. It is down to parents to protect their child, and build their resilience so they're not so easily swayed into following the crowd.
The case I heard of was a 12yo boy, rather than 10, but the fact still applies that if you restrict what they can access you know when issues are going to occur.

A quick Google revealed that YouTube recieves 60 hrs of video per minute, every day!

Who would you like to moderate that? And at whose cost?

At the end of the day my heart goes out to this family for this tragic accident, and I just hope some discussion around the subject may help raise awareness for other parents and regulators so that it may help prevent such an accident happening again.

If you can't control your child looking at one tablet/laptop in one room, what do you expect the government to do about the entire internet? If you were tell your child to play in the road you would be called an idiot, yet apparently the Internet is fine.

If you can't watch your child, or you don't know how to keep them safe, take the device away.

The internet is very different to other media.Nobody owns it or can control it. Closing a site down is like chopping a head off a hydra

OP - you say it is unreasonable to expect a Parent to supervise and control their childs internet use, but you expect the Government to?
YABVVVU and I don't think you understand the Internet......the Dark Web is uncontrollable, let alone Youtube!

It's not just YouTube that videos and ideas are shared. There's many means on the
Www.
A quick search will show you anything and everything from the mundane to the wtaf
Content.
Each person who puts stuff on the net is bound by laws in that country. To monitor the web is hard.

Instead of trying to blame others, people have to look at their own actions. What filters are in place. Where are the devices. How much of an online profile do people have, some people have FB for their unborn child ffs. What are parents doing to get involved with what their children are doing? Not that many.

I go borough wide to every setting where children could be and offer free workshops around Internet safety. Take up is dire. I talk to others in different areas across the globe it's the same. Parents/carers have to pull their fingers out of their arses and get
Involved rather than looking at other solutions to absolve themselves.

I think parents just have to try their best supervising children on the Internet and teaching the children about the dangers and the good things out there. Just like in the rest of life there will be tragic accidents, even when parents have done all their research and doing their very best. The government can't control the internet any more then they can stop the traffic on roads. There can be guidance for parents and sites do things but like roads the Internet can be dangerous.

An hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every single second of every day. If we start monitoring everything, then we'll reach a point where the sole employer in the entire world is the Government Department checking uploaded videos. You are being very unreasonable for stamping your feet and saying "but SOMETHING must be done" and "but what about the CHILDREN", in the face of a reality that can't help you out.