Australia’s federal government has recently said that to those children who use social media networks such as Facebook, need to be protected and in this case education can be a much better option rather than legislation. However it has been agreed by their government that there are options being looked at which are being prepared by South Australia. Two of these proposals are allowing parents to get more access to their kid’s accounts in Facebook as compared to others and coming up with limits on age for using the social media.
The South Australian government would come up with their discussion on these issues as it has to first raise concerns at a meet which would be on Friday in Adelaide with federal and state
attorneys-general. Brendan O’Connor, Federal Justice Minister commented that the government was forced to make rules and operate where they know that legislation would not work in this case. He suggested that education could be the key.
Brendan added that they want to ensure that the potential risks should be detailed to the young ones. The social world is a great one as it can be an amazing place for people to get social and even an amazing tool for education. It should however not be concluded that internet is harmless and the threats it can pose are potentially huge, looking at the case of the young ones using it.
John Rau who is the Attorney-General of South Australia stated that the country was moving towards a new revolution for the process of information generation and consumption. One can assume it to be a change would not be via the legal system but a system which would be technologically driven. This is something which most of the government of different countries would not think of. They are well, taking hold of those changes which are quickly moving on. However these would be those changes which people would have only imagined in the past couple of years. 
Talking about the proposal of South Australia which refers to age limits, it was noted that there would be an inclusion of restricting the users as per their age. If one has to use social media such as Facebook then they would have to submit their age proof which would be required by the site itself. For the current age limit on Facebook, it is set as 13 but one does not require and age proof to use it. Parental access as will even be considered and could be possibly approved.
This was not a sudden move from the South Australian government. There are many cases included where children prevent their parents from gaining access to their accounts on Facebook and either post or pose inappropriately. A case for the above was noted when a mother in South Australia came to know of late that her daughter who is still in her teens, had made uploads of a few pictures of herself which looked quite inappropriate. The mother however in this case was completely restricted by Facebook to remove them.
Rau commented that such cases highlight a number of concerns parents face. On the other hand, O’Connor stated that informing and educating the young is very much needed and that they should know that materials which are posted online could have potential dangers which it could attract. He concluded saying that one should keep in mind what they are uploading and what’s being put up by them on any social website, may it be Facebook or even any other.
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