FaceBook - Use as AntiSocial Networking Site?
Vile UK Child Abuse Gang Utilise Social Networking & Mobile Phones
Nov 1, 2009
A UK child paedophilia case, which came to light in the Summer of 2009, and involved a trio of abusers who met and linked up on the Facebook social networking site has aroused indignation in the UK. Vanessa George, Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen had never physically seen or met each other, until the moment they were face to face at their Court trial. However their use of the social networking site Facebook, together with mobile phones for swapping photographs of their victims, has highlighted some of the dangers of social networking.
Social Networks Create Cyber Friends
Prior to widespread use of the Internet and social network sites in particular, the social networks of most people consisted of friends, family, workmates and colleagues and old schoolmates, most of whom lived close and were socialized with on a regular basis. The Internet has created a whole new social network of cyber friends located worldwide and with this has come the increased capacity for and, indeed, instance of abuse.
Facebook Paedo Trio
Vanessa George, Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen confessed to their crimes at Bristol Crown Court in October and will be sentenced in November 2009. A fourth person has also been charged in connection with this case.
Details of Facebook Paedophile Case
In June 2009, Colin Blanchard's business partner accessed his personal computer whilst he was away on business. He was appalled to discover shocking images of abuse against young children and tots, which he immediately reported to the police. Indeed, it has since emerged that Blanchard had been registered on the UK Sex Offenders List from October 2001 until 2007 for downloading child porn.
Police investigators soon discovered that many of the images Blanchard possessed had been sent to him by Vanessa George, a nursery employee living in the Plymouth area. A third woman, Angela Allen, from the Nottingham area, was also discovered to be heavily involved in the case. Analysis of the communications between the trio has shown that their constant texts and e-mails contributed immensely to their increasing depravity.
Vanessa George has stated that she did not meet Blanchard online until December 2008, yet her fixation was such that during their eight-month 'relationship' she sent him at least 10,000 Internet or telephone messages. A former colleague of George, gave an indication in a newspaper article that she was an extremely sociable woman, a manhunter who frequently contacted fathers of the nursery children in her care on Facebook, but that after meeting Blanchard she was often "boasting about her Internet romance" and seemed hopeful of a permanent relationship.
For George the descent into abuse started with what she termed sex role play and fantasies and soon involved the physical abuse of kids in her care at the nursery where she worked. She said that the more photos she took for Blanchard, the more interest she got back from him which caused the abuse to snowball. Police involved in the case have admitted they are puzzled at how quickly George descended into the horrors of paedophilia once she had met Blanchard.
Power of Internet and Mobile Phones to Perpetuate and Disseminate Depravity
The popularity of the Internet and social networking sites has created opportunities for individuals to vastly increase their social network. Recent research has also shown that individuals using the Internet for social reasons are far more uninhibited than in real life.
Parents ask for Ban on Mobile Phones in Nurseries
Parents in the UK are now campaigning to ban the use of mobile phones by nursery workers whilst in the workplace, however a more realistic and workable regulation would be to ensure that workers in the childcare industry are never alone with the children in their care. Certainly professionals within education are highly aware of issues surrounding child abuse and follow strict guidelines.
Future of Internet Usage for Social Networking?
This case raises many questions about Internet use and abuse, some of which are listed below:
- Legislation or a worldwide, and enforced, Code of Conduct to be in place which regulates the social use or abuse of the Internet
- Responsibilities of social network providers to discover use of their sites by those with criminal intent, however the issue of censoring is certain to be hotly debated
- Monitoring of all Internet communications
- Introduction of a licence to use computers
For more details of this case, see: Facebook Paedophile Ring, in The Independent
and
Interview with former colleague of Vanessa George, in The Mirror
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