Thwarting anti-social behaviour on Bebo

Tayside Police in Scotland have taken to Bebo to find the sources of anti-social behaviour, questioning 182 young people in a real-life swoop on virtual activities. The sources  of the problems are not, of course, the social network sites themselves but rather the aggressive individuals using them to coordinate the purchase and illegal consumption of alcohol, drugs and who coordinate bullying.

"When we started looking, what became clear was that young people aged from very early teens through to late teens and young adulthood were involved in open displays of aggression and other unacceptable behaviour, apparently fuelled by drink in many cases.
"This has been about being intelligence-led from the start to tackle a long-standing problem of anti-social behaviour, youth disorder and under-age alcohol abuse, something our communities tell us is their biggest concern - which was being driven by young people's knowledge and use of the internet."

Personally, I think this is about the right balance - tackling the mechanisms that cause crime. But I wonder if anyone in the education world, the marketing world or who's outside any of these realms has a view as to whether these profiles, some of which will be 'private', have been misused.

Thanks to Brian for the link who, it seems, has lost the blogging bug since buying his own pub. Who can blame him ;-)

Comments

[Jim McDougall]

Ewan, Interesting. I honestly am not sure what I think here. I wondered who you thought was "misusing" the sites? It's one thing to react to something drawn to our attention, but should we be proactive and seek out information by trawling pupil social network sites looking for incriminating evidence? That, as I think you are suggesting, may be an invasion of privacy. It could be nosey. It could well become unhealthy and prurient. But, could teacher swoops avert a discipline problem or provide valuable insight into some guidance or pastoral issues? If a pupil denies to your face that he/she has done something and then you hear of it being boasted about on Bebo, what do we do?