Press & PR

Children in the UK may be leaving themselves vulnerable by publishing publicly-accessible personal details about themselves on social networking sites, it has been warned.

In a copy of a Home Office report obtained by the Telegraph, it is noted that the government wants to introduce legislation that will force social networking sites like Bebo and MySpace to display adverts for emergency assistance should a child feel threatened while online.

Age-validation measures are also put under scrutiny, with the report calling for tougher regulation to make it more difficult for people to lie about personal details when registering with networking sites.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith will publish the report on Friday, which advises that all profiles for those using social networking sites who under the age of 18 to be automatically set to private.

Meanwhile, a newly released Ofcom report has said that parents need to do more to protect their children online.

Vonage allows parents and children to keep in touch securely using internet phone services. Online account management also allows people to keep track of calls that are made and received.