Facebook and New York AG Reach Agreement

Facebook and New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have come to an agreement over how to make the social network more responsive to complaints about unwanted solicitations.

The New York AG subpoenaed Facebook last month after undercover investigators posing as minors were solicited by adult sexual predators and reported the abuse. When the response to the harassment complaints was slow, Cuomo's office triggered a wider investigation. Another group of states' attorneys generals is investigating Facebook, MySpace, and other social networks' safeguards to keep its members safe from online sexual harassment.

The big takeaways from the agreement are:

•  Complaints on Facebook about "nudity, pornography, harassment, and unwelcome contact" will be high priority and will get a response within 24 hours. Complaints can be filed anonymously by clicking on links throughout the site.

•  Facebook will hire an AG-approved third-party Independent Safety and Security Examiner to monitor and report on the site over the next two years.

•  There will be some new language on the site that will make it clear to parents and members that Facebook nor any other site on the Internet is wholly safe for kids.

Faster response to complaints is a good thing. But parents and kids still need to be aware of the tools available to Facebook's 47 million members to limit their profiles to only people they want to see them, and to keep profiles from being listed on search engines. They have to be used to be effective.

LINK: Facebook settles New York child safety probe [Reuters via Yahoo! News] 

Related: Facebook Privacy Settings Now More Important