Facebook pressured for 'panic button'

AAP

Poll

Should Facebook include a 'panic button'?

This poll ended on 31 October 2010.

Yes

67%

No

32%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

BRITISH officials say they're pressuring Facebook to make a "panic button" available on its web pages following the death of a teenager at the hands of a man she met on the popular social networking site.

British child protection authorities have been lobbying Facebook and other social networking sites to install a one-click button that can allow children to get immediate police help if they suspect they're at risk.

Calls for Facebook to install the button intensified following the kidnap, rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall. Her killer, Peter Chapman, used a bogus Facebook identity to befriend her online.

Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of Britain's governing Labour Party, said on Thursday ministers were lobbying Facebook to adopt the button.