Is YouTube Out of Control?

YouTube has been the highlight of controversy for the many viewers and victims of the site. To put others into light of what can be viewed by anyone without an account, I logged out to see what our teenagers and younger audience could view.

My first keyword search in the video section was "how to build a bomb." Unbelievably, the search brought up several videos which feature how to build a bomb. The videos included a list of components needed to build one. Some videos included warnings that the video maker will not be held responsible for anyone making a bomb resulting in injury, etcetera. Do your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews know how to make a bomb? You can only hope and pray that they do not. There was no age requirement to view the bomb making videos.

In the next search I typed in "sex" to see how far our smart internet savvy kids could get. There is viewable educational videos regarding the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. As a matter of fact, the video I saw had more than 11, 014,293 views in four months! While clicking on most of the videos I found in the search, I received a message which said, "This video or group may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTubes user community. To view this video or group, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up."

I clicked on "signing up" to create a YouTube account. It was as simple as creating a username, a password, entering my Yahoo email address and lying about my age. I chose the username "teenuser" to add a little flare to what I was just about to do. When I clicked on a video that required the user to be 18 or older it popped up a page where all I had to do was click on the "Confirm Birth Date" button and I was in. Another point that a YouTube user made me aware of was if a video has not been rated by the YouTube user community, it can be viewed by any and all YouTube users. YouTube really needs to change its age-verification measures! It was way too easy.

In recent news, ABC Action News in Tampa reported a 15-year-old boy had been arrested after setting off a bomb in mid-April at G.T. Bray Park. The boy said he learned how to make the bomb on a youtube.com video but did not realize that building a bomb was illegal. The video featuring the bomb made of tin foil, toilet bowl cleaner and a soda bottle is still on YouTube.

Another instance that I heard on Bay News 9 in Tampa, an innocent Florida couple, Darlene and Jerry Ashley, was harassed after the Victoria Lindsay beating. Someone posted the Victoria Lindsay video on YouTube with the couple's address and phone number beneath. The video has since been removed from YouTube but not before upsetting the couples' lives. The childless couple began receiving threatening phone calls from all over the country. The Ashley couple, from Lakeland, Florida, share the same last name as one of the teenage suspects. They are in no relation to any of the accused in the beating. The Lakeland Police Department said that there was not much they could do about the phone calls but could patrol the couple's neighborhood. All was caused by someone posting this innocent couple's information beneath the video.

I contacted YouTube in hopes of an answer to the following email that I sent:

Age verification measures do not even exist on your site. While putting your site to the test, it is very easy for a child or teenager to sign up for an account on YouTube and lie about their age to view sex videos and the like. What, if anything, is going to be done about age verification on youtube.com?

I did receive a response from Victoria Katsarou who passed on a message from an undisclosed YouTube spokesperson. The following is the message received back from YouTube.

Here's our statement on this issue, attributable to a YouTube spokesperson (not to me): We are supportive of the concept of industry, advocacy groups, and the Attorneys' General sitting down and working through the feasibility of age verification. We are currently studying the proposal. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Best,

Victoria

Passing the buck off to the Attorney General, I sent a message to the Department of Justice which is as follows:

Dear Sir:

After visiting the web site youtube.com I was appalled at their measures, or lack thereof, of verifying the ages of the people who join their site. I recently put their site to the test to see how easy it was for a young child or teenager to sign up for an account to view the pornography which is available on youtube.com. I do not know how familiar you are with youtube.com, but it is way too easy for a child to gain an account and view content that should definitely not be viewed. I contacted YouTube with this question:

Age verification measures do not even exist on your site. While putting your site to the test, it is very easy for a child or teenager to sign up for an account on YouTube and lie about their age to view sex videos and the like. What, if anything, is going to be done about age verification on youtube.com?

Now that they have thrown the ball in your court, my question is this: What is going to be done to stop children from accessing these pornographic videos on YouTube.com? A general answer of "parental control software" is not the way to handle it. My children cannot go to the store and buy "Playboy" or "Playgirl." They cannot buy cigarettes or alcohol without being of legal age and providing proper identification. They also cannot purchase video games that are not rated E for everyone. So why can they go onto YouTube and watch pornography? Something is just not right. Is there anything in the works to control what is being placed on the internet? On YouTube it is just as simple as creating a username and password, typing in a false birth date and clicking on "Confirm Birth Date" to watch these videos. Please keep me informed of any measures that are in the works or may be in the future.

After over two weeks, the Attorney General, nor any spokesperson for the Department of Justice has responded.

I really do not want to pick on YouTube alone as there are many, many sites on the internet containing sexually explicit material. Something needs to be done to enforce these web sites to use an age-verification system other than, "If you are over 18, click here."