back to article Social networking site bans oldies over sex offender fears

A social networking site has deleted most of its users over the age of 36 because it claims older users pose a danger of sex offending. It claims to be forced into the action by the Government, but the part of a law it cites is not yet in force. Faceparty has deleted what it describes as "a huge number of accounts" from its …

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  1. Steven
    Thumb Down

    Hmm...

    ...because a sex offender couldn't possibly set up any number of free hotmail etc accounts...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I smell

    I smell bullpoop!

    However I see the reasoning, child abusers are often not children, therefore all adults should be placed in interment camps until they can prove that they are not child abusers.

  3. Rob Briggs
    Flame

    Utter Twoddle

    How is this going to protect children? Obviously it's not. As for anyone over 36 being a paedo, words fail me. Why 36? There are plenty of offenders in their teens and twenties. And there are plenty of over 36s on Faceparty who use it to meet over over 36s.

    Can't wait for the first age discimination suit.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    heh another thought

    Now all this failparty need to do is add all the emails and details they deleted to a list labeled "Deleted becouse they may be peadophiles" and then share that with other sites, then the government and then the media, and the total number of dangerous/active predatory peadophiles go from a few hundred to several hundred thousand! There by justifying all the insane numpty law that could follow.

  5. Chris Purcell

    Re: Hmm...

    ...and would *never* lie about their age...

  6. Ash
    Flame

    Oh dear lord...

    Let's be frank here;

    1) Anyone who wants to screw a kiddy will pretend to be roughly the same age as them, into the same piddly little toys or shitty kids TV programs, and lie through their teeth all of the time. They're not going to have a profile which reads "Hi, i'm 47 years old, looking to have sex with a toddler."

    2) ANyone who's over the age of 36 and HAS a social networking account is just an idiot. They should have more sense.

    Flame on!

  7. JakeyC
    Paris Hilton

    It's worse than TV Licensing

    I've always argued that the approach of TV Licensing (we can't find you on a list of TV users, therefore you must be using a TV illegally) is as absurd as accusing all adults who aren't listed on the Sex Offenders Register of being sex offenders.

    Now that day has come.

    If I was a middle-aged user of Facespace or Bebook or whatever, I'd be suing for libel. Well, I'd like to think that I would. Reality is, I'd just write a strongly-worded email.

    Paris beacuse she's sexually offensive.

  8. JakeyC

    Paedogeddon

    How long until Jacqui Smith claims that paedophiles are "using an area of the internet the size of Ireland"?

  9. John Macintyre

    possible extension

    Sounds great, here's more possible deranged ideas:

    a) men are more likely to be sex pests than women, so ban all men

    b) students between 18-25 are likely to pretend to be younger than they are, so just ban all of them

    c) younger members of the public are most at risk, so to protect them better, ban anyone under 16

    I know someone will say 'but think of the kids!' I don't condone sex offence and I can suggest a few things that should happen to such offenders, but the usual response always seems overkill, and always makes the innocent feel guilty. Sex offenders don't care, they'll just go elsewhere, use a fake email (not like there's no way of getting any kind of mailinator account or anything), etc, while people who genuinely want to join are made to feel like criminals for the minority.

    Here's another thought the govt should try - why not just ban the internet, then that should stop all illegal activities and get a few more votes....

    Oh and one other thing. I'm not that age yet but 36 isn't exactly an 'oldie', but ageist aren't we?

  10. Dan Salter
    Stop

    Help!

    I turn 36 next month & now I'm worried I may suddenly turn in to a sex offender.

    This is ludicrous. A complete nonsense reaction to the governments nonsense notion that sex offenders will only have one email address.

  11. Fluffykins Silver badge

    Would it be wise to ensure

    that no staff member of facebook, its operating company, suppliers and the like is over 36 years old, because they, too, MIGHT be a paedophile.

    But there again, some might lie about their age. Don't worry though: no self-respecting paedophile would do lie about his age just to re-register with Facebook.

    Now would they?

  12. Avi

    Why not extend the logic?

    and remove them all?

    "We understand that only a minority of users are sex offenders, but you must understand that we cannot tell which"

  13. Niall
    Happy

    Exemptions

    I assume teachers are exempt, otherwise how else are they going to spy on the gangs. Still it's nice to know that no one under the age of 36 is a sex offender.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They'll have to become a Scout Leader instead now...

    "It was old style pedo-ing. Before it got such a bad name"

  15. David
    Happy

    Why 36?

    Seems an interesting line to draw. I'm 36 in a few weeks' time - I can't wait for my sex offending years to begin!

  16. Alexander Hanff
    Alert

    Ageism

    So they have admitted to breaking the law then? Ageism is illegal in the UK as far as I recall.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    eh?

    wow, this is indeed an example of a mega badly thought through excuse for an action...

    Surely it is just asking for a darwin award?

    Exactly what assumptions are they presenting?

    1) they talk about a law which is not in place as if it was in place - which is incorrect - misinformation.

    2) they talk about above 36 as if this age has anything to do with sexoffender - which is a lie - disinformation. As if people below 36 were not offenders? This 'discovery' would indeed be worth a Nobel Prize if true!

    3) they talk about those sexoffenders how are above 36 as if they would be honest in advertising their age - which is amazingly ignorant or just a misleading argument and thus again a lie.

    This 'social-networking' site deserves to go under quickly and swiftly, because if this is their strategy for dealing with sex offender fears they I would certainly not let my kids to use their site.

    Paris - because surely she must be over 36 by now...

  18. Damien Jorgensen
    Gates Halo

    lol

    they went bust thats why they deleted everyone as their pile of pants website had such much crud on it, the db couldnt cope

    for years they refused to let people leave the site lol

  19. DirkGently
    Thumb Down

    Abusing Reporting Abuse

    "Children should be able to use these environments but make it easy for them to report abuse."

    That's great, except when someone reports abuse because they don't like someone and that person is then investigated for the abuse.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    I do hope...

    ... nobody working for faceparty is over the age of 36, they could be in the dole queue come monday...

    to be honest i wish i was a few years older, i wouldnt have to manually delete my account on there then :)

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No possibility of 30 year old offenders then?

    If it's only a "minority of older users", what's the percentage of "younger users"?

    How can they claim this is not ageist, when they're clearly implying that sex offenders are all over 36 years of age? Perhaps I'm turning into a Meldrew type reaching the grand old age of 36 years 3 months and 5 days.

    Oh no, that means I'm going to be a sex offender now... Time for the elastic band around the sensitive areas I think...

    So much for the reports of teenage muggers - obviously being old is no longer a sign of stability and maturity - just a sign of descent into the grimy world of sex crimes.

  22. Graham Dawson Silver badge

    So...

    If existing users get to 36 do they get to pay a visit to the carousel, or can they get renewed?

  23. Nathan
    Thumb Down

    Marvelous

    I can't wait until my 36th birthday. Only 11 years to go, but I'm positively bouncing at the thought of all that sex offending to be had.

    Seriously, what on earth are they playing at. Faceparty has made an utterly ageist move and I really do think a boycott is in order.

    I suspect the majority of "sex offences" is done well under the age of 36 anyway. Usually mid twenties for rapists isn't it?

    Obviously there's no chance of people after committing a sex offence from registering as a 14 year old. Just like there's no chance of an 8 year old registering under the guise of being 13.

    Face party, you get a thumbs down for such a blatant move to rid you user base of the only folk on that list with any money to spend on potential advertisers on your site. Well done retards.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Publicity stunt and rank hypocrisy

    I used to be on faceparty. The overall age is fairly young, but at the time :

    1) All users were over 16. People could lie, but that's what was stated.

    2) Lewd pictures were practically encouraged, as this enabled faceparty to make money by restricting the pictures behind a payware barrier.

    2a) There's an explicit 'agony aunt' column attached to the site

    2b) Faceparty also attended the sex exhibition held at GMEX in Manchester selling membership, with the implication it was useful for hookups.

    3) There were quite a few people considerably older than 30. There were chatrooms and so on especially set up for them by faceparty.

    I'm sure it's a possibility that there are older people trying to take advantage of younger people, and that this should be prevented, but perhaps they should revisit the definition of 'paedophiles' when the user age is over 16...

    Paedophiles? Rubbish. Probably due to them losing out to facebook and suchlike. I second the fact they're trying to rejuvenate a tired old website.

    Posted as AC, as I really don't fancy being sued.

  25. yeah, right.

    wow. Complete logic failure.

    Assuming the story is true and not your usual run-of-the-mill fake, I'm... appalled. Not that they banned people from their site just because they claimed to be over 36. But because they thought it would make a single bit of difference. Last I heard, all the social-network based paedophiles that have been caught recently were using accounts where they claimed to be 15 years old or so, not over 36. So right there the website decision makers fail any sort of ability to think or process logical thought.

    Alternatively, they're lying about what happened to cover something up. Exactly what they would try to cover up with such a ludicrous story is beyond my ken.

  26. AC
    Alien

    yeah like that'll work

    validating against known e-mails is one thing but checking birth records ... doubt it.

    I say we go the other way and ban social networking sites instead since they only serve as either a pretty text message or jazzed up e-mail, the rest is all bullcrap.

    {PS we need an eye rolling icon}

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just report them....

    ...to the appropriate body responsible for enforcing age discrimination laws. You can't offer a service to the public and bar users of a certain age/colour/sex/disability

    If I tried to ban people above a certain age coming into my shop I'd quickly be up before the beak on an age discrimination charge.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    LOL

    so then, if all the kiddies that are registered now are allowed on, will they get there accounts killed on their "supposed 36th" birthday

  29. Chris Walker

    You have to ask yourself...

    Are YOU employing DecisionTards like this in YOUR organisation?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

    Err, making such a stupid and unjustified statement could well mean they open themselves up to a libel action. After all the are effectively saying we are deleting your account because we think you might be a sex paedophile. A lawyer would have a field day with that.

    A stupid action which is obviously pointless as well.

  31. Paul Buxton

    Surely...

    ...it would be more effective to ban children from social networking sites.

  32. corestore
    Stop

    Utter b****cks

    What I especially liked was the brazen lies by Faceparty:

    "Lying about your Age On-Line:

    Any person who lies about their age on the Internet is committing a crime under the sex offenders act. It is a criminal offence to pretend you are younger than you really are online. Offenders will be banned and reported to the police. Older users who have been deleted must NOT create new accounts pretending to be younger as that will result in criminal prosecution and you will be placed on the sex offenders register. "

    A criminal offence to lie about your age on the internet? Oh really? I'm on the Internet. I'm saying I'm 42. Bring it on.

    What unadulterated BS...!

    Mike

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    social engineering 2.0

    Isn't it funny how the most "progressive", "web 2.0", "open minded", "stick it to the man" people will put in place the most draconian and over the top rules and measures once they have a bit of power and responsibility?

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Diiiime bar? DIIIIME BAR?

    "sex offenders registering their email addresses"

    Yet again Ms Smith demonstrates her absolute incompetence over anything to do with IT.

    Nobody has multiple email addresses do they? And once you have an email account, of course you can't have another one can you?

    Silly cow.

    As for faceparty, no sex offenders are under 36 are they? They just magically become perverts on their 36th birthday.

    Silly twats.

  35. adnim

    Lies, truth and subterfuge

    Yup, child sex offenders will always tell the truth about their age, name and email address. After all what have they got to hide?

    This is ridiculous beyond words, and being over the age of 36 I find this quite offensive.

    More bullshit to match previous legislation that will only ever catch those that tell the truth and follow the rules. When is it going to click with those who make these policies/decisions/laws that criminals do not tell the truth nor follow the rules?

    Those criminals that this kind of thing will catch are already offering themselves up to plod by posting self incriminating evidence on youtube.

  36. Eduard Coli
    Thumb Down

    Age descrimination

    Where are the Grey Panthers when you need them?

    This is stupid and I really would like to see this site go out of business.

    A sexual predator is going to just falsify their registration.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Much simpler means of "protecting ickle childy wildren" (tm)

    1) Make anyone on the sex offenders list (or List 99 which lists people who've been banned from working with children and vulnerable people)declare this when getting internet access either at home or in an internet cafe. Quite simple to police.

    2) Have IP addresses of the aforementioned people registered with a database - makes a whole lot more sense than just an email address.

    3) Make it an offence to apply for membership of any social networking site without truthfully declaring that you are on the sex offender's list and/or List 99. Social networking sites can then also double check with the IP registration list.

    4) People so identified have restricted access to the facilities of the social networking site, e.g. must be invited to link up with people who know them an can't proactively seek connections with other people.

    I think the above might have a chance of working. The government's screwball plan is just another prime example of why they won't be in power in two years times.

  38. system

    ageism

    "Despite malicious rumours spread by a few people on the website, it is not true that we have deleted members due to 'ageism'," its notice said.

    From the OED: noun prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of age.

    Deleting all accounts where the owner is over 36 sounds like a clear cut case of ageism to me.

    Apart from the lack of a basic understanding of english, by ensuring that their site is full of kids they make it the prefered choice of paedophiles, thus demonstrating a complete lack of understanding about anything at all. Such a shame retardparty.com is already taken.

  39. Andy Taylor
    Thumb Down

    I'm 39 and I'm not a nonce...

    Oh please - how many Paedophiles will sign up using their real age if their purpose is to groom the young?

    Having just looked at the Faceparty web site, I can't imagine why anyone over the age of 19 would want to join in any case.

    Bah.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is that actually legal?

    I was under the impression that age discrimination is illegal.

  41. Chris

    Re: Utter Twoddle

    "And there are plenty of over 36s on Faceparty who use it to meet over over 36s."

    Not any more there aren't!!!

    "Can't wait for the first age discimination suit."

    Not likely - it's a private site so they can do what they want. If they want to delete everyone over the age of 36 they can do that. They're only representing themselves, not anybody else, so are perfectly within their rights to do that.

    On the other hand I DO NOT agree with it, and actions like this are to make stupid people in high positions think that FaceParty are doing a good thing. The age of 36 baffles me though - I have plenty of friends over 36 and none of them are paedophiles - in fact none of my friends are.

    The world's going crazy. Now if you're over 36 you're a suspected paedophile - I dunno :(

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    No brains

    And has it never occurred to anyone at Faceparty that paedos who groom tend to pose as young people anyway so their accounts are hardly likely to give their real age!

    One day common sense will prevail over knee jerk policies but I suspect this is an account cleaning process by Faceparty. Wonder if its actually legal to discriminate like this?

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Megan's Run

    Damn do I become a pedophile next birthday?! Screw that, I'm off to Sanctuary....

  44. Nick G

    Renew! Renew!

    At a guess, I'd say that someone's been watching too much Logan's Run.

    Ah, the fiery ritual of Carousel...

  45. alphaxion

    another solution

    if they aren't doing it to get a younger "more valuable" userbase (even though those in their late 20's to 30's will have more money than the teenager) then why don't they ban anyone under the age of 20?

    If it's paedo's they're worried about, after the ban of kids from the site, I see no problem with a 36 year old pretending to be a 13 year old talking to another 40 year old pretending to be a 12 year old and arrange a meet up together.. hell, get some cctv footage of it and sell it as the next reality show!

  46. Graham Bartlett
    Happy

    Hmm

    Is it just me, or does the name "Faceparty" bring images to mind which are decidedly NSFW? As in "The party's on my face - be there in two minutes"...

    The happy smiley face because, well, wouldn't yours be? (And the Paris icon is far too obvious.)

  47. eddiewrenn

    What a ridiculously-ran company

    What the hell? Even their quotes make them look fools:

    "We understand that only a minority of older users are sex offenders, but you must understand that we cannot tell which," No sh1t Sherlock!!

    "Despite malicious rumours spread by a few people on the website, it is not true that we have deleted members due to 'ageism'," Um, so let's choose an arbitrary reasoning to ban a certain segment of our population. Did they also ban all 36+ women? Why not just ban anyone under 16?

    "because a gang of paedophiles had arrived on the website and had carried out a series of attacks on younger users". So why not close all accounts made after a certain date?

    ===

    "It did say in its notice, though, that the site did have a serious problem with sex offenders." Again, close the Under-16's accounts then. Either way, sounds a great site to visit.

    Wow, whose their PR spokesman? They're doing a great job today

  48. Mike Street

    Which are they?

    Clearly Faceparty are either liars or idiots. I wonder which.

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just another thought.

    Facebook probably realise full well that they will have to backtrack on this one. They also know that most adults over the age of 36 once they realise that their account they carefully worked on (most of the over 36 yo's I know spent an eternity on pimping their pages) and building large networks, for the past 2 years, has all been deleted, will probably shrug their shoulders and go down the pub instead or wash the cars and cut the grass.

    So by not giving notice and just deleting accounts, they have got rid of a large number of users they don't really want and avoided a huge furore that would have happenned if they had given notice, simply because older adults wouldn't get as stroppy as students/twentysomethings would do over their account and work being deleted.

    The only oldies that would probably re-register would be the very people they say were the cause of the culling, the child abusers, and a few adults for who Facebook is their only social life, therefore they would be left with a much smaller population of over 36's to monitor for strange behaviour.

  50. James Pickett
    Paris Hilton

    Really?

    This seems to imply that the only thing defining a paedophile is age difference. IIRC, I was quite interested in sex before I was 36...

    PH - as I still am.

  51. Bruce Leyden
    Coat

    Gang of Paedophiles

    Lol - "Gang of Paedophiles". Great name for a band. Think of the free publicity. Hello, is that the Daily Mail? Yes, I'd like to take out a full-page ad for our upcoming album. Yeah, it's called "The Kids Are Gonna Love Us".

    Mine's the tatty mac with the pair of binoculars in the pocket.

  52. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Dammit!

    Why did nobody tell me it's the norm to a kiddy fiddler from 36 onwards, I've missed out on 3 years!

    Quick, someone pass me a toddler, I have some catching up to do!

    Okay, more seriously... Faceparty... TWATS!

  53. Campbell
    Stop

    Don't understand

    All the comments here about lying about age, multiple email addreses etc are perfectly valid, what I can't understand is why the hell ordinary Joes, like us, can see this yet those we have elected to do the job seem totally oblivious to the real world.

    Is having your brain removed the prime requisite for a politician these days?

  54. davenewman
    Dead Vulture

    Age discrimination law

    All providers of services come under all our discrimination laws, including age discrimination. It is likely that their action is illegal.

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hypocrites

    Link of the home page:-

    http://www.faceparty.com/grimrita/default.aspx

    I don't thing the content could be considered suitable for the 2 preteen kids in the picture. Judging by the content of the emails I get from "Grim Rita" to my faceparty account I'd say Faceparty were the perverts

  56. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mixed messages

    "Use our Undercover Agent to find out who keeps visiting your profile, who thinks you're a Honey and snoop to see who's added you to their friend list!"

    Undercover.

    Honey.

    Snoop.

    Sex.

    With.

    Young.

    People.

    I'd never visited the site but after 10 seconds I realised I'd seen it all before. It's full of nauseating, egomaniacal teens gagging to be noticed by the opposite sex.

    This is sanctimonious squirming at its very best.

  57. John H Woods Silver badge

    How are you supposed to monitor your kids pages?

    I am on Bebo (I'm 108, because I'd never give the f*ckw*ts my real d.o.b.) purely so I can see what pictures my horny little minx of a daughter has put up so I can issue her with a friendly takedown notice. Having seen some of her friends sites I can confirm that most parents do not have a clue what their children are doing on line --- it is THIS that makes children vulnerable.

  58. neil
    Paris Hilton

    Logan's Run

    Where are the Sandmen

  59. Kanhef
    Joke

    Easier solution

    Ban everyone under 18. No more kids to worry about.

    Oh, wait, that's 90% of their market.

  60. Steve Mann

    @ Much simpler means of "protecting ickle childy wildren" (tm) Anon Cow

    Er, according to your clause three everyone would have to become some sort of paedo, then get caught at it before they could apply to join a social networking site.

    Of course, that would make everything more clear cut, and is where this story began if you think about it.

  61. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Only 3 years to go then

    Guess i'd better face the inevitable.

    See you guys down by the playground.

  62. John Murgatroyd

    So ?

    Does that mean that practically every woman will be a crook now ?

    After all, it is considered ok for women to be younger in conversation than they are in years.

    As for why those we have elected to do the job not being able to see the wood for the trees.....

    Politicians are thick, as in T H I C K , when they want to be. Let others do what they want them to, then they do not need laws.....so when the sex offences by inet users do not drop, some other reasoning will be used to restrict someone elses freedom.

    Since when did this gov give a monkeys ass about laws, they've broken most of them themselves.

  63. Stewart Haywood
    Flame

    'Ang on a minute

    I have never looked Faceparty before you mentioned it. I don't want to look at it again.

    Now, I realize that at 56 I am obviously very dangerous and may corrupt the morals of young people and should therefore be banned, but, when I was a kid, I was protected from things like this http://www.faceparty.com/grimrita/ by not allowing me to see them, not by banning people of my present age from seeing them.

    It is interesting that every page on Faceparty (I have only looked at two pages, it was enough) has something that would offend people. Faceparty is allowed to continue. A kid who calls the Scientology Cult a cult is in trouble. Some poor publican who advertises his bar as "now straight" is in trouble and anyone over 36 is a pervert. Apart from Gordon and his palls, what is wrong with England?

  64. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lack of FaceParty

    I am on FP (Least I was till they deleted my account) and yet I'm under 36.

    So are they classing me as a potential sex offender?

    Also, they mention this in their little ditty...

    "Anarchy Towers did not opt to buy your account:

    The original crew behind Faceparty and the inventors of the online community (Anarchy Towers) is taking control of the website again. That means this is gonna be the best site on the web, just as it was for every year they were in control in the past. Anarchy Towers is NOT legally obliged to purchase all of the member accounts from CIS Internet Ltd, and nor does it intend to. Your contract with CIS Internet Ltd ends with the closure of CIS Internet Ltd. Anarchy Towers can only afford to buy a certain number of accounts - there is most likely nothing personal in it, we can only buy what we can afford.

    Faceparty was set up as a youth entertainment portal. Anarchy Towers will not be purchasing profiles of people who use the website for the wrong reasons (ie porn hosting, spamming, older men using the website solely to look at younger people naked, to steal Faceparty's resources by using it as a dating site for the over 50s because they don't want to pay for match.com etc) and similarly members who have not been using their account at all will not be purchased. Older users who use the site for the right reasons may be invited to stay. With so many millions of members, it isn't possible to address accounts individually so certain group data-cuts will be made. We apologise if you are cut-out if you genuinely belong here, but you are welcome back in the future.

    No member has any legal "right" or "entitlement" to be purchased by Anarchy Towers Ltd."

    Great.. I'm an apparant sex offender

  65. David Simpson
    Pirate

    contacts.....

    Most people i know use faceparty as a contact site, mainly to set up sex parties and other swinging type activities, Poor over 36ers you are now offically overy the hill.

    Since when did faceparty become a social network ? It always seemed pretty obvious it was a swinging site even down to the paid for saucy pictures

  66. Alan W. Rateliff, II
    Paris Hilton

    Best way to protect users

    My new business pitch: a social networking website which is guaranteed not to fall prey to sex offenders using it troll for kiddies -- by having no users at all! This is a million dollar idea.

    Paris, guaranteed not to fall prey to sex offenders.

  67. Jim Jupiter

    Who knew?

    I'm 38. I suppose I'll go turn myself in.

  68. Shabble

    Watching us, watching you, watching us

    The government clearly plans to start monitoring everything we do online, either directly or indirectly. If they didn't, they wouldn't have bothered to pass the legislation, and they wouldn't be planning to keep this info:

    http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article3965033.ece

    Before the internet, there was no effective way to actually police people's thoughts. Heavy handed states like Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany had to recruit evangelical supporters to root out people with 'antisocial' ideas or oblige normal citizens to grass up their 'subversive' or 'terrorist' neighbours so as to avoid going to the Gulags themselves. But technology allows us to do things we never thought would be possible.

    From now on, if you post anonymously on a site like El Reg the opinion that, say, Scientology is a cult, (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1997376/Boy-faces-court-for-Scientology-placard.html)

    BT's secret monitoring system will pick up the phrases and inform the police. The police then search the archives of your online activities, build a case against you (you've criticised the Pope in other posts) and before you know it, you've got size fourteen boots kicking your door in. A few weeks later you're in prison for having the temerity to publicly disagree with an idea on the government's list of officially sanctioned beliefs.

    Please vote against New Labour at the next General Election.

  69. Neil Bradley

    Farceparty

    Apparently, the age-limit was set at 36 because Mr. Andrew David Bamforth who has some control (or lack of) over the website is currently 35 years old. Now he can't ban himself from the website now can he? ;)

  70. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Hmmmme

    Isn't Jacqui Smith over 36?

  71. peter
    Stop

    The owners of faceparty

    I've never heard of faceparty, but wanted to checkout the twats, and keep it real, in with the youth, no facist parents, or society moaners.

    http://www.faceparty.com/account/join.aspx

    Faceparty admission is now strictly by invitation only ...Name's not down? Ya' not comin' in!

    With our doors open to everyone, this site was attracting too many spammers, fakers, pervs, liars, haters, nobs, pedos, over-50's-using-it-as-a-dating-site-cos-they-have-to-pay-for-match.com's, and most of all... too many friggin' moaners! We'd spend all day deleting them, but alas (aarrggghh!) they'd only return the next day. Not anymore... problem solved. Hooray!

    ...and besides, we'd rather be the best than the biggest.

    You need to be invited by someone-in-the-know ...and you certainly won't be getting a password by pestering us, so please stop! We gotta get tough, cos if we're not, this place 'aint gonna rock... and if there's one last thing on this crazy planet we're gonna do? it's see this place ROCK!

    Yay!!! Type that supa-secret password in the box below, between the hours of midnight and 1am, to go to the new member application form. You will need a digital photo of yourself in order to join.

    I hereby do declare, and solemnly swear, that I won't act like a prick, I'm not a judgemental fool, I believe in racial and sexual equality, I'm not a pedo, I've not lied about my age, I'm not a spammer, I won't nick anyone's pics, I will never refer to faceparty as a "social network"*, I will never call Faceparty "Facebook" by mistake, I will try my hardest not to moan all the time, I'm not a cam whore (nor a faker), I will perform at least one practical joke every 38 days... and most importantly, I genuinely value love before money (at least when I'm on 'ere, anyway). Amen.

    I acknowledge that Faceparty was the world's first online community - that it's still here (if not a little ruff around the edges) and still hasn't sold out despite offers of 100s of millions, cos it's far more important that there's at least one thing on Earth that isn't owned by "the man", where we can all truly be ourseves and not just another digit on a bank statement.

    Go on, give us a big hug, and get ur fat ass in here...

    Welcome aboard! ...you're in for one hell of a ride ;)

    * Faceparty is a community, which is the absolute opposite of a Social Network. There'll be no social climbing here ...we're all equally rubbish and we certainly don't give a f*ck about what you do for a living, or rate you by how many 'linked friends' you've clicked on, so leave any ideas of 'networking' at the door - we're only interested in your big heart, participation and personality ...and if you dont feel you've got one of those, we'll give you one :P

    END

    Is this some giant windup because it sounds like an old guy who wants pictures, to keep it all secret and trying to "identify" with the kids.

    I just hope whomever invests in this has very, very good legal services.

  72. Mark

    What a crock

    Anybody remember the little ditty "God is mad"?

    A message from your leader,

    I'll make it short and sweet,

    Death will come at midnight,

    To those who wear false teeth...

    Scary that this amusing piece of parody makes at least as much sense as a policy FascistParty are apparently serious about.

  73. Neil Bradley
    Thumb Down

    Responsible?

    The website is now carrying illustrations apparently designed by users of the site.

    What sort of message does this one send out?

    http://www.faceparty.com/im/wymo_mpuh.gif

  74. Craig
    Unhappy

    Sanity...

    Years ago I realized I was the only sane person left on the planet, and every day I see more evidence to support my theory...

  75. Jeremy
    Black Helicopters

    A bit like Logans Run ?

    Remember that movie where everyone must die at a certain age ?

    RENEWAL RENEWAL RENEWAL RENEWAL !

    (There is no sanctuary!)

  76. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Yeah like Faceparty is soooooo clean!

    Being merely a Faceparty spectator I see my colleagues using it regularly. Judging by the "interesting" pics some of the ladies have on their profiles Faceparty is another online-shag-arranging tool. Hardly in the same relatively innocent league as Beebo! In fact, judging by what I have seen, I would have expected under 18's to be banned from Faceparty!

  77. Steve Roper
    Black Helicopters

    Yet another aspect of 1984...

    ... remember "oldthinkers unbellyfeel Ingsoc"? If you're over 36, you were born before the era of "political correctness" and therefore have these old-fashioned notions about evil things called "freedom", "civil liberties", "justice" and "equality". These concepts are CRIMETHINK, and those exposed to them are Enemies of the Party.

    Of course, this is just the thin end of the next wedge, but given where this world is going, we can expect all oldthinkers to become suspect over the coming few years...

  78. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Idiots

    I've never used Faceparty. I've never looked at it. I have no intention of ever going anywhere near it.

    But for some reason this makes me pissed off. Reading http://www.faceparty.com/missing_account.aspx didn't exactly improve my mood.

    I'm not sure if it's the lies about their members, the complete misrepresentation of the law, the way they treated their members (especially the ones who paid) or their other excuses that annoy me the most.

    I suspect the reality is something to do with being nu media idiots who are trying to re-target a failing business and haven't got a clue how to actually do it. Though this does seem to include liquidating the prior holding company and doing a phoenix with the same directors etc. to give a get-out from existing contracts. While simultaneously grabbing a whole load of subscription cash and cutting running costs to almost nothing.

    Much as I'd like to pay a visit to them their address seems like it's a virtual office. And other details are a bit thin, though Andrew Bamforth is at least a constant presence and easier to contact.

    I guess their introduction to harsh reality will have to come in the form of the backlash to their actions. Clearly they've managed to destroy their core business and do a truly great PR job at the same time.

    Certainly I don't see much profitability in their future if the current efforts are representative of their talents.

    I look forward to the ongoing fallout and potential libel actions from ex-members.

  79. Martin Usher

    But they're not all over 36...

    We've just had a local case, a fairly nasty one (teacher/youth worker, sex with minor and so on). The puerp was 29. So there.

    From where I stand (at the threshold of geezerdom) anyone under 40 looks young. Sigh.

  80. Mathew White
    Thumb Down

    Guess that pedophiles never lie online, especially about their age.

    I sense sour grapes at the government here, trying to garner a bit of publicity and maybe foster a backlash against the governments approach to protecting the little ones.

    Interestingly they have set the age watershed at a point where it discriminates against the parents of their teenage users.

    But honestly, do we really need more social networking sites? I feel these adults have been spared a fate worse than death.

  81. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @steve mann

    I think it was relatively clear that I meant that IF YOU ARE A SEX OFFENDER IT SHOULD BE AN OFFENCE, etc.

    You're not a politician are you?

    There are laws in place already to prevent sex offenders and List 99 inductees from avoiding declaring their status. Move it online and the job's done.

  82. Cameron Campbell-Brown

    Thin edge of the wedge...

    First it's social networking sites we.. err they can't go to.. then it's social venues, then... soon enough we have... LOGAN'S RUN!!!

    And I was scared of 1984 becoming reality

  83. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    36th birthday => 35 years old

    You people got your math wrong.

    The 36th birthday is the day one turns *35* years old.

    The 36th *anniversary* on the other hand is the day one turns 36 years old.

  84. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anyone over 36 is using these sites???

    I am rather surprised that there is anybody over the age of 36 who uses social networking sites. Only immature people use such sites. Oh well, I guess age is no guarantee for maturity.

  85. Cameron Campbell-Brown

    Oh dear...

    I just realised, by remembering Logan's run... I've inadvertedly admitted my age and therefore my status as a sex offender...

    *Turns off his computer and waits...*

    I have no idea how many finger you are holding up...

  86. Fuion
    Pirate

    Funny.

    With my now clear vision I can see:

    Faceparty ---> Smoking Crack

    Crack Kills ---> Faceparty Dies

    We can all be assured that this "Crack Epidemic" will soon cease to exist.

  87. JC

    Brilliant!

    With bright sparks like these making decisions, all we need now is to ban everyone under 37 and the fears should be completely eliminated!

    To claim the government made 'em do it, what a crock.

  88. TMISv2

    Won't somebody think of the children!!111one

    Looks like using an ICBM to crack a walnut again, as seems the current tradition with fear and hysteria-fuelled policy.

  89. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gasp!

    So that's why I suddenly couldn't log in a few months ago. Over the hill even at 44!

    As CTO of several social networking sites for Eastern Europe and Russia, such as tugeza.ru and ce-faci.ro. I had an account on fbox for research purposes, but the ignorance and sheer vulgarity on display in this ASBO sanctuary really made me despair. The contrast of standards with Russian and East European youth could not be more stark. Britain is sliding into the gutter and I'm glad I got a good education there while I still could!

    Anyway, since when has a 10-20-30 year age difference between consenting adults actually been an offence? Age difference a much smaller barrier in other countries.

    I met my partner on a dating site in Budapest 4 years ago with no such restrictions and she is 11 years younger than me. Could never meet such a beautiful and sweet person in that Neasden of Europe they call Britain!

    Andy.

  90. Don
    Black Helicopters

    Blind Faith

    Need a Ben Elton icon.

  91. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Errrr

    From the terms and conditions page:

    "The Faceparty Services sites are general purpose sites and are designed for use by individuals that are 16 years of age or older."

    Why are they banning over 36's for being paedophiles again....?

  92. Tom Austin
    Thumb Down

    What with being 43...

    ...and having never fancied kids in any shape or form in my life (too small, too dumb, never able to pay when it's their round, that kind of thing), I'm obviously a little behind the whole 36-Paedo-Party thing.

    (Ooh. Wait. Did I really type that? "...little behind..." Did you see what I did there? What was that: a freudian-slip type thing?)

    FFS. Really, sarcasm aside, words fail me.

    (But thanks for the Logan's Run reference, people. Even have still fond memories of the utterly dire TV series...)

  93. simon maasz
    Paris Hilton

    Stunt.

    Publicity stunt. I note pay-per-month for over-18 area of site. Looks like a pseudo-porno site.

    Paris, cos she's far too sophisticated for Faceparty

  94. Big Al
    Thumb Down

    Re: Yet another aspect of 1984...

    All in all, doubleplus ungood

  95. Jon Lamb
    Heart

    Lying about age, now a sex offence ?

    "Unfortunately some of the creators of accounts who were deleted, of an older age group, have been creating new accounts with a younger age (which means that government legislation classifies them as a sex offender by lying about their age on the Internet"

    Some dating sites I've seen must have a fair amount of sex offenders on them then!

  96. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @Fluffykins

    I think the article was about Faceparty

  97. Paul Lingwood
    Coat

    what do I do??!??

    ... I'm 34 .. I've only got two years left! ... I don't wanna be a sex offender! .. please ... someone ... do something!

  98. Peter Thomas
    Paris Hilton

    BT Broadband thinks differently...

    From http://www.btbroadbandinformation.com/glossary/faceparty/

    "Originally for those in their teens and late twenties, Faceparty is a community networking web site that’s now popular with all ages over 16. You can meet like-minded people and make new friends online."

    Paris, because she's the optimum age, and is in no way a bad influence on young impressionable adults.

  99. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Faceparty

    Went to the site for the first time ever and this was the first thread I saw advertised on the home page.

    http://www.faceparty.com/gossip/thread.aspx?topic=19186

    Yuk!

    Mine's the full length flasher mac (I am after all over 36)

  100. Burch

    *faps*

    "Karl Molloy (35) met the girl on dating site Faceparty, where she initially claimed to be 16, and persuaded her to text him indecent pictures of herself."

    http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=156130&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242285&home=yes&more_nodeId1=156139&contentPK=20615736

    Now he'd be alright.

    From another article:

    "It is not the legal right of a 70 year old to claim right to a young person's service. Furthermore, it is not your right as a 50 year old to steal the bandwidth of our youth portal because you don't want to pay for match.com."

    http://www.trustedreviews.com/software/news/2008/05/22/Faceparty-Identifies-Sexual-Predators-Bans-Over-36s/p1

  101. Ally
    Paris Hilton

    whats never been mentioned

    Is that Faceparty dont allow members under 16 years old, or at least they didn't used to. How can over 36s be classed as paedos...if there are no underage kids on the site?

    Paris, because I'm confused now

  102. Amanda

    Wait, what?

    "I acknowledge that Faceparty was the world's first online community"

    WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link) *might* just have a little something to say about that... even they don't claim to be the absolute first, I think, despite being founded when Mr. Bamforth was about 12.

  103. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So...

    If they are now disapproving of people using it to host home-made porn, who's actually going to visit the site? That was always the advantage it had over the others to be honest...

  104. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Deleted the wrong crowd

    A better way to find out which of the over 36 year olds were peado's would be to delete all of the accounts of the under 18s. Then, having removed the prospective targets, all of the dodgy oldies would leave and only the good guys and gals would remain.

  105. This post has been deleted by its author

  106. Alex Tingle
    Coat

    Will my life chip get renewed?

    I'm 26 dammit! I've still got four^H^H^H ten more years!!

  107. Jamie
    Linux

    Take up arms

    Anyone else see a reason to take up arms and revolt.

    Soon enough we will be caged because when we walked by someone and looked at them we could possibly commit a violent offence.

    Car drivers will be getting regular tickets because you may speed.

    It is all precautionary.

  108. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Simpler means" 22nd May 2008 16:52 GMT

    1) "simple to police"? So Internet Cafes will be required to ID every user and access the relevant list to see whether there should be some note taken that a given user was there at a given time?

    2) So pedos have fixed IPs, and don't use anonymising sites?

    3) So all social networking sites will have access to some magically maintained list of *apprehended* "sex offenders", and there will never be any mistakes that mean perfectly innocent people get excluded from a whole sector of web actrivity (we'll not discuss whether this maight actually be a beneficial effect here, eh?).

    In general your scheme is unworkable because of the practicalities involved. Basing it on the sex offenders list is a total crock as well, given the broad range of non-paedophilia-related reasons for people being on that list.

  109. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sheesh

    Just looked at the frontpage of the Faceparty site.

    All I can say is thank god I'm over 36.

  110. Robert Ramsay

    Wasn't this just...

    ...designed as free publicity for a sagging social network site?

    The easiest way of getting publicity is to phone up and complain about yourself.

    The second easiest way is to do something that will get a bunch of other suckers to do it for you.

  111. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Just to clarify...

    The article doesn't say that this is anything to do with the government; Jacqui Smith may be an idiot, but she's not responsible for this!

    This is the action of private enterprise; presumably because it has a commercial benefit for them:

    Maybe older users are less susceptable to advertising and this helps their demographics when they try to sell advertising space; whatever it is, its not for the protection of "children".

    Anon, 'cos I'm a Grumpy Old Man...

  112. Mike
    Flame

    Whinge whinge wibble wibble

    Majorly p*ssed off doesn't begin to describe.

    I joined FP when I was 24, and over the last 6 years I've paid for their 'premium' facilities like CoolTools so you can see more than 10 pages of people per visit and can actually interact with them.

    Now I'm 30, mid-way through my current paid subscription, and my account has been cancelled without warning. Now looking at the facts, I'm well under 36, I had profile pics uploaded, I communicated with people on there occasionally (not often as I had a real life to live too, and despite the fact that most of the "people" contacting me were actually adverts for pr0n sites).

    But like many others, my account has been binned with no warning and for me, no justification. They've just made a decision that the last 9 quid of my subscription is theirs without having to give me any service for it.

    I personally think it's disgusting that they will buy all of the kiddie accounts, but not the accounts of the adults (hmmm, keeping all the kiddies to yourselves eh - and you accuse us of kiddy-fiddling?).

    Given they've started boasting they are no longer advert-funded (and I therefore assume they're running purely off subscriptions now) I suspect this could bite them in the arse since I can't see many 16-18s paying for CoolTools, AVS, etc. so killing off their older members could well hit their revenue stream.

    Here's hoping, arrogant bar stewards.

  113. Nigel Stinton

    Amazing lack of understanding.

    A knee jerk reaction by a company that has no understanding of the problem!

  114. Spleen

    Who?

    Reading the quote provided by Peter I can't believe this is a real company. Even a Web two point duh company. I half expected to see "totally tubular" and "gnarly" in there.

    Anyway, this thing is run by "Anarchy Towers", right? You might be interested to know that the only director currently listed for Anarchy Towers Ltd is Andrew Bamforth, born 24th November 1973. Making him 34 years old. According to his own company, he is one year and six months away from becoming a paedophile and being banned from his own site. Brilliant.

  115. Peter Whitworth-Hilton

    Utter B#ll@cks

    Yeah, because you can generalise like that can't you?!? For instance:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/5246612.stm

  116. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who pays the ISP bill for their members?

    Oh yes that'd be the over-36s they just banned. Now what's this on the router? Oh it can block sites can it? Clicky...... :-)

  117. Peter Thomas
    Coat

    Site's founder will have his 36th birthday in November...

    According to Companies House info, Andrew Bamforth (Anarchy Towers Ltd/CIS Internet MD) will be 36 years old in November.

    Mine's the one with the pitchfork, burning torch and 'pedlos out now' placard.

  118. Bruce Leyden
    Boffin

    @ Anon Coward

    "The 36th birthday is the day one turns *35* years old."

    Wrong.

    By your nonce-sense logic, your first birthday would be the day you turn zero years old.

    And how come no one's mentioned Chris Morris yet?

  119. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    And there's more

    I notice they have also recently pulled the plug on the live chat rooms on Faceparty, citing that they did it because of paedo and animal sex abuse.

    At what age do we start interfering with animals?

  120. fred
    Thumb Up

    Check out the site

    I just had a look at the faceparty.com web site. One is confronted with slogons :

    Log Ur Ass On

    Join Us and eat Brain

    Back To The Bitch: All Hell Is about To Break Loose

    Fuck this.

    I think they did us 36 year oldies a favour by banning us!

    Yours,

    Mr. Not Quite As Offensive than FaceParty.

  121. Boring Bob

    Ban under 16's

    The best way to protect against paedophiles is not to ban over 36s but to ban the under 16s

  122. Gilbert Wham

    Halp!!1!

    I turned 36 yesterday, where should I turn myself in? Or do I just wait to be collected?

  123. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You what?

    Well, all I can say is that I'm glad all the disgusting perverts have been thrown off, because now the fine, upstanding members of Faceparty such as "watersportsbitch", "luci_sub" and "rubber-babe" can get on with their innocent and healthful activities in safety.

  124. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Haha

    This makes me laugh - the only reason Faceparty exists is to hook up with girls - thats all I ever used it for when i was at college.

    Surely a logical step would have been to ban all under 16's? Oh wait - actually You couldnt sign up before if you were under 16.

    Basically its faceparty not wanting to pay to develop a system to check agasint the SOR.

    I think its funny personally - I bet there are a whole load of sweaty old men out there banging their hairy fists in anger over this.

  125. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    In the end its all about the 'bottom' line...

    Lets be honest here, they wanted to save a wad of cash so they culled a few thousand accounts and then looked for an excuse. That's all is is an excuse (and not a good one).

    If their site is run as well as they run their PR I'll stay well clear, and as I con't monitor my kids as they learn about the big bad bad internet guess where they won't be going either.

    Aliens 'cos this is stupid its got to be done by somebody from another world!

  126. Steve Liddle
    Black Helicopters

    lots of weird posts there

    Found I used to have an account there, but on an old email address heavily spammed that ended up being wiped.

    Checked back and found lots of crude comments about anal stuff, recall it was full of russian women telling me I had a nice structure and wanting my children

  127. sabroni Silver badge

    @ Bruce Leyden

    Um, Birth Day, the clue is in the name.......

  128. Paul Buxton

    @John H Woods

    How are you supposed to monitor your kids pages?

    Exactly. I hadn't considered this until I read your post but you're absolutely right. This move by Faceparty makes it impossible to follow current Government advice on making your children safe on the Internet. Maybe we should inform Jackie Smith of this, her knee-jerk reaction would probably put Faceparty in orbit (she has to be useful for something, surely).

    And @ Bruce Leydon

    "By your nonce-sense logic, your first birthday would be the day you turn zero years old."

    Yes, that's right. Your Birthday is the day you were born, not the day you turn 1 year old. Want me to prove it? Answer this question: When was your birthday? How hard is that for your "nonce-sense" (I saw what you did there - I'm guessing the Anon Coward you were talking to is over 36 then) logic to comprehend?

  129. Ted Treen
    Flame

    Nostalgia

    Someone from Faceparty has just seen "Logan's Run"......

    Mind you, a younger Jenny Agutter in her mini-toga is always worth seeing....

  130. Spleen
    Boffin

    @Paul Buxton

    It seems obvious to me that "birthday" has two meanings: the day on which you were born, and the day on which you celebrate being born. Quite clearly these are separate. You don't get cake and presents on the day you're actually born, and you aren't born again every single year (unless you're some sort of Jermaine Jackson serial converter type).

    "It's my 21st birthday tomorrow" means "Tomorrow I will celebrate my birth for the 21st time, and since I have celebrated my birthday on 20 previous occasions, once every year, with the first exactly a year after I was born, that means I will be 21 years of age". If you try to tell them "Actually, it's your twenty-second birthday, counting the day you were born" you'll be the worse kind of pedant, a wrong pedant. You can't add two separate things, even if they're spelt the same.

  131. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Birthdays

    The day you were born is not your birthday. "When is your Birthday" gets day and month. Birth*date* includes the year. Your birthday is the anniversary of your birth, so your first birthday occurs a year after you were born.

  132. Suburban Inmate
    Alert

    Have you SEEN Faceparty?

    You will never find a more wretched hive of rampant and gratuitous fuckwittery.

    Nice to see that the site's management is on a par with its userbase, though.

  133. Dave
    Stop

    This can only serve to do one thing!

    What will happen if they cant meet kids online anymore? What will be next? Only one thing....Paedophiles disguising themselves as schools.

  134. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Not being funny but...

    Faceparty is social networking for chavs anyway.

    So who cares? Idiots... (Faceparty that is ;-))

  135. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @Anonymous Coward Posted Friday 23rd May 2008 08:38 GMT

    I think you're referring to my post with my suggestions on how to police such websites. My suggestions were aimed at ensuring that people who should be identified as menaces to children and/or vulnerable adults are. The legal onus should be on them to identify themselves to the social networking sites.

    Provided these people know that their surfing habits are being monitored(because the ISP knows that they're on the sex offenders register or List 99) I'd expect them to be much less likely to try and get around the system with anonymiser websites for fear of being caught and jailed.

    My idea for internet cafes is a simple declaration the falsifying of which is a criminal offence. Of course people can use false IDs etc. but that'll always be the case. It would be a simple matter for the internet cafe to take a photo of everyone using its services and which could be used later as evidence if it transpired that the service was being misled.

    I think my ideas have merit and are infinitely more workable than recording "email addresses". I can't say that I've been bowled over by your own ideas. Where were they again?

  136. Chika
    Coat

    It's knee-jerk time!!!

    It just strikes me as yet another example of reactionary panicking. Just because the term "dirty old man" is in common use, it hardly means that all old men are dirty, or even guilty of sexcrimes. Whatever happened to that fine old tradition of people being innocent until proven guilty? The idea of freedom of speech? Truth and beauty?

    Paranoia rules, it seems.

  137. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @This can only serve to do one thing!

    I think I pooped a little when I read that.

    *chuckles*

    As an aside would you want people who run social networking sites to have access to information like the sex offenders list? Especially as you can get onto it for shagging a bicycle in your own room with the door locked? That old list could net you a fair bit of cash if you sell it to the newspapers or some crazed vigilantie...

  138. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Underage until

    18 according to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This act raised the age that one can legally participate in pr0n & multiparty naughtiness from 16 to 18 (unless you can _prove_ your married (to each other, and there's only the two of you, and no one is watching, and your mum would approve, and you don't enjoy it.)

    The references to lying about your age being an offence under the Sexual Offenders Act (1997) only applies to those who have been convicted or cautioned (after admitting) for certain sexual offences. Most people over 36 are not subject to this act and thus can admit to being whatever age they want to be (except when grooming kiddies; so put the hair brush down.) So this paragraph's a crock of sh1te.

    Mind you for the little I have seen of the sh1te, sorry site, the whole thing is a crock of sh1te and us over 36's (ahem) should be glad that we are now free of it.

    Paris wouldn't be barred, but she's only a 32 (32B I think.)

  139. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    I'm 43

    And it's only now that I'm finding out that I've been a sex offender for the last 7 years.

    Mine's the flasher mac.

  140. Paul Buxton

    @Spleen

    "It's my 21st birthday tomorrow"

    No, tomorrow you will be 21 years old. There is some debate and always will be over this, however, to claim that you're right and I'm wrong is pure arrogance.

  141. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    i have long maintained that...

    anyone signed up to an online community/social networking site is full of sh*t anyway, even the under 36's are fabricating things about themselves. This is why i do not bother, once upon a time the internet was a fun tool/toy but now it seems that anything i do will be logged, scrutinized and probably declared illegal anyway!

    and yes I am old enough to remember logans run (I had a thing for Jenny Agutter when i was a teen, does that make me a reverse paedo?)

  142. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @John Macintyre

    I have only read as far as this post, but felt I must comment.

    If you actually BOTHER to check your facts, you will find that research by PROFESSIONAL Child Care organisations found EXACTLY the opposite; WOMEN are FAR more likely to sexually abuse a child than a man is; but the papers hardly ever report on a case unless the woman gets pregnant, and since most of this abuse is with pre school children, very little ever get into the papers.

    Even when they do get into court, the women get a far easier time from the legal system than the men; sentences are far lighter, and if the woman manages to get pregnant, the poor schoolboy has to pay child support!!!

  143. nev

    here we go again..

    what happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?

    i think we should go one step further really, just ban all humans, we are just a danger to our own society! skynet (terminator movies) had the right idea afterall

  144. Bruce Leyden

    @sabroni

    Irrelevent. The day you are referring to is your one and only Birth Day. Subsequently, when we say "birthday" we are referring to the anniversary of that day. Your 36th "birthday" is exactly that - the 36th anniversary of your birthday. So put your condescending tone away and get on with some work. There are issues it's worth being pedantic about and this is not one of them.

  145. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mickey Mouse guilty, no really !

    When a case was found against me for libel when the guy I was supposed to have defamed only used "mickey mouse" as his name I knew then than there is no chance of anything sensible in this Country from people who have no idea what the internet actually is.

  146. simon beattie

    I visited FarceParty....

    ...and now my keyboard smells of hammers... should I be worried?

  147. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is just like...

    ...stamping Top Secret on a file and waving it under the Russians' noses. I bet Faceparty will be already be teeming with paedophiles wondering what all the fuss is about.

  148. Paul Buxton

    @Bruce Leydon

    "There are issues it's worth being pedantic about and this is not one of them."

    And yet it still hasn't stopped you. ;)

    Want to try again?

  149. Spleen

    @Paul Buxton

    The purpose of words is to communicate meaning. If I say to a room full of English speakers "It's my 21st birthday tomorrow", every single one will understand what I mean. That is the only test of language that matters. People can debate it all they like - people debate much siller things - but it's irrelevant. If, thirty seconds before I walk into the room and announce the upcoming celebration, one side of the "debate" gives up and goes home, it won't affect the comprehension of the people in the room one bit - they'll still understand me just as well.

    Would it be wrong to guess that you also complain when someone uses 'decimate' to mean 'obliterate', even when every other person listening understands the meaning from the context?

  150. sabroni Silver badge

    @ Bruce Leyden

    Hey, if you can be condescending so can I. I thought your original post was condescending ("nonce-sense"?) so I replied in kind. So, it's not worth being pedantic about this unless you're the one doing it?

  151. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Farceparty

    This is very inconvenient. As a 10 year old boy who has been masquerading as a 66 year old man, in order to infiltrate their filthy world of pigeon racing, all my hard work has been for nothing. Now my target group has been driven underground where their disgusting hobby will no doubt flourish, albeit with a surfeit of winged rat-related murkiness misadventures.

    Thanks for nothing, farceparty.

  152. Robinson
    Paris Hilton

    Arse

    Thanks for this absurd story. I for one think that it must be a hoax, because, you know, no person, group, corporation or company could possibly be so unbelievably stupid. We are the species that invented the fusion reactor, particle accelerators, the space shuttle, super-conductors, CT scanners et al. Do you see where I'm going with this?

    I'm 37 and not a sex offender. Surprised?

  153. Paul Buxton

    @Spleen

    Decimate should be used in its original context. If you know it means to eradicate one tenth then why would you use the word when what you really mean is obliterate (i.e. completely destroy the thing)? Why dumb it down? Does it make you cool or, as I suspect, does it just reduce the effectiveness of our language?

    Anyway, this is irrelevant, you are right. It's so far off topic now that we should all give up. We can continue the debate when El Reg publish the story about rearranging the english language to remove all of the silent letters.

    Have a nice weekend. :)

  154. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @"When is your Birthday"

    No, who is your birthday. When is on first!

  155. Bruce Leyden

    @Spleen

    Sorry I don't understand - we seem to be in agreement as far as I can see.

    @sabroni - your original post was anonymous. how was I to know I had been condescending to you? anyway I was quoting Brasseye.

  156. system

    RE: *faps*

    "Karl Molloy (35) met the girl on dating site Faceparty, where she initially claimed to be 16, and persuaded her to text him indecent pictures of herself."

    Then according to faceparty, the girl is a sexual predator and will be prosecuted for lying about her age online, following which she will be placed on the sex offenders register. Karl Molloy clearly could not have been a paedophile because he was not yet 36.

    Of course, faceparty seem to have a massive lack of understanding where the law is concerned.

  157. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    goodbye faceparty

    goodbye faceparty....1) you just cut off a MASSIVE section of potential users and 2) you're in direct violation of age discrimination laws in the UK....I can hear the lawyer-vultures flapping their wings prepping for flight......

  158. potato

    reply to chris

    sorry chris but regardless of whether its a "private site" or not..if you ban people for certain reasons you ARE breaking the law...

    If faceparty decided to ban all muslims "they might be terrorists" or women "they might be prostitutes soliciting for business" or someone because they weren't white......they'd be screwed into the ground quicker than paris hilton on an average weekday........

  159. nutellajunkie
    Pirate

    boo hiss!

    Have you seen that site? its full of swearing, disgusting filth. Not to mention that stupid bint that just got outta jail that answers their "letters".

    Whats to stop any 36+ year old creating an account in a lower age? Come on.. bloody hell..

    Its certainly not a safe site, regardless of what they try and push/say. The site is a catalogue of abusers in my opinion..

    Stick to sites like bebo where you are private by default!

  160. Rachel
    Thumb Down

    Frak faceparty

    This is disgraceful. So do we ban germans now cos less than 1% remain active Nazis? Do we ban all Muslims due to the minority of extremeists? where does this stop - OMG did we learn nothing in 1938????

    whilst I agree wih the sentiment of protecting children online (as one who experienced abuse as a child myself, I feel qualified to comment here), but to ban over 36's?? wtf..

    This smacks of insanity and paranoia at best.

    more comments welcome onthecosta dot com

  161. Alice Andretti

    Ugly website anyway.

    I took a quick look at that website, and what I saw of it looked unsuitable for young people anyway.

    Besides, last year I looked at the official list of sex offenders in my little town, and there were 14 Registered Sex Offenders within a half-mile of my residence (yeah, it's like that here in the U.S., they're crawlin' out of the woodwork, they're everywhere - and those are ONLY the ones who've been CAUGHT). All of the ones on the list were younger than 36, most in their late teens or early twenties.

  162. Mike Smith
    Paris Hilton

    What a pile of cack

    If I'd been kicked off Faceparty, I'd take it as a compliment. Just had a butcher's at the home page and sign-up page.

    What a pile of cack.

    "You acknowledge that Faceparty was the first online community..." Bollocks. Last time I looked, that claim was fairly well matched between Usenet and the dial-up BBS. Not, I suspect, that this webshite's founders are old enough to remember either of them.

    Don't worry, folks. If your periods have settled down and the acne's cleared up you won't be missing much.

  163. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Funny. I'm an old crusty paedophile ?

    Well i'm not 36 yet. But I did make an account when I was 15, and set the age to 111, as did most of my friends who joined (and which a considerable percentage of teen users on social networking sites still do... I'm not sure why?)

    I never bothered to delete the account. Guess I am banned now since I'm very much of paedophilic age?

    @ Jaowon - They could have simply deleted all profiles that have been inactive (for say) over a year. Which would probably clear out 90% of their members actually.

    I don't agree with what they did (complete opposite in fact) but I'm not so sure it's illegal. They have 18-30 holiday packages. 18-30 cruises. Under 26s discounts for travel. Age 30 limit at youth hostels. If the site has decided to cater for younger people only now, is there really a big problem? (Besides the outrageous reason cited)

  164. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lies since day 1

    I think that Mr Bamforth the director must be going through a severe mid life crisis or else was smoking some funny baccy when the message to banned users was written ! The whole message is a work of fiction, with hardly any truths in it at all.

    It has already been said that the "law" they are talking about doesnt exist and not is lying about ones age an offence under the sexual offences act, If Mr Bamforth expects users to believe this crap then he must have a raging ego problem !

    The site has always had some quirky rules, and I think a lot of them were purely to help raise revenue. Did anyone else notice the odd way in which photos were classified as adult ? I purchased adult access about 3 years ago, when there were actually very few adult photos on the site, and many of them were photos or cartoons relating to cannabis ! I couldnt help but think that it may have been to increase the number of hidden photos in order to sell more adult memberships !

    The site was supposed to be for over 16s only, but many under 16's gained access simply by lying, Management said that they vetted every member to ensure they were 16 but on several occasions I found and reported as many as 80 - 100 a day who had got through their " checks" The "checks " were so thorough that they didnt notice if the first line of the profile read something like " I am only 13 but I couldnt join unless I said I was 16" There were LOTS of profiles like that !

    Going back to the message itself one section states

    "Think this has been handled badly?

    ...then you need to take out your beef with CIS Internet Ltd and not us!!! You can write to CIS Internet Ltd, and send it c/o Anarchy Towers, 89 1/2 Worship Street, London, EC2A 2BF and we will do our best to make sure they attend to it. Mail only, due to an impossible amount of emails and calls. Please note that the management of CIS Internet Ltd have gone and we are doing our best to help both them and you out, which means we're stressed to the hilt so your patience is appreciated! "

    Simple checks at Companies house show that Mr Bamford is the director of BOTH companies and in the Anarchy Towers registration the co secretary is given as CIS Internet Ltd , So much for management having gone ! The accounts for CIS ltd which have to be submitted to Companies house are shown as being overdue, by a considerable margin as well!

    It has been reported elsewhere that they have got rid of 14 out of the 18 staff that were employed, so I suppose the staff have gone in a way .. but the people who matter and control the site are still there !

    It seems to me that there may be a financial problem at the root of these membership cuts. Think of the bandwidth saved overnight by axing all us oldies ! While of course keeping hold of subscriptions we had paid for cool tools or adult access.

    The only thing I can believe about the message itself is that it is actually from faceparty becasue the content is just a massive con and full of lies !

    It isnt the first time that there have been lies by the management either, at one time the log in page had statements about the number of members which other internet media commentators have scorned as being highly improbable.

    btw It is interesting is to look at Mr B's house on google earth

  165. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    since pedophiles commit one of the worst crimes ever

    They have already broken very serious laws (or if they are on the site to groom kids, they are on their way) ..is it really that much of a stretch to think they might enter fake details on a website form?

    I have to say I would not be surprised, in fact it should be expected. So what they really ought to do is ban all the people under 20. That way if anyone is faking an age, it's underage kiddies and they (or their parents) will be held responsible for putting themselves in a dangerous position. The way it should be. You are responisble for who you go meet and what details you give out. Learn that the internet is not suitable for children. Try a book and a playground instead.

    I doubt that even 1/4 of the profiles have correct details anyway. People lie to be older, people lie to be younger, they add/shave bits off their height, their weight.. blabla. In fact, since everyone is a potential pedophile, why don't they just ban everyone? Do us all a favor by getting rid of their piece of crap website, trying to look like it's looking out for the kids and banishing pervs.

    Have they even realised they're doing the exact opposite for online security: making kids think that pedophiles are all over 36 years old and they are now safe! Good one!

  166. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Oh Crap....

    I'm now 45 so I'm definitely in the running to be a peedo then! Mind you I was looking over the fence yesterday and couldn't help getting excited when I saw Sheena sunbathing with nothing on! Mind you, once I threw her ball, she jumped up and woofed with glee.

    Oh hang on, that's a different perversion isn't it? Wonder if there's an age limit on that too? But there again, if I found a typing dog on the internet I'd definitely want to meet him/her.

    DogFaceBook.com ha ha

    (Mines the one with the Bonio in the left pocket)

  167. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Anyone checked out the browse section...

    Its allowing you to search for people 35+, surely if 36 and over are banned... wouldnt that mean it was more appropriate to put 35 instead :)

  168. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Surely...

    Dirty old men need sex too (to paraphrase someone or other).

    AC for obvious reasons. Mine's the anonymous plain brown one.

  169. Steve Long
    Flame

    Faceparty Legal?

    I was one of the many people that got booted from Faceparty, and had several months of my subscription to run, so I wonder if I can claim this back from the credit card company? Given that all the excuses are transparently BS, and also that exactly the same guy runs both companies, this sounds very much like a simple fraud. The site is failing, and the (mis-)management appear determined to crash it, possibly in a storm of litigation. I'm rather peeved as I had been a member since the site started, and had worldwide friends that I exchanged messages with. I can't see it being a worldwide site much longer.

    I look after youth groups and I'm regularly CRB checked etc. I am well aware of a lot of the arguments presented on Faceparty, and know just how much is waffle (pretty much all of it).

    The rant:-

    Basically, Faceparty has to decide if it is an adult site or a youth site. Legally a youth site would stop at 18, because on achieving the age of 18 you become legally an adult. The fact that they allow under-18s on at all is dubious, and their claimed means of "protecting" the young, by eliminating any likely parental or mentor oversight, makes them more vulnerable, not less.

    Rant ends.....

    Some of the young adults and kids I have looked after point out that they have got onto Faceparty, but are only 14 or 15. My advice to them is always to leave.

    Looking at what they're done to the site I suspect that they think they will get their income from SMS texts, whereby FP users can text a particular number to have their photo put on a sort of online gallery for a while. It's expensive. They have also increased all their prices substantially, so I wonder how may of their "youth community" will want to shell out around £100 for a year's adult membership services of a site that's decreasing rapidly?

    I wonder if anyone is likely to do anything about the blatant lies and misrepresentations that are being made on the Faceparty Website. Is it legal for them to blatantly rip people off, then claim protection for themselves and threaten criminal proceedings using laws that are either not in force or that simply do not exist?

    Ooops - I forgot - we are in the UK.

  170. Slaine
    Alert

    growing old disgracefully

    I'm 42. I must have been a paedo for 6 years now but dang it all, in my elderly decrepitude, my memory seems to be completely fucked and I can't even get any pleasure from remembering. Ah well, back to the ducktape.

    Now then, younger friends and children of friends have added me to my MSN... and every time one of these stupid sites opens up I get a series of invitations to "join". I've checked and it is not the person sending the invite, but the site spamming the new recruits address book.

    So who is the criminal?

  171. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    pay attention! You keep getting the name wrong!

    Please, It's facePARTY not faceBOOK.

    Faceparty if you would believe it, is even more lame than facebook. Just not as famous. I think it was one of the first social-networking (type) sites. Popular about 5 to 10 years ago.

    If you're going to insult someone then make sure you at least pay enough attention to get their name right. If you're now concerned about what else you might have picked up wrong, I can confirm that the article you read DID say that a website is (effectively) deeming all adults pedos.

  172. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Increased percentage of paedophiles?

    If they got rid of all the accounts of people over 36, obviously people who are not posing as kids & therefore less likely to be paedophiles, doesn't that mean that they have therefore dramatically increased the percentage of paedophiles among their site membership?

  173. Slaine
    Joke

    Increased percentage of paedophiles? (above)

    nail -> head (given that any self respecting perv is gonna declare themselves to be aged 13 or 14 it is a forgone conclusion that every single one of the people dropped is NOT any threat whatsoever).

    Roll up, Roll up, get your free introduction to child abuse here... register now, give us your details, show us what you look like, get a parent or guardian to subsidise us and we'll guarantee you share that data with the world's highest concentration of dubious individuals. More opportunities to be fiddled with and fauned over than any other internet site.

  174. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hmm

    i met my gf of 2 years on faceparty and she's had her account removed. from a business point of view it would make more sense to remove the probably not paying under 18s and keep the probably paying over 36s.

    if fp promote their environment as "safe" and encourage more younger users and pedos go underground with fake accounts how is that a "better" situation?

  175. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    For a start...

    ...Faceparty has always required it's users to be 16 or older. This means that, in the eyes of the law, all of it's members are above the age of consent for sex.

    Apparently, Faceparty believes that the age of consent for the internet is 18, and anyone over the age of 18 seeking sex from a 16 or 17 year old is a paedophile.

    Nice logic.

    As for paid subscribers who have been deleted, has anyone actually read what Faceparty is requiring in order to issue a partial refund?

    Not only are they requesting usernames AND passwords - they also want the last 5 digits of the card number used topay for the subscription AND a copy of your passport or driving licence.

    "Refunds:

    Anarchy Towers has not made any billing charges to any member of the website (including shout-outs, cool tools, avs etc). All pay-for-services are managed by CIS Internet Ltd, the previous website owners. If you have any problem, disagreement, legal claim, refund request you need to contact CIS Internet Ltd - the previous owners. All members will be written to when Anarchy Towers is in full control of paid-for services.

    No refunds are given for TOS violations, in accordance with CIS Internet Ltd's terms of business. If Anarchy Towers does NOT purchase your account then you may be entitled to a refund for the remaining part of your product service from CIS Internet Ltd. To claim this refund you must write by post to CIS Internet Ltd, and send it c/o Anarchy Towers, 89 1/2 Worship Street, London, EC2A 2BF, stating your member name, your password, the last 5 digits of the credit card you purchased the product with and your return address for your cheque and we (Anarchy Towers) will do our best to make sure you get your full refund on your behalf. Cut off date is the end of July 2008.

    Please include a copy of some photo ID (passport or driving licence) along with your claim for a refund. Please note that the photo and age must match those on your account in order to claim a refund. Refund requests without this ID will not be processed. "

  176. James
    Happy

    faceparty36plus.com a site for perverted people over 35

    Inspired by faceparty...

  177. Dan

    Why not just delete all white men?

    Since most sex offenders are white men.

    And while they're at it, why not delete all Muslims, since most terrorists are Muslims?

    And all Russians, since most cybercrime comes from Russia?

    And all Gays...

    etc.

  178. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    RE: Much simpler means of "protecting ickle childy wildren" (tm)

    So making a law that makes it illegal for the pedo's to not declare they are pedo's will ensure they declare they are pedo's will it????

    I think it's already established wisdom that pedo's lie, cheat, and have no regard for laws... so how is making another law going to stop them ignoring that one too?

    Remember you still have to catch them failing to declare before they can be prosecuted for it. The exact same problem faced by the registering email address proposal.

  179. Jen Johnson
    Thumb Down

    Young/Old/Any

    I once had to dismiss a member of staff for downloading child pornography on a work computer. The police were called and he was sent to prison for posessing indecent images of children on his home computer and for sexual assault of a neighbour.

    The member of staff in question was 18 years old!

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