Web Giants Driving Violence

Tragic incidents at K-12 schools are solidly in the crosshairs of law enforcement, politicians and to some extent, the NRA. It is on everyone’s mind and everyone has an opinion of what can be done, should be done and must be accomplished to protect students.

I stand firmly behind the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Those persons wanting to rewrite this document would first have to prove to me that they have more wisdom and knowledge than the Founding Fathers before this is repealed.

In agreement with the idea that “stupid” people shouldn’t have guns, a plan must be established whereby a weapon would not fall into the hands of a violent person.

Here’s another take on violence from the Metropolitan Police commissioner in London, Cressida Dick. She says that “social media sites are driving children to commit violence and murders.” She said often trivial disputes between young people were escalating into murder and stabbings at unprecedented rates in the London Metro area.

The commissioner, quoted in the March 31 issue of The Times in London said that children are committing instant crimes because of social media. She said that a febrile online atmosphere was among the factors responsible for rising knife crime; but she also blames drug dealing, broken families and socio-economics. The commissioner is talking about violence with a knife. How bad can that be? Violence is on the increase across the United Kingdom, the commissioner said. In fact, she reported on March 30 that a 36- year old woman became the tenth person to be stabbed to death in London in the previous 17 days. Fatal stabbings in England and Wales are at the highest levels since 2010. There have been 215 homicides involving a knife or other sharp instrument from January to March 2018.

Perhaps it is time to take a look at a possible root cause, social media, which Commissioner Dick said that companies have been criticized for their response to prolific terrorist propaganda and online pedophile material. The content needs to be taken down because, she says, it stokes violence.

Google, the owner of You-Tube, and Facebook have both been criticized for failure to take down extremist material. On the day of this writing, April 3, an active shooter situation is happening at YouTube headquarters in California. The truth is, that gangs posture on social media, including rap videos in which they goaded rival gangs and glamorized violence.

“It [social media] makes violence faster, it makes it harder for people to cool down,” the commissioner said. “I’m sure it does rev people up.”

I don’t own a gun, and don’t plan to buy one any time soon, but I share the commissioner’s opinion that most of today’s violence stems from a root cause that can be found at home, or I should say, the lack of a proper home life and learning environment. Just as social media has its place for good, there are many dark and down sides to getting revved up so quickly over an ignorant social post. I’m not against social media, but I implore the Web Giants to be more selective over what is available to the public.

This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Security Today.

About the Author

Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher of Security Today magazine.

Featured

  • Creating More Versatility

    Today, AI has become top of mind for most security professionals. It is the topic of conversation in the technology world and continues to transform the way data is used to make important business decisions. Read Now

  • Report: 78 Percent of CISOs Seeing Significant Impact from AI-Powered Cyber Threats

    Darktrace recently unveiled its 2025 State of AI Cybersecurity report. The findings reveal that 78% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) surveyed say that AI-powered threats are having a significant impact on their organizations, a 5% increase1 from 2024. While an increasing number of CISOs report feeling a significant impact from AI threats, more than 60% now say that they are adequately prepared to defend against these threats, an increase of nearly 15% year-over-year. However, insufficient AI knowledge and skills and a shortage of personnel and talent continue to be listed as the two top inhibitors to a successful defense. Read Now

  • Teaching AI New Tricks

    You have probably heard that AI-enabled security cameras are evolving the role of traditional surveillance cameras, shifting the focus from passive monitoring to active problem-solving and operational insights. AI technology changes fast, so what is new can be considered only news in just a few months. Read Now

  • From the Most Visible to the Less Apparent

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) states “There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, and national public health or safety or any combination thereof.” Read Now

New Products

  • Compact IP Video Intercom

    Viking’s X-205 Series of intercoms provide HD IP video and two-way voice communication - all wrapped up in an attractive compact chassis.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Hanwha QNO-7012R

    Hanwha QNO-7012R

    The Q Series cameras are equipped with an Open Platform chipset for easy and seamless integration with third-party systems and solutions, and analog video output (CVBS) support for easy camera positioning during installation. A suite of on-board intelligent video analytics covers tampering, directional/virtual line detection, defocus detection, enter/exit, and motion detection.