Nathalie Brown set up a Facebook account under the alias of Jessica Taylor. Picture: Ben Swinnerton Source: Herald Sun
- Mum pretends to be teen on Facebook
- "I was shocked by what I saw"
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Guardian journalist admits hacking
A MELBOURNE mum has gone undercover as a teen on Facebook, exposing minors rating each other's sexual performances, vulgar exchanges, bullying, pornography and a disregard for privacy.
Nathalie Brown, 42, easily penetrated the cyber world of Victorian teens by posing as a 14-year-old in an experiment that will shock parents, the Herald Sun reported.
With just a few clicks, she found a page where a 15-year-old girl was being trashed by a 16-year-old boy as a "drunk slut" after she wrote that he tried to rape her.
Teens rated each other's sexual abilities complete with graphic descriptions on another page.
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The mother of two quickly amassed 76 friends, despite using a fake profile with a picture of a fairy - proving how easily predators could do the same.
Ms Brown said she was disturbed at how easy it was to be accepted by strangers as a "friend" and gain access to phone numbers, raunchy photos and even get invites to parties.
The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General last month discussed whether parents should be given the legal right to see their children's Facebook pages, with a resolution yet to be reached.
Ms Brown said she wanted to see what her 15-year-old could be confronted with. Navigating the Facebook labyrinth, Ms Brown stumbled on pages that had children bragging about skipping class at school and a profile littered with porn videos.
She said she tried to report offensive pages and pictures to Facebook but never received a response.
"I was shocked by what I saw, especially the rape comments," she said.
"Children still don't realise Facebook is like putting something on a billboard on a bus, and it's always traceable."
Ms Brown, a child behaviour consultant who runs Easy Peasy Kids, said she was not blaming Facebook for making children "morally devoid" but hoped her exercise would be a wake-up call to parents.
She said minors needed to be better protected and parents also should take more responsibility.
Cyber safety expert Susan McLean, who gives lectures in schools, said she could not condone Ms Brown's actions in going undercover as it breached Facebook's conditions.
"It's wrong in the extreme. She has no right to do this. Facebook would take a very dim view of this," she said.
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