No sooner does a social site get popular with teenagers than The Man decides it's dangerous. You've seen it all from James Dean onwards (Elvis Presley's wiggling hips? Ban them!) and now Norfolk Council has put out the word that bebo.com - which we wrote about here - is a risk.
Bebo.com has gained 22 million members worldwide since its launch last summer and is at the heart of a growing social networking craze among schoolchildren.
But County Hall has sent an e-mail to all Norfolk schools warning them that the site is being used for "bullying, pornography, drugs references and other unsavoury activities".
Bebo - based in America - encourages youngsters to post details, pictures and messages about themselves and members of staff at their schools.
There is growing concern in Norfolk that children are giving out personal information which puts them in danger from paedophiles and other criminals who prey on the vulnerable over the internet.
And that's not all - you can even access it on a home computer, no doubt paid for by that evil Home Computer Initiative - thank goodness the Treasury has slapped it down, no knowing what it would have led to.
...Bebo vice-president Jim Scheinman said he was not aware of the Norfolk warning but was concerned at calls for bans and said such action "would not make it go away."
No, but hope springs eternal in the minds of those with no better solution. Coming soon: children to be wrapped in cotton wool. (By the way, we particularly like "drugs references" above. After all, it's not as if you hear that on any song these days. And there's no pornography in newsagents in Norfolk either - is there? Perhaps readers in the area who have spotted any could alert the council and get those shops closed to schoolchildren too.)
