States Fault MySpace on Predator Issues
By BRAD STONE
Published: May 15, 2007
Some of the country's top law enforcement officials are charging that the online social network MySpace has discovered thousands of known sex offenders using its service, but has failed to act on the information.
In a letter sent yesterday to a lawyer for MySpace, a division of the News Corporation, attorneys general from eight states said the company had not done enough to block sexual predators from the service and had failed to cooperate with the authorities.
"The fact that MySpace failed to come forward immediately with this information is really staggering," said Richard Blumenthal, attorney general of Connecticut, who added that the information had come from "highly credible private groups" who got their information directly from MySpace.
In the letter, the officials asked MySpace to provide them with the number and names of sex offenders on MySpace, their addresses and a list of steps that the company has taken to alert law enforcement officials and other MySpace users.
"We remain concerned about the design of your site, the failure to require parental permission, and the lack of safeguards necessary to protect our children," the attorneys general wrote.
The letter asked for a response from the company by May 29.
In a statement, Hemanshu Nigam, the chief security officer of MySpace, said the company had recently begun using new software to "proactively identify and remove any known sex offenders from the site."
Last December, MySpace announced that it would work to remove sexual predators from the site by working with Sentinel Tech Holdings, a database company based in Miami. MySpace said that it planned to run its membership rolls against Sentinel's Sentry database of known sex offenders.
MySpace said that it has spent the last five months testing the automated service.
In his statement, Mr. Nigam also reiterated MySpace's support for state and federal laws that would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and instant messenger accounts with authorities. He said such a step would aid the company in keeping sex offenders off the service, which has 65 million monthly visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Currently Virginia and Kentucky are among the few states with such laws. In December, Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, introduced an e-mail registration bill in the Senate, where it is still pending.
Law enforcement officials used yesterday's announcement to warn parents of young children of the risks of online social networks. "I tell parents every day that MySpace is a dangerous place for teenagers," Lawrence Wasden, attorney general of Idaho, said in a statement.
Mr. Blumenthal of Connecticut speculated that the problem might be deeper than is realized. "There are apparently thousands of convicted sex offenders using their real names and identities, which is counterintuitive," he said. "Our concern is over whether this is just the tip of the iceberg."
Officials did not say what actions they would take if MySpace failed to respond adequately by May 29. Mr. Blumenthal said only that all 50 states were behind the letter and that "appropriate actions" against the company were being considered.
At least one child safety advocate gives MySpace good reviews for fighting sexual predators. "I haven't seen in my 12 years of working on these kinds of issues a company jump through as many hoops and respond as quickly and diligently as MySpace," said Donna Rice Hughes, president of Enough Is Enough, an Internet safety organization.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/technology/15myspace....h&emc=th&oref=slogin