MySpace Won't Provide Sex Offenders' Names

MySpace Won't Provide Sex Offenders' Names

www.cbsnews.com

(AP) Citing federal privacy law, MySpace.com said Tuesday it won't comply with a request by attorneys general from eight states to hand over the names of registered sex offenders who use the social networking Web site.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Myspace is trying to pretend all is well and cozy in what I call the "Entity of Ignorance", but in truth it's also a proven tool of sexual predators:

A month ago, police in Connecticut arrested a 21-year-old man, accusing him of raping a 14-year-old girl he found on MySpace. On Long Island, investigators say another man found the work address of a 16-year-old girl on one of the Web sites last fall, lured her to a parking lot, and sexually assaulted her.
www.msnbc.msn.com...

I'd like to hear Rupert Murdoch's answer to this dillema.

www.cbsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The answer is right here:

Citing federal privacy law

If Myspace provided the information these AG's requested, they'd be breaking federal law, and exposing themselves to federal prosecution for doing so.

This is a bogus publicity stunt by a group of state AG's looking to score cheap political points by explointing the current frothing panic over "internet sexual predators" - a panic that conveniently ignores the fact that something like 90% of child sexual abuse cases involve family members, not the culture's current reigning boogeyman, the "internet sexual predator".

It's funny, people who would otherwise be the first to fight for privacy protections for individuals vs. big business and government seem to lose all reason in the current trumped-up moral panic and beg for more invasive regulation - no doubt part of the reason for the obsessive attention to the subject anyway.

Cultural hot-buttons like sex abuse make great tools for those who want to expand government power. Don't fall for it.

MySpace is following the correct procedures, and I agree with them in this case.

But what would you think if the AG's were looking for the name of a specific individual that was a suspect in a rape/murder case that involved communication over MySpace?

In an actual criminal case I'd expect them to cooperate, within the bounds of the law.

Which as I understand it is their policy anyway.

MySpace is following federal law in this case. The group of AG's who filed this are simply looking to score some cheap publicity to impress the voters of their states; they knew when they sent their request that Myspace couldn't comply without being in violation of federal law.

While MySpace should do all they can to protect the people who use their site it is primarily the responsibility of parents and individual users to safeguard themselves. Big brother may be watching but our safety and that of our families is our responsibility and we need to become more aware of what is going on around us.

Internet sexual predators are a problem but lets face it; the majority of sexual assaults on children are committed by trusted members of the victims family or close friends.

In addition, the sexual offender lists put out by most states include much more than child predators. For example, quite a few of them something a nineteen year old guy whose seventeen year old girlfriend's parents reported him and the district attorney filed charges. The guy accepts a plea bargain so he just gets probation, but it goes on his permanent record as a sex offender.

For the lists to be rational, they need to be re-done so only the real predators show up on them.

Occam

first of all the privacy feature on Myspace (there are hacks to view such profiles, just one of many hacks) is out of hand. I can understand making minors private but 20-30 year olds? Its not meant to be private for that age group. This is one of the many problems with myspace. Its all to easy for sexual predators to pretend to be an age that they are not by just putting in a younger birth date which will make there profile private. It also makes it harder (without the hacks) to identify these suspects.


[edit on 083131p://2505pm by semperfoo]

I've seen many young girls that were about 12-14 years old with profiles of an adult. Kids like that are just asking for trouble.

Im of the opinion the real sexual predators should not even be allowed access to a personal computer much less myspace.


How can Myspace even know who these people are? With websites that openly advertise Hotspots (War driving) as well as idiots with unsecure Wireless routers all over the place, a sexual predator can be using anyones connection at any time and no one would be the wiser.


Sounds like a big waste of time and taxpayers money for this witchhunt.