MySpace agrees to child protection steps
p2pnet news | Crime:- MySpace has long been recognized as also being their space —- a hunting ground for online sexual predators
Now the site’s owners. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, have tacitly admitted it may indeed be unsafe for children.
It’s, ” checking ages more carefully, granting parents greater control and building higher walls between its adult and younger users,” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
With 110 million registered users, “problems emerged,” says the story, going on:
“Minors received sexual solicitations and links to pornography, were bullied, and sexual predators used sites in abductions.”
Under an agreement with attorneys general of 49 states, “MySpace agreed to a host of policy changes, including changing the default setting to ‘private’ for 16- and 17-year-old users,” says the Mercury News.
“The move represents another departure from the open, free-wheeling culture that helped make MySpace a teen sensation. Another measure allows parents to submit children’s e-mail addresses to limit the potential for the creation of bogus profiles.”
Facebook was recently subpoenaed by New York attorney general Andrew M. Cuomo as, “part of an investigation in which investigators from Mr. Cuomo`s office, posing as young teenagers, set up profiles on Facebook and received online sexual advances from adults within days”.
Facebook \agreed to beef up security after Cuomo warned it could, “face consumer fraud charges of failing to live up to its claims that young users were safer on its site than most sites,” says the Mercury News, pointing out among other things, “Facebook agreed to investigate complaints of nudity, pornography or unwanted advances within 24 hours, and to report back to complainants within 72 hours. MySpace on Monday announced a similar policy”.
Meanwhile, one in five children are solicited online, according to Paula Selis, senior counsel in the consumer protection division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, quoted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, adds:
“In the rapidly changing world of online socializing, there are not enough protections, she said.
“For example, a 15-year-old girl from Texas was allegedly lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user, according to The Associated Press. And a 13-year-old girl in Missouri hanged herself in 2006 after receiving mean messages on MySpace that she thought came from another teen, but were actually were sent as a hoax.
Also See:-
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – MySpace makes site safer for kids, January 14, 2008
Mercury News – Making MySpace safer, January 15, 2008
sexual advances from adults – acebook subpoenaed by New York AG, September 25, 2007
hanged herself – Megan Meier `Net suicide` case revived, January 9, 2008
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