MySpace Kicks 29,000 Sex Offenders
July 25, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson
The figure is more than four times the original estimate, but MySpace says it's got them all as two states clamor for new rules on the site.
MySpace has discovered that more than 29,000 convicted sex offenders in the U.S. had profiles on the social networking site, a huge increase in the figure of 7,000 given back in May.
The good news is that all of them have been removed.
With more than 80 million subscribers and massive popularity, MySpace could be seen as a natural forum where predators could prowl, using the social network to meet and groom young people.
However, the figure found must raise eyebrows, given that there are around 600,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., the figure of 29,000 represents almost half of one per cent of all registered sex offenders.
Certainly it’s raised an outcry in both Connecticut and North Carolina, two states that have been pressing for legislation requiring parental permission for kids to create a MySpace page, which they say would make children safer. Under current MySpace rules, users must only be over 14.
MySpace made no response to that, but said,
“We're pleased that we've successfully identified and removed registered sex offenders from our site and hope that other social networking sites follow our lead.”
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Chase on Jul 25th, 2007 at 5:47 PM:
In the wake of this MySpace news, it's important that parents realize banning social networking is not the answer; the key is educating themselves on the industry and learning about how their children can experience this integral part of their future in a positive and secure environment. For example, imbee.com (my client), was really the first youth-oriented social network to address safety right up front. They authenticate its members, offer a built in parental dash board, keep its kids personal information private and only allows kids to publish to their approved circle of friends. None of the other social networks, including MySpace, were ever intended to support members under the age of 13. In other words, tweens who aspire to be like teens have other social networking outlets available to enable them to learn to be good Internet citizens in lieu of being left behind on the digital highway or the more likely occurrence of MySpacing at friend's houses.