MySpace.com Minors Restricted?

Senate Bill 132 may force MySpace.com and other social networking sites to require parental consent for minors
North Carolina State Senator Walter Dalton (D) and North Carolina’s Attorney General Roy Cooper are speaking out loudly about
the dangers of sex offenders trolling the internet and how minors are continually victimized through the social networking sites like
MySpace.com. Both are supporters of the bill and Dalton is named the “Primary” sponsor. They are hoping this legislation will
help parents keep their children safer online .

North Carolina Senate Bill 132 (SB132)
PROTECT CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL PREDATORS ACT. 2nd Edition
Outcome: PASSED - - Time: May 23 2007 6:12PM - - Sponsor: DALTON Second Reading Total 49 Votes: 49 Yes: 0 Noes: 0 Not: 0 Exc. Absent: 1 Exc. Vote: 0

MySpace officials were given a long list of registered sex offenders in multiple jurisdictions by a group of States Attorney’s asking that they screen all profiles against the names on the list. Under pressure, MySpace cooperated with the States Attorney’s and began screening names. A list of more than 7,000 registered sex offenders with MySpace profiles was released this week.


All profiles have since been deleted from the MySpace system at the request of law enforcement. 245 of those profiles were for North Carolina sex offenders.

The bill would require that MySpace and other social networking sites conduct security screening by using public records or some form of security to determine age and verify the identity of the adult giving consent.

MySpace officials oppose this legislation. They feel it’s the sex offenders who should be restricted and punished and those who lie about their age to solicit minors online for sex. They want law enforcement to require internet safety classes and educational programs for public schools instead of punishing their community of users. My space has over 170 million users.

There were several technology experts that spoke out against the bill stating it would likely give parents a false sense of security. They also feel that the identity of minors can not be verified and this bill will not stop pedophiles from registering as kids and continuing their predatory activities.

There are several very disturbing cases involving predators who used MySpace to victimize minors. In one case, a 34 year old man victimized young men whom he met on MySpace. When they caught him, he had maps to yet two more location, presumably minors, in his vehicle. He had more victims lined up.

Q & A - What are your thoughts on this?
  • Should Teens have a voice in this matter?
  • Is the internet a little safer now with over 7000 sex offenders getting the boot at MySpace.com?
  • Do you think North Carolina's approach to this problem is a good approach or a bad approach?
  • If it's bad, what would be a better way to deal with it?


Submitted by teren pretabil (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 08:19.

I think it’s a pretty good move from MySpace. That way, there would be less profiles for online sexual predators to prey on. While it doesn’t provide a fool-proof plan (as you said, kids can easily change their age on MySpace), it’s a start.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 12:26.

Parents need to wake up and stop demanding that everyone BUT them babysit their kids!

However, what about all the twits that are oline looking for guys to flirt with, no one wants to go there huh? well, its happening.

And will some of you stop using "textspeak", show some intelligence and TYPE words correctly.

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 01/02/2008 - 10:20.

I agree that u should wait till u r older but if you want to do it and think it's right then go ahead. All u have to do is be careful use and protection.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 11/24/2007 - 11:47.

Parents should also be cautioned by not only what the adults are doing, but what their children are doing on MySpace as well. Thirteen year olds are dressing like 20 year old hookers because they think that it is what is "in" now. If a parent is going to let them dress that way, then they should not only be taking into their hands the fate of the perverts out there, but the fact that their own child is part of the problem.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 11/23/2007 - 21:08.

But the inadequacy of the naive realistic and positivistic views competing with Kant to-day automatically forces the manner of putting the question in the direction in which Kant had started.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 09:57.

Is better off after marriage

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 09:56.

You should not HAVE SEX TILL U ARE OLDER. BOTTOM LINE

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 09:51.

That many sex offenders on my space is crazy. I am gald that my space is up to date with the registered sex offenders list

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 05/26/2007 - 08:29.

Educate parents on what their kids are doing. Open dialogs with your kids about what they do and who they give information to on the internet. I am a MySpace user and it blows me away the types of personal information people divuldge online for the entire world to see. Most of the time it's the younger crowd. Or maybe a perv posing as the younger crowd. Who knows... but I think the power to change it starts with the users themselves.
Jack

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/25/2007 - 21:15.

There have always been immature and vulnerable teens in the world and there are teens out there who are not saavy to the tricks and lures of sexual predators. There are also millions of parents out there who don't have a clue what their kids are doing online; well SHAME ON THEM... but why is that MySpace's fault and why should MySpace be forced into babysitting every user who is under the age of 18!

There are far more teens who are truly savvy to this crap and who surf responsibly and safely than there are the opposite. No child should be victimized online; but lets face it, adolescents are curious about sex, they always have been and always will be. Every adult was once a teen and was once curious about sex. The internet can be a fantastic educational tool and wonderful entertainment, but it has a dark side too; it's just like the rest of the world, there is good and there is bad. If parents have no rules, boundaries, or expectations about the internet at home, their kids are going to approach the interet thinking they are safe while sitting in their own home, when in truth they've probably never been in more danger. Expect your kids to follow their adolescent curiosity online because they will!

PARENTS NEED TO WAKE UP! When a parent allows their kids to have unsupervised access to the internet, they are giving them the keys to the biggest sexual predator playground ever known to mankind. I know parents can't keep watch 24/7, but I can almost guarantee that 90% of the kids out there who have been victimized online have internet in their bedrooms or access to it away from any adults eyes for long periods of time. Taking responsibiltiy at home is a much more "real" approach than creating a law that gives a false sense of security, allowing parents to stick their heads further into the sand. It really does absolutely nothing over the long haul to fix the real problem.

It's a complex issue, but I think educating parents and their kids is a far better approach to this issue. Requiring community sites like MySpace to force limitations on access will only cause teens and predators to lie and cheat simply to find a way around it. Even worse, the twisted freaks will come up with more devious less detectible approaches.

I know some teens may be very vulnerable to these freaks, but some of these politicians make generalizations about teens that make all teens out to be morons. That's simply not the case and it's not reality. There are more internet savvy teens in the world than all the politicians put together.

I thank MySpace for tracking down the 7000 thousand perverts and giving them the boot. Though I am not sure how long the eviction will last, it's nice to know we at least pulled the plug temporarily. I also thank sites like SexLaws.org for doing their best to EDUCATE people on the real issues.

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