MySpace Faces a Perp Problem
Wired News has discovered several MySpace users who are also listed in the San Francisco and Sonoma County sex offender registries. The random sampling found five definite matches and two tentative matches. MySpace is trying to clean up its reputation as parents grow concerned that their children are socializing with child molesters through MySpace and other social networking sites. Though the men in the Wired sample have no minors in their friends list, the discovery raises issues regarding how MySpace will handle the presence of known sex offenders in the online community. MySpace has a customer services staff of 300 for 70 million users, with 270,000 new users per day. Using sex offender registries as a blacklist for potential members could create problems: sex offenders are not breaking the law by using the site, and the registries are intended for use by private citizens; corporations cannot use the list to discriminate on matters of housing and employment. While flushing out registered sex offenders may be a good public relations move for MySpace, it will not prevent unregistered sex offenders from using the service.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,70675-0.html