MySpace Agrees to Release Sex Offender Data
This morning I wake up to see that MySpace is releasing their sex offender data to authorities. This is great news but people need to understand a few things before they start chanting to restrict age on social networks.
What classifies as a sexual solicitation attempt? How is it reported and how is it qualified? These questions fall into “grey” area and it would require a lot of time and research before one can easily accuse that someone is a pedophile.
FTA, there is also some state attorney generals who are urging to make MySpace and other sites do age verification. This request is almost impossible, and would completely collapse MySpace and other social networking sites. How can you verify the age of a minor? Would parents really want their children’s information available to a private company? How does age verification prevent other (pedophiles) from exploiting the system and making up a “John Smith” and being 13?
I know why.
People want a simple answer for a complex problem. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s not the right answer to it. All this would do is make it bureaucratic, slow and a pain to use those sites for the 99% of legitimate users and make it just one obstacle that abusers will get around.
The solution is to educate your children that there are potential criminals on these sites and to not respond to any requests luring them in. Parents need to acknowledge the issue with their kids, and not turn a blind eye to it. I’ve listed my social networking safety tips before, and I encourage parents to have a look at it as a reminder.
I know it’s more difficult, but you (as a parent) need to address the problem first hand.
What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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