AG's Want Info From MySpace

Apparently MySpace hired a third party to construct a national database of known sex offenders. Now several state AG's insist they produce the names of thousands of known sex offenders who were or are on MySpace.

The AG's want the names, locations, etc:

Top law enforcement officers from eight states asked MySpace.com on Monday to turn over the names of registered sex offenders who use the social networking Web site.

In a letter, the attorneys general asked MySpace to provide information on how many registered sex offenders are using the site, and where they live. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper signed the letter, along with attorneys general from Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In a statement, Cooper's office said media outlets in 2006 "reported almost 100 criminal incidents across the country involving adults who used MySpace to prey or attempt to prey on children."

In December, MySpace announced it was partnering with Sentinel Tech Holding Corp. to build a database with information on sex offenders in the United States.

"It is our understanding that the data from Sentinel reveals that thousands of known sex offenders have been confirmed as MySpace members," the letter said.

In an interview, Cooper said the information was provided by "absolutely credible" sources, whom he declined to identify.

The attorneys general also asked that MySpace describe the steps it has taken to warn users about sex offenders and remove their profiles. They asked the Web site to respond to their requests by May 29.

"They are by far the largest social networking site," Cooper said. "They certainly should be the standard bearer for changes that need to be made."

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the site a "virtual playground" for predators. "That combination of sex offenders and children is a recipe for tragedy," Blumenthal said.

The site is owned by media conglomerate News Corp. Attorneys for MySpace said they had not seen the letter and could not comment.

Comments

[Phoenix]

"Oh, no... Mr. Bill. They're trying to stop my right to be a pervert!"

[bloodrage bob]

maybe, phoenix. maybe. OTOH, letting law enforcement peek into whatever records they want to, because they *might* find something interesting there.....is a real bad precedent. next up: in-home parenting inspections?

i've read that when the KGB brought some poor doomed soul - never to be seen again - down into the basement of lubyanka prison for a 'friendly chat', they'd start the conversation thusly: "relax. if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear."

i don't see that much difference between what the AG's are demanding and KGB methodology. oh, sure, this time it's to protect the *children*. (cue fanfare) but maybe next time it'll be to "protect the environment". or "stop money laundering". or "halt unauthorized dissent".

government powers tend to, by definition, want to expand into once-forbidden areas. "the best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry."

[seekeronos]

----- i don't see that much difference between what the AG's are demanding and KGB methodology. oh, sure, this time it's to protect the *children*. (cue fanfare) but maybe next time it'll be to "protect the environment". or "stop money laundering". or "halt unauthorized dissent". ----

Or "prevent terrorism" perhaps?

Not that MySpace is worth disseminating Islamist propaganda over: that thing is filled with so much vacous browser-crashing content, inane glorification of pop culture, and the genereally borderline pornographic exposure of flesh which would the average Jihadist would either die of a seizure, or forget his commitment to Allah and become a hedonist.

[Phoenix]

"...the average Jihadist would either die of a seizure, or forget his commitment to Allah and become a hedonist."

ha ha. Too funny. This sounds like a good idea. Let's expand it to Arab cultures. Only problem, considering the jihadists are already deeply into porn and virgins and willing to die for the 'real' thing, they might not be so interested in the virtual side of it.

BB,

I'm probably not as worried about the expansion of government as you are having perhaps a naive faith that if I am truly violated by unwarranted government intrusion, I can raise holy hell. In this instance, the irony is the FBI is probably already monitoring MySpace and Facebook. What they probably want is the 'oddball' sign-up so they can eliminate hours and hours of lurking. It's like the phone thing. They don't want to waste time listening to Zif sweet-talk his honey about how good last night was, so they look for key elements that are out-of-whack and focus on those. I have no doubt they have codes in place to alert them, but to avoid public outrage, they're probably asking MySpace for something they're already doing - except that with cooperation, their job might become easier.