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MA Attorney General Seeks Myspace Changes
kaufmanmoore writes "Massachusetts' Attorney General Tom Reilly is saying that Myspace is not doing enough to protect children from sexual predators and is calling for action. The biggest proposal is to change the minimum age from 14 to 18 with an age verification system, but also to respond to all reports of inappropriate content within 24 hours and significantly raise the number of staff who review images and content." From the article: "The arrest Tuesday of a 27-year-old man in Connecticut on charges of illegal sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl he met through MySpace underlines the risks of the fast-growing Internet site that boasts about 60 million members."
I have two teenage daughters. Both of them have MySpace accounts. Neither of them is meeting mysterious men online.
Those girls are my responsibility. I can't expect them to make sound judgements on their own. I also cannot expect the administrators of a site to take responsibility for others' actions. Here we have another case of putting the blame on the drug and not the user. Here's a tip for you parents that think a government agency should step in:
MySpace is a harmless thing when exposed to smart people. It's the uneducated, unmonitored, and neglected that seem to be the victims. I know everything my girls do on MySpace, and they know it. You should know where your kids are going, and where they're at whether it's a physical location, or a cyber location. I'm not going to have freedoms sacrificed because a select few haven't a clue what their children are up to.
It's easy to blame MySpace because it's hard to raise a child.
My ZooLoo
The biggest proposal is to change the minimum age from 14 to 18 with an age verification system,
Oooh, that's scary. I bet kids will have a really hard moral dilemma lying to the "are you under 18? [YES] [NO]" page.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
How about forbidding the horrible web design most of MySpace features? It wasn't cool in 1996 and it isn't cool now. USE DREAMWEAVER AT THE VERY LEAST FOR GODS SAKE!
....anyone but parents being the responsible party. I'm not saying that they have total control over their kid's actions, but legislation like this implies that "some kids are just beyond good upbringing and good parenting". You see this garbage in schools all the time, and it's sickening.
PARENTS - Other people are not responsible for your children. That's why they're your children. Spend time teaching them -why- this sort of thing is bad. If you don't trust them, limit their internet usage. Keep tabs on where they are and what they're doing. IF you don't like the commitment and responsiblity that comes along with it, don't have children.
change the minimum age from 14 to 18
Er, make that 30 million members. If they raise the age to 21, they're screwed.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
So, if everyone is 'officially' 18 on MySpace, sexual predators will just have a claim against accusations of pedophilia when girls lie about their age to get an account. "I didn't know she was underaged! Her profile says 18!"
Great idea, guys.
A local cop in Middletown, CT posed as a 17 year old. He just struck up a conversation with one girl. He then ask to be her "friend" (a MySpace term to be added to a buddy list). After the first addition, he just kept sending emails to the initial contact's friends asking to be put on their buddy list. The cop also pointed out that there was enough information on the web sites to actually find these girls. When they finally met him, they were shocked to find out that he was this pounchy thirty something.
Anyway, a lot of it is social engineering. Once you get into a circle, you're have access to a ton of stuff. It also happens to adults. ONe of the best ways to start a con game is to go to church! A con artist will get involved with the minister or someone else at the church and then others think that this guys is "alright". The con artist just starts reeling'em in! No tech required!
BTW: I saw this on TV and I don't remeber the show.
So, in other words, wag that little doggie?
"The arrest Tuesday of a 27-year-old man in Connecticut on charges of illegal sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl he met through MySpace underlines the risks of the fast-growing Internet site... "
Well it also underlines that the police, FBI and MySpace admins are doing their jobs and keeping their eyes on the ball. This kind of predation is a risk in any kind of communal space, online or not. The answer is to be careful, and let your friends know where you're going & who you talk to.
The answer is NOT to outlaw communal spaces, or ban younger people. The idea that under 18s should be banned from public parks would immediately be seen for the stupid overprotective reactionism that it is. But because this is about "the internet"... ooh, scary! Suddenly no amount of legislation is enough.
And here's his campaign website, oozing sanctimony about protecting the children.
Meanwhile, here's what he does when two minors are killed in a car crash
Just for, uhm, posterity, what web forums might these be?
What I find funny about these stories and the obligatory "parents need to not suck!" argument is that it assumes that all parents have the same technical ability that we do. Or even the same language ability that we do. Or the TIME that we do. This seems to be the mother of all projections, as far as this site goes- "I could do it this way, it should be done this way, therefore EVERYONE should be fine doing it this way, and if they don't, it's their fault."
Lots of parents work two jobs. Lots of parents don't understand computers. Lots of parents simply don't know enough about their teenager's life to check for some things (to those that do, or think your parents did, I'm sorry. You're lying. Everyone keeps things from everyone else, regardless of their relationship).
And even so, how is this a raising thing? Kids are having sex, and parents can't stop them from that. How does it make any difference when it's some guy they met at school, planning over AIM and some guy on myspace who happens to be a sexual predator? Again, you don't know everything your child is up to (nor should you), and you never will.
Even putting that aside, these arguments are ridiculous. We have a problem of kids being subjected to predators on a website. The state has a duty (not even just a right, a duty) to ensure that if there are unacceptable risks, safeguards are put in place to assure that we've done all we reasonably can to protect the children. This is bad how? Because it'll curb kids' ability to use a website to share things? While I think the child's ability to express himself online is important, I think making our best effort to ensure that kid isn't going to be assaulted by a predator is pretty darn important too.
The "parent more" argument is a useful tool for people with agendas, but it has no logical stopping point. Why should the state have battery laws? Shouldn't parents teach their kids how to avoid fights? How about laws against gang activity? Shouldn't parents tell their kids to avoid gangs and vandalism? By this logic, simply "raising" your kid would solve the problem, but obviously it doesn't.
I propose covering all objects with Nerf and sealing all children with bubblewrap until their 18th birthday. Anything less may result in a dangerous owie or booboo.
Only in this way can we ensure the next generation is fully ready for the challenges of adulthood.
This tagline is copyrighted material. Please send $10 for an affordable replacement.
Why, couldn't find any terrorists using MySpace?
Quite seriously. If you can't take care of your kids, then you're unfit as a parent and CPS should step it. Case closed. It is NOT the responsibility of the country to raise anyone's children, except those children that don't have parents! It is not the governments responsibility to keep them out of trouble.
It is YOURS, if you're a parent! Not mine. Not the country's. YOURS.
Then again, why do I bother to ramble? It's just the usual excuse to cut into civil liberties with a petty excuse that nobody dares to stand up against.
Ok. I do. To hell with children. I want freedom!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
...Only outlaws will have 13-year-olds?
Sony ha
Some of these comments are utterly sickening. I'm a 16 year old, I have a myspace acount (this is sounding like a confession). I'm a good, smart, responsible person, my parent's havent disiplined or watched over me since I was 9, and they have no reason to. My dad smokes pot from time to time, my mum will have a couple of glasses of wine on the weekend, and as neither of them are hypocrytes, they have both stated that if I ever wanted to experiment with that sort of thing, I'd have the right to.
Me, being, you know, a real live actual person, came to the conclusion that drugs and achohol were exepensive and would not contribute to my like, I'm pretty much straight edge.
I have my own computer with my own password which none of my family members are allowed to touch. I've met up with people from various forums and myspace in real life, not being an idiot, I've always met at public places like tube stations, haven't been raped yet.
Parents, your teenage girls are people who can make choices, and if left to their own devices with the knowledge that you trust them, they will make the right choices. Also, keeping your children from contact with the other sex, even if this contact was asablished online, is seriously fucked up. What the hell can be more natural than exploring sexuality when you're biologicaly ready and too young to be settling down in long term relationships?
I fucking worry for the state of this generation.