States ask MySpace to expose sex offenders' name

After facing severe criticism from the industry for being an attractive portal for sexual predators, MySpace, the leading social networking site, is now facing pressure from top law enforcement officers from eight states to expose the names of registered sex offenders using the social networking website.

The decision came after the attorneys general from eight states, including Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, got informed by some anonymous sources that MySpace had discovered thousands of sex offenders with profile web pages on its site in an internal investigation.

The attorneys general from eight states then sent a letter to MySpace.com on Monday, asking the social networking hub to reveal how many registered sex offenders were using the site and where they lived.

Officials are charging that MySpace has discovered thousands of known sex offenders using its service, but has failed to act on the information.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who declined to unveil the name of sources, called the site a "virtual playground" for predators. "That combination of sex offenders and children is a recipe for tragedy," he said.

In December, MySpace, owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., announced it was deploying new technology from Sentinel Tech Holding Corp. that will build a database containing the names and physical descriptions of convicted sex offenders.

According to MySpace, the technology, dubbed Sentinel Safe, helps keep sex offenders off from the site. The software was launched in early May.

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

The main objective of the move is to assure that these convicted sex offenders are permanently eliminated from this site and other social networking sites, Blumenthal said.
North Carolina Attorney Gen. Roy Cooper's office said media outlets last year reported nearly 100 criminal incidents across the country involving adults who used this portal to prey or attempt to prey on children.

In addition to provide them with the number and names of sex offenders on MySpace, their addresses, the officials, in the letter, asked MySpace to describe the steps it has taken to warn users about sex offenders and remove their profiles.

Officials asked the website to respond by May 29. However, they did not say what actions they would take if MySpace failed to respond adequately by the deadline.

In a response to the Eight States’ letter, Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer, said "We are in the initial stages of cross referencing our membership against Sentinel's registered sex offender database and removing any confirmed matches."

Nigam said the company had recently started using new software to "proactively identify and remove any known sex offenders from the site." He also said legislation requiring sex offenders to register e-mail addresses would expedite the process.

While MySpace may be popular with its young user base, it has been getting increasing pressure from the government, parents and advocacy groups over the vulnerability of its users to child predators. MySpace has taken steps to ensure that its users are safe online, but many feel that the company's efforts just aren't enough.

According to Los Angeles based MySpace, the site currently has 170 million user profiles and is adding 320,000 profiles per day.

The Website has become a common target of child protection advocates after the reports and lawsuits filed by so many victims of predators accusing it of failing to protect underage users from sexual predators.

MySpace, which also has become a common victim of spammers, is taking tougher measures to keep it from the people who launch spam attacks to retain its rapid growth.

This most widely-known lifestyle portal and other social networking sites allow users to create online profiles with photos, music, and personal information, including hometowns and education.