[Infowarrior] - MySpace to send U.S. users missing-children alerts

[Richard Forno]

MySpace to send U.S. users missing-children alerts

By Reuters
http://news.com.com/MySpace+to+send+U.S.+users+missing-children+alerts/2100-
1028_3-6152320.html

Story last modified Tue Jan 23 06:47:22 PST 2007


Popular online social network MySpace said Tuesday it will begin sending
online alerts to users in certain U.S. regions to help find missing children
as part of an expansion of plans to expand safeguards for users.

MySpace struck a partnership with the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children to enable MySpace Amber alerts, a program between the
media and law enforcement to issue early warning broadcast bulletins in
serious child abduction cases.

It is part of an upgrade by News Corp.-owned MySpace of safety features
designed to address concerns of child safety advocates, some of whom say it
has been slow to keep its many teenage members safe from adult predators.

Last week, the families of five teenage victims of sexual abuse by adult
MySpace users sued the service for negligence in protecting its users. Last
year, the family of a 14-year-old girl sued the company in a similar case.

MySpace hired a former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor last year to
improve its online safety program.

The Amber alerts, named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped
and murdered in 1996 in Texas, will appear in a small text box at the top of
a profile, MySpace said. The alerts give MySpace users the option to get
more information about the case, such as photos and information on suspects.

"We've been working with partners...and law enforcement to find any possible
avenue we can take to protect our nation's children, keeping sex offenders
off our site and providing technology that the entire industry can take
advantage of," MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam said in a phone
interview.

With 150 million profiles, MySpace is seen as one of the Web's
fastest-growing properties in terms of users. More than half of U.S. teens
with online access use sites such as MySpace to stay in touch with friends,
a recent Pew survey found.

The explosive growth in MySpace usage since its purchase by Rupert Murdoch's
News Corp. in September 2005, has made it a target for sex predators who
prey on its huge teen population.

As part of its safety program, MySpace now requires all new members to
register with a valid e-mail address, which they say helps law enforcement
track down potential predators. New applicants will receive a verification
e-mail with a link requiring them to click back and verify their identity.

U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and John McCain said last month they planned to
introduce legislation that would require convicted sex offenders to register
active e-mail addresses, expanding the existing requirements that they
register personal information with local municipalities.

The database of e-mail addresses would let social networking sites like
MySpace bar offenders from their services by cross-checking new applicants
against the database.

MySpace struck a deal with background verification firm Sentinel Tech
Holding Corp. to build a new technology, Sentinel Safe, which will let
MySpace search state and federal databases to seek out and delete profiles
of registered sex offenders.

MySpace previously did not require users to verify e-mails as some Internet
service providers using junk e-mail filters were unable to recognize the
verification mail as legitimate.

In the last few months, MySpace has been in talks with U.S. Internet service
providers to unblock verification e-mails.

All users also now have the option to make their profile private--once
available only to 14- and 15-year-old members.

Story Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.