TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

AGs pressure MySpace for info

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Trench Reynolds

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8 States Seek Sex Offender Data From MySpace:

Attorneys General from eight states, including North Carolina’s Roy Cooper and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal, sent what I’m sure is a strongly worded letter to MySpace demanding they turn over sex offender information.

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. Software to identify and remove sex offenders from the site was launched in early May, MySpace officials said Monday in a statement.

“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.

This is how I imagine the press conference in Raleigh went…

AG Cooper: It is our understanding that the data from Sentinel reveals that thousands of known sex offenders have been confirmed as MySpace members.

Reporter: Who provided you that information?

AG Cooper: Um…a guy.

Here’s a thought. Rather than having MySpace do your work for you, why don’t you keep better track of your sex offenders? Especially you, Mr. Blumenthal. Connecticut seems to have a serious problem with SOs if this site is any indication.

While you’re at it, why don’t you keep them behind bars longer?

Comments

4 responses to “AGs pressure MySpace for info”

  1. BelchSpeak Avatar
    BelchSpeak

    The way I interpret this story is that the AG’s want a progress report on how well that Sentinel software is doing in screening SO’s from Myspace. And if Sentinel was flagging accounts, those AG’s want to know who they are so they can determine if a crime has been committed.

    Which therefore means that MySpace has not been reporting crimes that its software detected. (!)
    This puts MySpace way behind the 8-ball here. If MySpace says that no SO’s were caught, it means that the software screening is a failure and is a good admission that MySpace has been lax in screening SO’s.

    If they turn over the report of SO’s caught and purged, MySpace will be admitting to failure to report possible criminal activity.

    The only other option is to refuse to comply with the request under a bogus privacy rights claim- and how bad will it look for MySpace to be protecting Sex offenders?

    Reply
  2. CB Avatar
    CB

    Yea, there’s no win here for MySpace other than to comply and help out. Either way, it should NOT be possible for sex offenders to even use MySpace in the first place. I’m sorry, but screw your “right to use MySpace” rights. If you are a sex offender, you don’t need to be using a site to “reach out” to the obviously young teen crowd who uses the site anyways. I start the “red flag” when the person signs up on the site in the first place.
    Ban them all from the site and watch as less related sex crimes occur in the next few years.

    Reply
  3. furpo Avatar
    furpo

    This is stupid, who uses their real name when making profiles anyway.
    Waste of time &amp effort!

    Reply
  4. David Avatar
    David

    Why not keep them behind bars?

    Answer: That costs money.
    Question: But why go after myspace then if you’re not really willing to do what it takes to keep the community safe?
    Answer: It’s Free, and gets us re-elected. As we all know from dumping our bottles of water and shaving cream before a flight, FEELING safe is WAY better than being safe.

    nuff said.

    Reply

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