New York piles on

Pirro continues pressure on MySpace website:

Now the New York State attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro is jumping on the MySpace pile…

Following two recent arrests by the FBI, New York State attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester County district attorney, Monday renewed her call to Rupert Murdoch, owner of MySpace.com, to convene a forum immediately between social networking sites owners and managers, teacher and parent representatives, and law enforcement experts to tackle the problem of child safety on Internet social networking sites.

Pirro refuted a recent statement by MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe that “this isn’t a MySpace issue.” Pirro said, “There are special obligations imposed on anyone operating sites where teens are admitted — whether the site is a playground, recreation center or a social networking website. Once site operators know that sexual predators are congregating there to prey on children, they must act immediately to protect them.”

First off, MySpace is only a small cog of Rupert Murdoch’s giant empire. He pays people to handle situations like this. So calling him out is not going to win you any friends. Secondly, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe has a point, to a certain extent, that “this isn’t a MySpace issue.”

Again, it comes down to that endangered species known as personal responsibility. Now, I am far from saying that any victims deserved what happened to them. However, if parents would teach their kids about the dangers of posting personal information online and would take the time to monitor their children’s internet activity, then this wouldn’t be a problem.

Comments

One response to “New York piles on”

  1. MRBmom Avatar
    MRBmom

    I would agree – this is not a MySpace issue – it’s a parenting issue. My kids are only 6 and 8 and have already been taught to never give out personal info – not that they chat or anything like that now, but because they will someday. The computer is also in the living room where I can always see what they are doing – I’ve already told my son while I may let him have the old computer in his room when I get a new one, it will NOT have net access. This is just basic freakin’ common sense. If you don’t want to make the time and effort to protect your kids, don’t have any!!! It’s dangerous out there! End of rant. Can someone help me down off this soapbox? 🙂

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