TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: MySpace

  • MySpace caves to pressure for new security measures

    MySpace caves to pressure for new security measures

    MySpace Agrees to New Safety Measures:

    First, let me hit you with just the first paragraph from the AP article that’s making the rounds about MySpace’s proposed new safety measures.

    Under mounting pressure from law enforcement and parents, MySpace agreed Monday to take steps to protect youngsters from online sexual predators and bullies, including searching for ways to better verify users’ ages.

    The fact that parents are pressuring MySpace is a joke. If parents were actually parenting, I would say more than half the stories on this site wouldn’t have happened.

    Here are some of the things MySpace said they will do for lax parents. Ok, I made up the lax parents part.

    Under the agreement, profiles for users under age 16 will be set to private so no strangers can get information from their profile; users can block anyone over 18 from contacting them; and people over 18 cannot add anyone under 16 as a friend in their network unless they have their last name or their e-mail address.

    All of these can be circumvented by the underage user if the parents aren’t paying attention.

    Another new feature will be the following…

    MySpace said it is in the process of creating a database where parents can submit children’s e-mail addresses to prevent their children from setting up profiles.

    And it only takes your kid about a minute to set up another e-mail address that you don’t know about.

    In my opinion, age verification won’t work either, even if you need a credit card to sign up with MySpace. First of all, MySpace will never do that because their userbase will plummet. Secondly, it wouldn’t take much for a kid to slide the credit card out of mom or dad’s wallet, use it to sign up on MySpace, then slide back unnoticed.

    There is no greater security measure than good parenting.

    Thanks to Bay for the link.

  • Way to stay current

    Way to stay current

    More Details Emerge In Myspace Suicide Case:

    Sometimes the media cracks me up. Take for instance this article by the local Fox affiliate in Kansas City about the Megan Meier case dated 1/10/08.

    The Washington Post reports that someone established a Web site a few weeks ago to degrade Megan Meier’s character. The site has since been taken down, and no one knows who set it up.

    Wrong.

    First of all, the website, the infamous Megan Had it Coming, is still up and secondly, Encyclopedia Dramatica already admitted to the hoax. I posted about it here over a month ago, as did a lot of other bloggers.

    Get with the program.

  • 37-year-old arrested for meeting to have sex with 12-year-old

    37-year-old arrested for meeting to have sex with 12-year-old

    Edward Oberwise

    Hillsborough County man met girls on MySpace in order to have sex:

    Mr. Clean, over there, is 37-year-old Edward Oberwise of Hillsborough County, Florida. He’s been arrested for allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl he met on MySpace.

    Police were tipped off by the girl’s 14-year-old friend, who told her parents.

    So let’s hear it, sex offender defenders. Please tell me how you think that this man who was 25 years older than his victim was not at fault.

  • Indiana doesn’t get it either

    Indiana doesn’t get it either

    Law could ban sex offenders from Myspace:

    Just like his cohorts from other states, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter just doesn’t get it. Like his other counterparts, he is proposing legislation that is supposed to keep registered sex offenders off of MySpace and other social networking sites.

    Carter says convicted sex offenders will be required to give police their usernames and emails at the same time they register with their basic information like where they live.

    As usual, Attorney General Carter doesn’t address the issues of registered sex offenders using different e-mails and usernames that they gave police or sex offenders who haven’t been caught yet. Not to mention clueless parents who let their children roam the internet unchecked. Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Those clueless parents are also voters.

  • Sean Lennon pleads guilty

    Sean Lennon pleads guilty

    Again, no, not John Lennon’s son.

    Ravena man pleads guilty to raping teen he met on MySpace:

    I originally posted about Sean Lennon here. He was arrested over the summer for having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met on MySpace. The 21-year-old from Ravena, New York pleaded guilty to one count of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance and one count of Rape in the Third Degree, both felonies.

    Under the terms of the plea bargain, Lennon will serve seven years in prison and ten years post release supervision. He also must to register as a sex offender and have no contact with the victim.

  • Federal subpoenas issued in Megan Meier case

    Federal subpoenas issued in Megan Meier case

    L.A. grand jury issues subpoenas in Web suicide case:

    A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has issued subpoenas in the suicide death of Megan Meier from Missouri. For those of you living under a rock, Megan Meier, at the age of 13-committed suicide when a boy she met on MySpace rejected her and demeaned her. Except the MySpace boy wasn’t a boy at all but adult neighbor Lori Drew. Drew wanted to see if Megan was talking about Drew’s daughter behind her back.

    Authorities in Missouri could not find anything to charge Lori Drew with, but the U.S. prosecutors in L.A. have taken a different approach. They’re thinking of charging Lori Drew with fraud for creating the fake MySpace. And why is this happening in L.A. you ask.

    The prosecutors believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace — the would-be victim — is based in Beverly Hills, the sources said.

    The subpoenas were issued to MySpace and what the article says are “witnesses in the case.”

    Here’s hoping that there can be some modicum of justice for Megan Meier.

  • Douglas Brian Wall

    Douglas Brian Wall

    Douglas Brian Wall

    Police: Man Lured Minor From MySpace:

    The surprised looking dude over there is 26-year-old Douglas Brian Wall of Ferndale, Michigan. He’s in jail for having sex with a 15-year-old girl that he lured to his house via MySpace. He’s also accused of supplying drugs and alcohol to minors. A regular pillar of the community, this guy is.

    A parent tipped off police shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve. The parent said he discovered his minor children had been at Wall’s home.

    A search of his home turned up marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

    The investigation also revealed that Wall had sex with a 15-year-old girl from “a nearby city” several times over a two-month period. Police said other juveniles, some as young as 14, were in the house during the encounters, drinking and using drugs.

    I wonder how many parents were totally unaware of their kid’s behavior. All it takes is a little check-up on their computer.

    Mr. Hall here, however, just may possibly be the absolute least productive member of society and deserves to be thrown in a hole for an awfully long time.

  • Sex master Adam

    Sex master Adam

    How a sinister MySpace predator targeted teen girls:

    Recently, Buffalo, NY police arrested 48-year-old cafeteria worker David W. Evans. On MySpace, he said he was a muscular 20-year-old called “Sex Master Adam”. He’s been charged with coercing a minor to produce child pornography, which is a federal felony.

    Apparently, he either coerced or convinced underage girls to send him nude pictures of themselves. Police believe there may have been as many as 100 victims.

    The police are also left asking themselves some questions that parents should be asking too.

    As police continue their investigation and more girls are located, questions are being raised about the victims, too:

    • Regardless of how old she thought Adam was, why would any teenage girl send naked pictures of herself to a man she had never met?

    • How could the girls’ parents be unaware of what was going on?

    • How common is this kind of conduct in the Internet age?

    I’ll take those questions on.

    Usually in these cases, children are coerced and threatened into sending these types of pictures to predators.

    Some parents still refuse to monitor their kids’ internet activities.

    Unfortunately, it’s all too common.

    I can’t stress this enough to parents. Keep the computer in a common area where it can be monitored easily. Learn how to check the internet history of your child’s browsing. Those two simple things will go a long way in keeping your child safe online.

  • Anthony Uckele convicted

    Anthony Uckele convicted

    Man guilty of more charges in MySpace case:

    I originally posted about Anthony Uckele here. He’s the 24-year-old from Saratoga, California, who was facing 36 charges for a sexual ‘relationship’ he had with a 12-year-old girl he met on MySpace.

    Well, it seems that Mr. Uckele has been convicted of 20 of those charges. On the remaining 15 charges, the jury was deadlocked. So now Uckele is only looking at 46 years behind bars, rather than the 78 he could have received. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 29th.

    What’s almost disturbing as Uckele himself is the number of people posting comments not only on this site but on the newspaper’s site that blame the 12-year-old victim. You people have issues, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you had certain criminal sexual leanings yourself.

  • Metal Molester barred from the stage

    Metal Molester barred from the stage

    Judge in Sex Case Bans Rocker From Stage:

    One of the more heated discussions that have been ongoing on this site is that of one Randall Shesto II. He’s the 21-year-old lead singer of the metal ‘band’ Nailwounds. He was caught not once but twice with underage girls, earning him the nickname on this site of The Metal Molester.

    Well, it seems that the Molester is Metal no more, as a judge has barred him from appearing on stage for 5 years.

    “You love your music,” the judge told the defendant. “Your music has been the tool by which you have ingratiated your way into the lives of these girls. You may not play in a band in any public appearances during the term of your probationary period. I’m taking away from you the tools by which you worked your misdeeds, sir.”

    I can just see the judge saying to him “Now I bid you good day sir.” before slamming down his gavel.

    Shesto was also sentenced to a month behind bars, 11 months of work release, and 5 years probation. He also can’t use the internet or a cell phone without permission from his probation officer.

    Rock on justice system. \m/