My Space - 1/16/08

Jeff:  In the “old” days when young people wanted to talk with friends and find new people, they might go to a party in the neighborhood, or attend a community or school event.  Now, the kids meet in cyberspace, and that poses major safety risks for our kids.  Here to explain some important new legal protections is attorney Michael Solomon.

Jeff:  First, Mike what are internet communities like My Space and Face Book?

Mike: Jeff, Face Book initially started as a way to allow students at colleges to communicate with each other. MySpace has a broader goal, allowing people with different interests to communicate by instant messages and postings about themselves on their own personal web site.  The problem is that children on these web sites are susceptible to sexual predators and other criminals who can deceive children and obtain personal information about the children and their family.

Jeff: So what is this new legal agreement to protect children?

Mike: On January 14th,  My Space and 49 state attorneys general signed an agreement called the “Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Sites Safety”.  The goal is to prevent those under 14 years of age from using MySpace at all, and to help protect children ages 14 to 18 from exposure to adult content and unwanted contact from adults . The hope is that other social networking sites will adopt the same rules.

Jeff: What will MySpace do immediately to protect children?

Mike: The agreement lists 63 individual actions that MySpace will take. Some of the significant steps are:

1. My Space will start “age locking” Users will have to register their ages, above 18 or under 18. Once you set your age under 18 it cannot be changed. You can change your age above 18 but never to below 18
2. Users over 18 cannot use My Space to browse for users under 18.
3. Sites on MySpace that deal with incest, hate speech, youth sex, and pornography will be deleted.
4. Users under 18 will be prohibited from visiting romance and relationships forums and certain other adult content.
   

Jeff: Will MySpace allow parents to block their kids from MySpace?

Mike :  Yes.  MySpace will create a registry where parents can list their children’s email addresses if they don’t want their children to have access to My Space or other social networking sites. If a child is on this list they cannot use these sites.

Jeff: How are the police involved?

Mike: Obtaining cooperation from the various internet sites has been one of the most frustrating problems for law enforcement.  MySpace promises to work with law enforcement officials to act quickly to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct found on MySpace. Additionally MySpace has set up a 24 hour hot line to respond to law enforcement inquiries   and promises to report on the status of its response to any law enforcement complaint with 72 hours of receipt.

Jeff: thank you Mike. Hopefully this is beginning of internet sites helping make the internet safer for children