An agreement was announced Monday that MySpace, the most popular social networking Web site, was going to make changes to better protect it's users from sexual predators. The agreement was made with MySpace, and the attorneys general for 49 states, and the District of Columbia, (Texas was the only state not to sign). MySpace currently has over 70 million users, and allows them to make a personal profile, displaying pictures and other information about themselves. Current security barriers used by MySpace include the reviewing of all videos and images, for sexually explicit content, and making the profiles of users ages 14 and 15 private. In the new agreement, all profiles of users under the age of 18 will automatically be set to private, and parents can send MySpace their children's email address to have it permanently blocked from the site. Also, a task force will be implemented to verify the ages and identities of the site's users.
OK, so really, not that I in anyway feel we shouldn't be protected from sexual predators, but I find this to be semi-pointless. I have had a MySpace account for about 4 years now, and I have yet to encounter a sexual predator. Could it be because they don't want to talk to me? No, it's probably because I don't allow them to talk to me. MySpace gives you the option to set your profile to private, even to the point where someone may have to give your last name or email address to even REQUEST to be your friend. Yes, that's right, request. Which means, you don't have to approve them. Also, as most people with a MySpace account know, you have to be at least 14 years old to have one. So if all your friends are 14 and they have a MySpace, but you are only 13 and you HAVE to have one, what are you gonna do? You're gonna lie. Now they are upping the age of the profiles they set to private. If you don't want your profile to be private, all you have to do is lie about your age. Let's say you're a sexual predator, and you want to use MySpace to solicit children. Well since they delete all of the profiles of sexual predators, your gonna lie.
I don't think that MySpace has a problem with sexual predators. I think that MySpace has a problem with parents. I truly believe that parents these days do not have enough control over their children to prevent them from doing things that could put them at risk of encountering a sexual predator.
If a parent cannot control their child on their own, then they will raise concern about an issue, leading government officials to step in and parent their child for them.
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3 comments:
I to feel that this extra security would be a pointless move for myspace. If you go out looking for trouble you're going to find it, but if you just simply know how to be safe the risks of being stocked by a predator will go down greatly. It is the parents responsibility to teach this to their children too. Don't go out on myspace searching for someone you don't know that may just have a cool looking profile or hott picture. And if someone requests to be your friend that you don't know and doesn't know any of your friends use common sense it's not that hard. You are right also in the fact that this new security doesn't solve anything. A person can easily still lie, and if they are a sexual predator don't you think that they would be more likely lie about their age or anything else? Yeah, they would.
I feel that myspace is doing an excellent thing. I have a child as well and anyone who has a child knows that you can't watch them all the time. Parents controlling their children isn't really the issue, it is parents educating their children of the dangers of online predators.
This has been an on going battle forever! Myspace should not go through all that trouble when the myspace user can do it themselves. A predator will still be able to get a myspace account and will try and lure young users. Hopefully young teens and parents are educated on the subject and know how to prevent an encounter. Parents shoudl focus on the issue with their child instead of with Myspace. Predators can be found other places too.
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