MySpace has finally agreed to deploy some safety measures — then, just when you thought it was safe to let your kids wander into the further reaches of the internet — porno stars seduce under age girls, and hacker extorts MySpace user for ‘favors’ in exchange for getting her site back…
MySpace Agrees to New Safety Measures
Under mounting pressure from law enforcement and parents, MySpace has agreed to take steps to protect youngsters from online sexual predators and bullies, including searching for ways to better verify users’ ages.
The media is buzzing:
MySpace OK child safety pact
By Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley hailed an agreement yesterday between 49 state attorneys general and the popular social networking site MySpace as a “huge step” toward protecting children on the Internet.
Under the agreement, MySpace has endorsed a host of measures to shield children from inappropriate material and sexual predators who use the site.
Read more at Boston.com: print version, spam version
MySpace agrees to security measures
By Joshua Chaffin in New York writes:
The agreement was announced yesterday after nearly two years of contentious negotiations. Among other measures, it calls for MySpace to create an e-mail registry that would allow parents to bar their children from the site, and allow users under 18 to keep their profiles private from older users.
However, MySpace did not agree to one of the most onerous demands: that it implement new technology to verify users’ age. Instead, it will create an industry task force to study the matter.
While some state attorneys-general in the US predicted yesterday that the site would implement such technology by year-end, Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace’s chief security officer, said he could make no such prediction. The agreement was endorsed by 49 states, with Texas as the lone hold-out. [end quote]
From Financial Times: www.ft.com
Meanwhile…
Couple accused of using MySpace to seduce two underage girls into orgy
Nicole Bode Daily News Staff Writer relates:
A pair of strippers were cooling off in jail Monday night after using MySpace.com to seduce two underage girls and take them to a strip club for an orgy, authorities said.
Male stripper Julio Rojas, 31, and his wife Sophie Soto, 22, also in the erotic biz, face a 56-count complaint of preying on two teens through MySpace.com before luring the girls to Queens for sex romps last year. [end quote]
New York Daily News :: NY Crime
Convicted Hacker Charged with Extortion After MySpace Attack
Wired News passes this along…
According to her blog post, Hilton found herself locked out of her MySpace account on December 28th, the same day she began receiving harassing phone calls …
A Southern California man convicted last year of hacking into the Lexis-Nexis owned consumer database Accurint was arrested on charges on extortion Friday after allegedly hijacking the MySpace account of an internet celebrity.
Jeffrey Robert Weinberg, 22, was arrested by LAPD detectives in Southern California early Friday morning, a department spokeswoman confirmed. While police aren’t discussing the particulars, the arrest follows a detailed blog post by “Amor Hilton” an 18-year-old Los Angeles woman, who says she helped detectives build a case against Weinberg after he hijacked her MySpace account and demanded nude photos and “phone sex” in exchange for its return. [end quote]
Here’s the full story via blog.wired.com
… What will they think of next? Will the new MySpace “Child Safety” measures work? Well, you can be sure we’ll keep you informed!
