I saw this news story today, and it absolutely blew my mind. MySpace.com found 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on their website. This was more than four times the numbers cited by MySpace just two months ago!
Prompted by legal action, they made this news available and said they have already removed about 7,000 of these users profiles. What about the remaining 22,000 or the ones they haven’t caught? What is to prevent these users from simply creating another account, with perhaps a fake name? Even if their IP address is blocked, I am sure they will find a way around it- people like this usually do.
An Attorney General from North Carolina, who demanded MySpace release these numbers says the number of profiles of registered sex offenders has risen past 29,000 and just his office alone has documented over more than 100 criminal incidents this year of adults using MySpace to prey or attempt to prey on children.
MySpace MUST do something to ensure the safety of children using their site, as well as PARENTS!!! It is not enough these days, not to know what your child is doing and what websites they are visiting when on-line. There are predators out there, looking for your child. It is better to be safe than sorry- overprotective than have your child fall prey to one of these offenders.
In my opinion, there is no justification for having loopholes that allow registered sex offenders to have access to children on-line. If having laws on the books “violates” sex offenders First Amendment Rights, then so be it. They should have considered that, before they committed their crime.
If you have children who use the Internet, please make sure you know what websites they visit, and take a few extra minutes to check-up on them, install parental blocks, and just know what they are doing. MySpace and other social networking sites need to make their sites free from sex offenders, but parents HAVE to be involved as well. The most important and first step in protecting our children, starts at home.
One reply on “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up & Use MySpace.com”
Now, I’m a myspace fan and think it’s a neat way to keep up w/ some friends from HS and my cousins. But I agree that it can be scary! I “stalk” kids in my town regularly and it is FRIGHTENING the info they put out there w/out realizing it.
The scary thing to me is that I don’t think parents CAN protect their kids. Obviously we’re pretty computer literate so I think it’s easy for us to discount how complicated this all is if you aren’t. My 16yo cousin has a myspace and I monitor it for her mom bc her mom DOES NOT get it. It’s shocking how little she understands what’s going on.
DH works with this kind of crime and they’ll put out tips for parents. I read through them and think “yeah, right!” Of course I could save the info to my hard drive but someone like my mom or my aunt or even my sister would read that and think “I have no idea what they’re talking about” and give up. I just think it’s beyond the computer skills of most older adults to be able to monitor their kids.
And here is my cynical commentary on sex offenders. I don’t worry so much about sex offenders. The few that get caught are easy – we know who they are and society makes it easy for us to keep beating on them. What we really need to worry about are the ones we haven’t identified yet. The world is full of bad guys yet to be caught (many who will never be caught!). It is truly shocking the # of sickos on myspace who fly under the radar!!! So I don’t think our kids need to worry about known sex offenders….It’s the really nice person you’d never suspect that worries me!