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[15 January 2007} - Internet networking site MySpace has agreed to make the United States' largest social-networking site safer for children by checking ages more carefully, granting parents greater control and building higher walls between its adult and younger users.
MySpace remains at the front of Internet-based social networks, and as networking became popular in recent years - MySpace now has 110 million registered users -problems emerged: Minors received sexual solicitations and links to pornography, were bullied, and sexual predators used sites in abductions.
On Monday, MySpace agreed to create an e-mail registry for parents, who will be able to submit their child's e-mail addresses, then restrict access to MySpace. MySpace also agreed to search for better ways to verify ages and make other changes in an agreement with nearly all the nation's attorneys general.
Monday's deal is not a complete solution - for example, the goal of accurately verifying the ages of online users remains elusive - but experts suggested it was a good first step.
"Is this a good start? Yes," said Paula Selis, senior counsel in the consumer protection division of the Washington State Attorney General's Office. She worked on the agreement. "I foresee this becoming a template for the industry."
The other social-networking behemoth, Facebook, was not named as part of Monday's agreement, but was supportive.
"We have led the way in our partnership with the New York attorney general and continue our involvement with the attorneys general of all states and other law enforcement agencies to keep children safe from those who would do them harm," the company said in a statement. Microsoft Corp. bought a $240 million stake in Facebook last year.
Parental confusion
These days, parents often struggle to navigate their children's increasingly complex media world of MySpace pages, Facebook profiles and unintelligible text messages, while worrying about reports of children getting solicited and bullied online.
One in five children are solicited online, Selis said.
In the rapidly changing world of online socialising, there are not enough protections, she said.
For example, a 15-year-old girl from Texas was allegedly lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user, according to The Associated Press. And a 13-year-old girl in Missouri hanged herself in 2006 after receiving mean messages on MySpace that she thought came from another teen, but were actually were sent as a hoax, the news service reported.
New York investigators said they set up Facebook profiles last year as 12- to 14-year-olds and were quickly contacted by users looking for sex, The AP reported.
Accurately verifying the ages of users remains a top security goal, and MySpace agreed to create a task force, which will include outside members, to explore better ways to check ages and identities. The group expects to report its findings at the end of the year.
More changes expected
MySpace has been working on security improvements for years, though Monday's announcement was one of its most dramatic moves. Other changes are likely because online networking is rapidly evolving, and has changed dramatically even since the nation's attorneys general began talking with MySpace two years ago to improve online protections for young people.
"You are going to probably see it proliferate even more and (be) used for even more things," Selis said.
Still, University of Washington communication professor Crispin Thurlow suggested Monday's announcement was a small, though important, step.
"If anything, it is a small symbolic step," said Thurlow, whose work focuses on young people and new media. "I think it is important that any move like this come hand in hand with an increased personal" involvement.
To help parents, MySpace is developing free monitoring software and maintains a 24-hour hot line to respond to law enforcement.
Parents, though, remain the ultimate online safeguard, and Thurlow encourages parents to explore their child's online world, maybe by asking them for help in setting up a MySpace page.
"Parental controls are really the only way people are going to be able to do anything," Thurlow added.
The age-old tool of talking to your kids remains perhaps the most effective line of defense.
It wasn't always comfortable, but Gail Hudson sat her teenage son down in her Queen Anne home when he started using the Internet and explained the power and dangers inside the online world.
"If you are talking to your child and you have given them some common-sense guidelines, I think that is better protection than MySpace can do," said Hudson, co-editor of "I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers."
Further information
- YouTube tackles bullying online (19 November 2007)
- Game to teach children Internet safety launched at UN meeting (November 2007)
- US 'worst' for online child abuse (21 July 2006)
pdf: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/347375_myspace15.html