Connecticut Asks MySpace to Provide
Blocking Software
Site Needs to be Safer for Kids, State Argues
March 22, 2006
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
has sent MySpace.com a letter asking the company to
provide parents with software to block the web site,
ban kids under 16, institute new measures against pornography
and take other steps to protect children from sexual
predators and inappropriate material.
The letter follows discussions
between Blumenthal's office and top MySpace.com executives,
including a February meeting with MySpace co-founder/CEO
Chris DeWolfe and company lawyers.
"While our discussions
have been encouraging, I ask MySpace to take specific
practical steps to address immediately the most critical
concerns identified by my office," Blumenthal said
in his letter. "These measures are technologically
feasible, as well as consistent with your stated terms
of service and your own explicit goal of prohibiting
nudity and other offensive or inappropriate material
from your website.
"This site now exposes
young people to a perilous cyber environment with people
posting sexually explicit materials and looking for
sexual relationships. In fact, children can still view
pornographic images, links to X-rated web sites, 'clubs'
involving adults seeking sexual encounters and webcam
sex for sale offers. I ask you to adopt my proposed
steps immediately even as you develop new technology
offering better protection," Blumenthal wrote.
Blumenthal asked the company
to:
• Provide parents with
free software allowing them to block access to MySpace
from their home computers.
• Raise the minimum age
for a MySpace profile from 14 to 16. If the company
wants to continue serving that age group, it should
create a separate and distinct site for 14- and 15-year-olds.
• Require users to log
in and verify their age before viewing profiles. Once
logged in, only users 18 or older would be allowed to
view adult material.
• Make technical changes
preventing 14- and 15-year-olds from making their profiles
"public" and requiring parental consent for
anyone 16 or older to view them.
• Add staff and technology
to filter out and remove pornography and prohibited
content. Also, prohibit people seeking casual sexual
encounters from communicating with minors, remove explicit
references to "swingers," and fully disclose
that parts of the site contain adult material.
• Banish permanently
users who repeatedly post so-called "deep links"
to pornography or other prohibited content.
• Hire an aggressive
watchdog independent of the corporate hierarchy that
reports directly to the board of directors about inappropriate
material, sexual predators or other problems on the
site
Reference
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