The commonwealth of Massachusetts is considering taking some legal action against Myspace.com for failing to protect children from adult predators, as they promise they will. But while one group of criminals finds itself under scrutiny for abusing Myspace, another has apparently found a new way to do so:
Posting death threats to witnesses against them in upcoming criminal cases.
I think I once started creating a MySpace profile to contact someone I found there, who had attended both the same high school and college, but never completed it. It’s like text messaging — it’s something I just don’t “get.” But apparently some accused criminals get it all too well…
This blog is a breath of fresh air compared to RedState.com. What a bunch of censoring Nazi’s over there. How republican is republican enough for them? Sheesh.
Keep up the free flow of ideas here. Let the whack job wingnuts at free republic and the rahrah lets spew the RNC line fools at RedState censor.
What the hell does that have to do with MySpace.com or Jay’s inability to “get it”? Take your OT rants somewhere else please.
I’m beginning to wish they’d just pull MySpace and others like it off the web. I know that sounds extreme…. but life was so simple before all of this.
Why that would be censorship!
The ACLU would file suit, along with Google, Yahoo and all other defenders of Freedom of Speech.
Now if this was China, then they’d all be quiet and shut down that site immediately. What the heck; they’d tell the government who was using it and what they said.
Myspace says in this report that it’s making changes to improve security. A list of links near the top of that page takes you to more stories about MySpace problems.
The problem isn’t MySpace, its that kids have no idea what they are getting into, that they aren’t in a protected environment like their school (unless of course their school is already infested with drugs and violence), and they have not learned how to parcel out trust to strangers.
That’s a job that parents (not the schools) are supposed to fulfill. That’s why I think its so ridiculous that the mother of the abused kid is suing the company.
Even though my son is only 4, MySpace.com and other sites like it that pop up in the future are going to be perma-blocked on my home network. Especially after I saw my 17-year old brother-in-law’s MySpace site.
BLOOD FOR ODIN!!!
I’ve met some wonderful people via Myspace, none of which are below the age of 30. If you just went by the media reports, you would think its a kiddie porn site. I would encourage others to give it a try and see just how wrong the portayals of Myspace really are.
hiker – you won’t find many around here who appreciate “reality” – their fantasy world is much more preferable to them.
Hiker:
How do you know they were older than 30.
Rather than blasting MySpace, it would be a good idea to try to understand the site (and other sites like it). Why have teens, young adults, musicians, movies, businesses, politicians, and others migrated to the site? There must be something to it.
That’s easy to answer. Hormones, fantasy and spin.
Rather than blasting MySpace,…
Social networking via computers is something many here practice. While adults tend to protect their privacy, the younger crowd are much more naive about the dangers and downfalls of revealing personal information on the internet.
From the radio report I heard last week the MySpace staff is just overwhelmed by the volume of new web pages produced each day by users – something like 85,000 pages a day (if i recall corectly).
One thing they could do is appoint user/mentors, users who are experienced and mature enough to help small groups self-police each other, and report problems to the MySpace staff for follow-up. Kind of a “hall monitor” approach. The more eyeballs looking for the bad guys, the better.
“One thing they could do is appoint user/mentors, users who are experienced and mature enough to help small groups self-police each other, and report problems to the MySpace staff for follow-up. Kind of a “hall monitor” approach. The more eyeballs looking for the bad guys, the better.”
No can do. Made illegal back in the days of AOL and monitors. Volunteers aren’t allowed to do work for non-payment in a commerical service. Forget the original class action suit number but companies have to compensate people doing any kind of monitoring for them and that is usualy cost prohibitive.
ah – thanks Faith+1 — hmm, what if they received compensation in the firm of some free service (free itunes downloads or the like).
I just know that MySpace is a definite “community” and if MySpace Incorporated can’t police the community, find a way to let the community self-police…
I teach computers to teens. I also have 5 kids of my own, and teach quite a few pre teens and teens in the homeschool community.
Yes, MySpace is a grand way for them to meet friends – HOWEVER, these kids are giving out WAY too much personal info on their sites, and their folks usually haven’t a clue. The pendulum has swung too far from center, and my kids have been given the low-down and told not to go near the joint. I’d much rather have my kids meet friends face to face, then they are allowed to email and chat on AIM.
I even had to holler at my 19 year old (who is at college) for leaving her cell number and other personal info on her AIM away message. They just don’t always get it.
Wow,
Dummies go hi-tech. Sheese, and I thought robbing a small store with a cop car 10 yards away was dumb.