2008 Woodie Awards
Myspace makes deal with 49 states
One attorney general says agreement lacks 'real reform measures'
Jonathan Bowers
Issue date:
1/29/08
Section:
Features
The attorneys general of 49 states signed an agreement with Myspace.com, on Jan. 16 in which Myspace.com would make a series of changes in its service to better protect teenagers and children that log onto the site.
These changes include making all profiles for minors private, giving parents the ability to control whether their children can access the site through an e-mail registry, improved responses to complaints, a 24-hour hotline to law enforcement officials, and a review of online safety tools such as identity authentication or age verification.
Although 49 of 50 attorneys general did sign the agreement, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott refused to sign and said the proposed changes fall short of necessary action.
"MySpace.com continues to resist implementing real reform measures, including age verification measures and filtering software, and instead offers window-dressing that offers no real protection to the millions of children and teenagers who use their networking sites and chat rooms," Abbott said.
He instead called for tougher measures that would offer some guarantee of protection.
The agreement between the Internet social networking giant and the states' chief legal advisers comes after years of investigations including one by the Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Blumenthal charged that Myspace.com too easily allowed minors to post and view pornographic material. He also stated that it was the responsibility of websites to protect their viewers in a way that was both legal and morally responsible. Many other states had similar investigations and complaints.
Even with 49 of 50 attorneys general accepting the agreement there are still many people who doubt the strength of the agreement, but at the same time don't support the tougher stance of Abbott.
Romeo Wahed, from downloadsquad.com said Abbott's ideals were not easily applicable.
"Although Abbott's stand against the herd is admirable, the idea of an age verification system is not very appealing," Wahed said. "For example, surrendering credit card information or social security numbers to prove one's age just to use a social network is probably not going to sit too well with a lot of users."
Wahed also points out that many people may choose a different social networking service to avoid the increased security.
Though no one argues against the fact that children online do need some kind of protection, the question of how to offer the protection and at what cost has yet to be answered.
These changes include making all profiles for minors private, giving parents the ability to control whether their children can access the site through an e-mail registry, improved responses to complaints, a 24-hour hotline to law enforcement officials, and a review of online safety tools such as identity authentication or age verification.
Although 49 of 50 attorneys general did sign the agreement, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott refused to sign and said the proposed changes fall short of necessary action.
"MySpace.com continues to resist implementing real reform measures, including age verification measures and filtering software, and instead offers window-dressing that offers no real protection to the millions of children and teenagers who use their networking sites and chat rooms," Abbott said.
He instead called for tougher measures that would offer some guarantee of protection.
The agreement between the Internet social networking giant and the states' chief legal advisers comes after years of investigations including one by the Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Blumenthal charged that Myspace.com too easily allowed minors to post and view pornographic material. He also stated that it was the responsibility of websites to protect their viewers in a way that was both legal and morally responsible. Many other states had similar investigations and complaints.
Even with 49 of 50 attorneys general accepting the agreement there are still many people who doubt the strength of the agreement, but at the same time don't support the tougher stance of Abbott.
Romeo Wahed, from downloadsquad.com said Abbott's ideals were not easily applicable.
"Although Abbott's stand against the herd is admirable, the idea of an age verification system is not very appealing," Wahed said. "For example, surrendering credit card information or social security numbers to prove one's age just to use a social network is probably not going to sit too well with a lot of users."
Wahed also points out that many people may choose a different social networking service to avoid the increased security.
Though no one argues against the fact that children online do need some kind of protection, the question of how to offer the protection and at what cost has yet to be answered.
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