Jan 14, 2008 7:44 pm US/Central
Agreement Reached To Protect Kids On MySpace
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
Illinois has joined 48 other states plus the District of Columbia Monday in announcing that MySpace has agreed to take significant actions to protect children from sex offenders on its Web site.
The agreement includes the creation of a task force to explore and develop age and identity verification technology, according to a release from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.
The agreement culminates nearly two years of discussions between MySpace and the attorneys general.
The agreement makes the default setting "private" for profiles of 16 and 17 year olds, promising to respond within 72 hours to inappropriate content complaints. The agreement also allows parents to submit their children's e-mail addresses so MySpace can prevent anyone using those e-mail addresses from setting up profiles, the release said.
The states pushed MySpace for changes after subpoenas to MySpace revealed that registered sex offenders have repeatedly used the site, the release said.
Madigan also released a report Monday summarizing the results of several subpoenas that her office sent to MySpace over the last several months. The report, including a summary and statistics of Illinois' MySpace Initiative, is available at www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov.
Under the agreement, MySpace will invite other social networking sites, age and identify verification experts, child protection groups and technology companies to participate in the task force.
The task force will report back to the attorneys general every three months and issue a formal report with findings and recommendations at the end of 2008, the release said.
Texas is the only U.S. state not participating in the agreement.
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(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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