MySpace to Protect Minors

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MySpace.com said it has agreed with 49 states and the District of Columbia to add measures to combat sexual predators’ access to the popular social-networking Web site.


Santa Monica-based MySpace said Monday that it has agreed to include several online protections as well as participate in a group to develop age-verification and other technologies to prevent sexual offenders and predators from using the site.


The Web site, which is owned by News Corp., also said it will allow parents to submit a child’s email addresses to MySpace to prevent anyone from using them to set up false profiles. MySpace also said it will establish a default private setting for profiles by users under 18 so they cannot be viewed by adults they don’t already know.


The Web site also said that it will respond to complaints about inappropriate content within 72 hours and will also dedicate more staff and resources to classify photographs and discussion groups.


This announcement comes after a federal grand jury in Los Angeles last week began issuing subpoenas in the case of a Missouri teenager who hanged herself after being rejected by the person she thought was a 16-year-old boy she met on MySpace.com. The 16-year-old boy was really the mother of one of the girl’s former friends.

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