MySpace has admitted that it has found (and purged) as many as 90,000 registered sex offenders using its service over the course of the past two years. That’s more than 40,000 more sexual predators than the number to which MySpace had previously admitted.
The admission was made following MySpace being served a subpoena for the information; the subpoena was initiated by the attorney general of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal.
Said Blumenthal of the revelation, “Almost 100,000 convicted sex offenders mixing with children on MySpace – shown by our subpoena – is absolutely appalling and totally unacceptable. For every one of them, there may be hundreds of others using false names and ages. These convicted registered sex offenders creating profiles under their own names unmasks MySpace’s monstrously inadequate counter-measures. MySpace must purge these dangerous offenders now – and rid them for good. Social networking sites must be barred as playgrounds for predators – a very real threat exposed by the response to our subpoena.”
“This shocking revelation – resulting from our subpoena – provides compelling proof that social networking sites remain rife with sexual predators,” he added.
Attorney General Blumenthal has said that his office will immediately seek to identify any and all Connecticut offenders with MySpace profiles and inform appropriate state authorities so they can determine whether terms of probation or release were violated.
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In 2002, almost 7 years ago I was railroaded into taking a plea of possession of child pornography “30 years to life if I fought or 9 months for a plea” — what would you risk?
Had I known at the time that I would be required to register as sex offender for the rest of my life I would have never taken the plea.
After I served a short stay in a federal prison I returned home to find that employment opportunities had all but dissapeared.
I was also told that I could no longer take residence in most areas of my home town as they were too close to a church or a park or a school, etc.
After my face was plastered in the local paper along with all the other “predators”, I discovered how people can quickly turn from a friendly aquaintance to a hateful stranger.
Now with the introduction of a new bill called International Megans Law 2009 it appears I may face the same predjudice, exclusion and descrimination in every country as I do in this country.
Thanks to the polititians supported by the media who promote an unhealthy fear of everyone labled and often mislabled “Sex Offender” I may never know again how it feels to be normal.
One fact to bear in mind is that Sex Offenders only account for 10% of all new sex crimes. Not surprising since almost half a million have been labled as such already.
The sad fact is that as long as an injustice doesnt affect us or someone we love directly, we tend not to care.
It’s worth noting that in many jurisdictions, some fairly tame/lame acts (e.g., nude sunbathing on a state beach, procuring prostitution, consensual sex in certain public locations, etc.) can earn you a conviction that requires ‘registration’. The puritanical criminalization of all sexuality (instead of sexual violence or predation) is quickly making such registrations meaningless.
It is such a shame that the internet is not safe for kids without an adult sitting with them.
The internet is such a vast place of knowledge, my four year old loves it, but I would never let him sit alone, even though he can’t type yet :)
The problem is that it is impossible for social networks like MySpace, and they are just one, to control things like this as anyone can get a free e-mail account and say they are whoever they want and take a picture from the internet.
Maybe they need to have more staff on it, but even then I just can’t see a way to better control it except to not allow internet access to sex offenders, if that is at all possible.