With all of the buzz continuing about MySpace, good and bad (lots of MySpace danger stories), we finally figured that we should test out our own MySpace profile.
So, we signed up, just like any user, and created a profile. It’s at [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead].
The interesting thing about MySpace is that people of all ages use it, although in the news you primarily hear about high schoolers on MySpace. Even on our own pages, the articles have been mostly about teens and MySpace. For example the article about Teen Tony Greco trying to blackmail MySpace, about high school students being ordered to remove their blogs from MySpace, and, most recently, about some states passing laws requiring background checks for dating sites following the murder of a girl who met her murderer through MySpace.
But in reality there are all sorts of people on MySpace. Teens, sure, but also grandparents, businesspeople, single people looking for somebody to love, you name it.
Now, you can talk about the issues around “MySpace dangers” all day – people who get murdered or otherwise have terrible things done to them by people they meet on MySpace, but really, I don’t think one can lay the blame for that at MySpace’s door.
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No. The real danger of MySpace is that it’s darned addictive!
So, if you have joined the madness, drop by our MySpace profile at [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead]. We’ll be your friend if you be ours!
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
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MySpace Malicious Uses to Damage Reputations by Kevin Pina on Dec 27th, 2006 @ 10:27am
I opened a new account earlier this year but never had the time to use it. Today i received a request from someone wanting to join “my friends.” Out of curiosity I went back through my emails and retrieved the original account information and password initially forwarded to me after opening the account. Lo and behold the password worked and there before my eyes was a page containing pornographic photos and videos and material i personally would never want to be associated with. It was still under my name with my current email address.
I have been a journalist and documentary filmmaker for over 20 years and have been the target of malicious personal attacks because of my political stance in questioning US foreign policy. Anyone who saw this MySpace page in my name would have associated it with my person and reputation which I find frightening. Again, access to this page was only possible by using the original password that was sent directly from MYSpace.com.
Needless to say, I immediately deleted the account after creating a .pdf of the contents to forward to my attorney.
The interesting thing was that the first friend on the account was a photo of a man named Tom. I have since learned he is Mr. MySpace himself.
Beware of MySpace, their role and intention is less that transparent and clear to me.
Best,
Kevin Pina
Hello,
I’m just wondering whether there’s anything you can do about the layout of the pages your subcribers link to. When I open them in IE, there is a very long way to scroll down before the text of the bulletin appears.
More importantly, thanks in particular for your bulletins of the last two days – they’ve been valuable in my efforts to keep our systems up.
Regards,
Jon