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MySpace Agrees to New Safeguards for Kids

By FindLaw Staff

The social networking website MySpace has reached an agreement with the attorneys general of 49 states, on a number of measures that will protect young MySpace users and keep sexual predators from using the site. The New York Times reports that, under the agreement, "MySpace will classify as private all profiles of users under the age of 18, strengthen its response to complaints of inappropriate content on the site; and organize a task force of Internet businesses, nonprofit organizations and technology companies to review and develop online safety tools." The agreement is part of a nationwide push to protect young users of social networking sites. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum cites statistics showing that 77 million children use the internet every day, and one of every seven kids between 10 and 17 years of age will be sexually solicited online. According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, at the urging of a number of states, MySpace removed 29,000 registered sex offenders from its site last spring.

• N.Y. Times: MySpace Agrees to Youth Protections
• Florida AG Press Release on MySpace Agreement
• Pennsylvania AG Press Release on MySpace Agreement
• A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety (FBI)
• The Internet and the Law (FindLaw)

Full post as published by FindLaw's Common Law on January 15, 2008 (boomark / email).