By Liz F. Kay , Sun reporter|January 15, 2008
The online social networking site MySpace announced an agreement yesterday with 49 states, including Maryland, to protect children from Internet predators, something that experts called a good first step toward keeping young Web users safe but not a remedy to the problem.
"As the popularity of social networking sites continues to grow, the steps being taking by MySpace are essential to helping keep our young people safer online," Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, one of the attorneys general to sign the agreement, said in a statement.
The agreement outlines a range of measures aimed at protecting teenagers who use the site, at myspace.com - and keeping those under the age of 14 from creating profiles. They include:
Allowing parents to submit their children's e-mail addresses to a third-party registry to prevent those kids from using those addresses to set up profiles.
Making the default setting for profiles of 16- and 17-year-olds "private."
Barring users over age 18 from browsing the profiles of those under 18, or adding someone under 16 as a "friend" (with access to their page) unless they know the younger person's last name or e-mail address.
Agreeing to respond within three days to complaints about inappropriate content and to commit more staff to review photos and discussion groups, as well as block access to content labeled as mature.
Forming a task force to develop ways to verify the age and identity of users. Other social networking sites, as well as experts and child protection groups, would be invited to participate. A formal report would be issued by the end of the year.
Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, praised the joint agreement as a first step.
"I don't think it's a silver bullet. I don't think there's a panacea here," he said.
But the commitment by MySpace to meet regularly to discuss potential technological solutions to these concerns was promising, Allen said. "In many ways, like so many of the other challenges we've seen on the Internet, technology is going to play a key role in solving those kinds of problems," he said.
A 2006 study by researchers at the University of New Hampshire using data from the missing children's center indicated that one in seven children is sexually solicited online, and one in 33 is subjected to aggressive solicitations, Allen said.
