EARTH TIMES — Jan 31 — Social networking sites will be able to check their lists of registered users against a federal list of sex offenders in terms of new regulation proposed by the U.S. Congress in a bid to curb the online activities of sex predators. While this provision does not make it mandatory for the websites to undertake the countercheck, the legislation introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives Tuesday requires convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail and IM addresses with law enforcement authorities. Offenders who fail to register their online identities with the registry will face up to 10 years in prison. If the offender is on supervised release from prison, the individual’s probation would be revoked. FULL ARTICLE @ EARTH TIMES

Mark Brooks: I’m not a fan of legislation in the online dating space but this seems like good news. The online dating and especially the social networking industry could/should tap into this database. One of my predictions for 2007 was that two more top ten dating sites would add optional background checks. Here’s more news on the subject…

Bill to Curb Online Sexual Predators Criticized
SF GATE — Jan 31 — Last month, MySpace teamed up with the security firm Sentinel Tech to create a database technology to remove sexual offenders from online communities. This week, it donated the technology to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. MySpace is currently beta-testing the technology, and has already removed a few known sex offenders from its site. As for the bill’s intent to stop age misrepresentation, Internet safety experts say nice try, but hardly enforceable. Parry Aftab, a cyberspace attorney and executive director of the 8-year-old WiredSafety.org, said only "the stupidest" online predators would use their registered online monikers, she said. And "while there’s a lot of stupid sexual predators, it’s easy to get around." Critics want MySpace to increase its minimum age to 16 and require that parents confirm their children’s ages. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE

EARTH TIMES — Jan 31 — Social networking sites will be able to check their lists of registered users against a federal list of sex offenders in terms of new regulation proposed by the U.S. Congress in a bid to curb the online activities of sex predators. While this provision does not make it mandatory for the websites to undertake the countercheck, the legislation introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives Tuesday requires convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail and IM addresses with law enforcement authorities. Offenders who fail to register their online identities with the registry will face up to 10 years in prison. If the offender is on supervised release from prison, the individual’s probation would be revoked. FULL ARTICLE @ EARTH TIMES

Mark Brooks: I’m not a fan of legislation in the online dating space but this seems like good news. The online dating and especially the social networking industry could/should tap into this database. One of my predictions for 2007 was that two more top ten dating sites would add optional background checks. Here’s more news on the subject…

Bill to Curb Online Sexual Predators Criticized
SF GATE — Jan 31 — Last month, MySpace teamed up with the security firm Sentinel Tech to create a database technology to remove sexual offenders from online communities. This week, it donated the technology to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. MySpace is currently beta-testing the technology, and has already removed a few known sex offenders from its site. As for the bill’s intent to stop age misrepresentation, Internet safety experts say nice try, but hardly enforceable. Parry Aftab, a cyberspace attorney and executive director of the 8-year-old WiredSafety.org, said only "the stupidest" online predators would use their registered online monikers, she said. And "while there’s a lot of stupid sexual predators, it’s easy to get around." Critics want MySpace to increase its minimum age to 16 and require that parents confirm their children’s ages. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE