HNT — Mar 6 — The Senate budget committee Monday advanced a proposal to require online dating services to tell customers whether criminal background screenings are done of members using the site to look for dates. The bill now heads to the Senate floor, over the objections of a group of online companies whose lobbyists said the proposal won't prevent child predators and could soothe people into thinking they're safer online than they are. Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a coalition of e-commerce companies and tradegroups, such as America Online, eBay, Oracle, Orbitz and Yahoo, said more than a dozen states have considered but not passed such laws. DelBianco said the bill is designed to favor True.com. "Personally, I think you have to be crazy to date on the Internet," said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.
Mark Brooks: Your comments please…
That isn’t the only proposed law.
http://www.wpxi.com/family/11194672/detail.html
I think the gov. can spend their time talking about things of greater importance. There is war going on … our healthcare system is shot … and our deficit is obscene. … Plus.. if you meet someone out on the town …. are they going to do background checks on every single person that you meet? Where do you draw the line?
As I written in post on my blog this is an all around bad idea as it does nothing to protect users. What we need is a government subsidized database, or an online passport system regulated by the government.
“The government that governs least governs best”-Thomas Jefferson. Almost without exception anything the government can do people can do better. I think the online industry is a small and responsible group of entrepreneurs, that have self regulating market forces punish and reward those who do not look out for the best interest of their clients. Why does the government feel the need to get involved in such issues trying to police every aspect of business and politics? Next thing you know it they will try to invade a small banana boat dictatorship in the Middle East that will cost 500 billion dollars.
I remain mystified at the language of the bill, far too broad to be useful in it’s current definition. Why not pass stronger legislation against predators instead of this band-aid measure? True.com success has nothing to do the law being passed or not. They have clearly moved away from pushing the safe dating to focusing on revenue generation from online advertising.
Excellent points Dave, no question True has changed tremendously. By the looks of it, they have a solid model figured out and don’t need the legislation. Ironically they were the one’s insisting to stick the disclosure clause on the homepage because they said nobody read their TOS agreeement. Now they offer Free trials and disclose the charges in the TOS. It must be working well based on their affiliate commission payouts too. I remember debating this “home page vs. TOS concept” with Dan Vest and others on this blog – it was a long thread that got pretty heated. I wonder what their position would be on that now. If this them still pushing it forward – I would be extremely surprised. They have a model that seems to be working very well, why mess with it and open Pandora’s box.
>>>>>>”Personally, I think you have to be crazy to date on the Internet,” said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.<<<<<<<<<<< Isn't she just totally in touch with America? 40 million plus people visiting online personals sites a month must all be crazy, right? Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and look at this logically: 1) 40 million or so has been the estimated number of monthly visitors to online personals sites (does anyone have any new estimates?) 2)Let's use a state with a much smaller number of people in its universe, say California our most populated state. California has about 33 million people. So to put this in perspective there are more people going to dating sites then the entire population of California. 3) Now let's look at crime. In 2005 alone, California reported 2,503 murders, 9,392 forcible rapes and 114,661 aggravated assaults. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/cacrime.htm
4) How many reported murders, rapes and assaults have been directly attributed to online personals sites?
Think about it, is it crazier to date online or to live in California? Are all these people going to disappear if they can’t use an online personal site or will they just go somewhere else? Maybe the Senator should start some legislation that anyone driving into New Jersey needs to stop and sign a release about all the crimes committed in the state before you enter. And yes what they propose is that ludicrous. I wish these guys would focus on real issues instead of trying to fix things that simply aren’t broke.
Bill and all…
Indeed. This was the statement that struck me most in this post…
“Personally, I think you have to be crazy to date on the Internet,” said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.”
Who, in their right mind would make such a statement?
On our website, http://www.ChristianSinglesDating.com, our success stories time and again praise God for helping them find their mate who they would never have found in their small town. Small towns, small town churches, simply don’t have the needed singles population.
But they can go to a clean, safe, wholesome environment online and search among thousands of Christians to find someone who shares like interests, and strike up a confidential conversation in online mails or in chat.
It’s much safer than a local bar or even supermarket!
Speaking of which, will legislation be passed that require local bars to print on their storefront windows whether their customers have had a background check or not? It seems to be that when the news reports a shooting or killing, it seems to be bar-related a large percentage of the time.
What about legislation or something to protect innocent children from being killed by drive-by shooters? or run over by drunks? or molested by strangers, teachers or relatives?
Goodness! Adults should be adult enough to use common sense when meeting anyone, whether it be in church, in a bar or online! We recommend when getting serious to ask for the pastor’s and church name and number, and a relative. And call those people and ask about the person. If they’re a scammer or a cheat, you’ll never hear from them again! We tell them to meet in a public place, and bring along a friend! Don’t tell them where you live or meet at your home. And if they ask for money or hint about it for any reason, run!
People who confess they’ve fallen for these traps always admit that they saw the warning signs but refused to use their own common sense.
Let’s spend time passing laws and legislation to protect REAL victims! Don’t make victims out of stupid adults that refuse to use the common sense given to them!
Nannette
Another thought, most online dating sites don’t cater to just the United States. They also cater to Canada, Australia and other countries. Our site has 66% of our members in the U.S., but 33% are from other countries.
How is U.S. legislation going to apply to those members from other countries? How can you do a background check on them?
Nannette