MIAMI HERALD — Mar 25 — The ”Internet predator awareness and online
safety act” has been approved at the state Senate’s Commerce Committee
despite the objections of companies such as Yahoo! and Match.com. The bill would require any
Internet dating service to disclose online and by e-mail whether or not
it conducts a criminal background check. The site would have to tell a user if it allows members to have
criminal records, but it doesn’t have to say what that record is. Match.com
doesn’t conduct background searches because they’re so unreliable,
something that Republican Senator and former Alachua County Sheriff
Steve Oelrich confirmed. He said criminal background checks are iffy
things and would give ”a false sense of comfort” to users who could
think that a ”Jack the Ripper” was really a ”Jack Robertson” until
it’s too late.
