Attorney General's News Release

January 14, 2008

Nixon says nationwide agreement between AGs, MySpace will help protect children from online predators

Jefferson City, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and Attorneys General representing 48 other states and the District of Columbia today announced that the social network MySpace has agreed to take significant steps on its Web site to protect young children and teenagers from online predators. Nixon said the safeguards are a result of nearly two years of work by the Attorneys General with MySpace and will set the standard for other online social networking sites.

“I am encouraged that MySpace has already implemented several recommendations from Attorneys General and other online safety advocates,” Nixon said. “Today we are laying out additional steps that MySpace will take, including the creation of a broad-based task force to explore and develop age and identity verification technology. It is important to remember, however, that the most effective tools in protecting children from dangers online are parents who are actively involved in monitoring and talking to their children about their online activities.”

Nixon and other Attorneys General advocate age and identity verification, calling it vital to better protect children using social networking sites from online sexual predators and inappropriate material. The states pushed MySpace for changes after sexual predators repeatedly used the site to victimize children.

Under the agreement, MySpace, with support from the Attorneys General, will create and lead an Internet Safety Technical Task Force to explore and develop age and identity verification tools for social networking Web sites. MySpace will invite other social networking sites, age and identification verification experts, child protection groups and technology companies to participate in the task force. The task force will report back to the Attorneys General every three months and issue a formal report with findings and recommendations at the end of 2008.

MySpace has also agreed to develop other specific changes and policies, including:

• Allowing parents to submit their children’s e-mail addresses, so MySpace can prevent anyone using those e-mail addresses from setting up profiles;
• Making the default setting “private” for profiles of 16- and 17-year-olds;
• Promising to respond within 72 hours to inappropriate content complaints; and
• Committing more staff and/or resources to review and classify photographs and discussion groups.

MySpace and the Attorneys General today also issued a joint statement on key principles of social networking safety. The statement recognizes that an ongoing effort by the online social networking industry is required both to keep pace with the latest technological developments and to develop additional ways to protect teens, including online identity authentication tools. Those principles fall into four categories:

• Site Design and Functionality. The principles incorporate safety initiatives that MySpace has already implemented and initiatives it will work to implement over in the coming months. Examples of safety features MySpace has in place include reviewing images and video uploaded to the site; reviewing groups; making the profiles of 14- and 15-year-old users automatically private and helping to protect them from being contacted by adults that they don’t already know in the offline world; and deleting registered sex offenders from MySpace.
• Education and Tools for Parents, Educators and Children. The principles acknowledge that MySpace has already been devoting meaningful resources to Internet safety education, including a new online safety public service announcement targeted at parents and free parental monitoring software that is under development. MySpace will explore the establishment of a children’s email registry that will empower parents to prevent their children from having access to MySpace or other any other social networking sites. In addition, MySpace will increase its communications with consumers who report or complain about inappropriate content or activity on the site.
• Law Enforcement Cooperation. The parties will continue to work together to enhance the ability of law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute Internet crimes.
• Online Safety Task Force. As part of the principles, MySpace will organize, with support of the Attorneys General, an industry-wide Internet Safety Technical Task Force to develop online safety tools, including a review of identity authentication tools.

Nixon’s work with MySpace has already resulted in his office turning over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol the names of 688 individuals whose MySpace profiles matched those of registered Missouri sex offenders. The Attorney General has asked the Patrol to examine the data to look for parole violations by offenders who may be barred from using a computer or contacting minors.

Read "Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Sites Safety"