The online networking site MySpace has identified and barred some 90,000 registered sex offenders from using the site over the last two years, MySpace revealed to an investigative task force on Tuesday.
The “shocking” number was 40,000 more than MySpace had previously acknowledged, according to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a co-chairman of the task force of state attorneys general looking into sex offenders’ use of social networking.
MySpace, owned by News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media digital division, disclosed the figures to the task force in response to a subpoena.
“This shocking revelation, resulting from our subpoena, provides compelling proof that social networking sites remain rife with sexual predators,” Blumenthal said in a statement.
But Terri Burke, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said requiring students to wear the GPS bracelets full-time raises privacy concerns.
“We’re all for keeping kids in school, and we applaud any efforts to make that happen,” Burke said. “But the privacy issue: What happens with the bracelet or anklet after school is out? Is that appropriate for the school or courts to know where and what this person is doing outside of school?”
Asked why the students have to wear the ankle bracelet all the time instead of just the school day, Penn cited problems with runaways.
“Sometimes, as I said, students are runaways. Parents don’t know where they are,” Penn said. “So it’s for the safety of the child, as well as the safety of the community.”
Burke said truant students and runaway kids are different issues.
I’m not sure why it’s a hot trend today, but criminal searches (and criminalsearches.com and www.criminalsearches.com) is among the top ten on Google’s hot trends in three positions today. Perhaps it has something to do with Radovan Karadzic? Dunno. But anyway, you can look to see whether there are any registered sex offenders in your neighborhood (and presumably also those convicted of traffic violations, etc.). Given how accurate the terror watch list is, criminal searches should be just GREAT for building trust in local communities. No doubt there are lots of things that aren’t in the system, which should increase community paranoia. Also, a few false positives will definitely go a long way towards making communities feel safer, I’m sure.
Here are a couple of articles on the topics of privacy, datamining, and perhaps attempting to control what information is available about yourself online.
Web networking photos come back to bite defendants
An article about how photos posted online can crop up as evidence in criminal trials and influence the verdict and sentencing, particularly in DUI cases in this article.
Privacy and the red pill
This one talks about what a researcher can learn about someone in about 5 minutes through online searches. Just a few more examples for the increasing files I’m building up in these tag categories…
Posted by wecanchangetheworld 
Posted by wecanchangetheworld 
Posted by wecanchangetheworld 