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News & ArtsWednesday, February 4, 2009
News Stupid Sex Offenders Booted From MySpace
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 9:10 AM
NYT:
MySpace provided two state attorneys general the names of 90,000 registered sex offenders it had banned from its site in response to a subpoena.The figure is 40,000 more than the amount previously acknowledged by MySpace, according to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who along with Attorney General Roy Cooper of North Carolina are among officials pressing social networking sites to adopt more stringent safety measures.
“Almost 100,000 convicted sex offenders mixing with children on MySpace—shown by our subpoena—is absolutely appalling and totally unacceptable,” Mr. Blumenthal said in a statement. “For every one of them, there may be hundreds of others using false names and ages.”
So MySpace only booted the 90K sex offenders who were stupid enough to use their own actual, real, given, registered-sex-offender names. Sex offenders crafty enough to register under fakes names are still trawling MySpace, presumably.
5
@1: No, you need to worry about the smart ones. They're actually more likely to trick and lure anyone.
6
Mom: "Lucy, if a random internet man friend requests you and asks you to meet him at his trailer park, say no, okay?"
Lucy: "Duh, mom. You're so stupid."
Sex offender: "I just got caught jacking off in a parking lot once, I don't want to message your dumb kids. Now that I can't chat up girls on MySpace, I guess I'll havr to hang out in the park and sex offend some more."
Lucy: "Duh, mom. You're so stupid."
Sex offender: "I just got caught jacking off in a parking lot once, I don't want to message your dumb kids. Now that I can't chat up girls on MySpace, I guess I'll havr to hang out in the park and sex offend some more."
8
My first thought was, maybe these guys just want to use myspace for, you know, connecting with their friends and the things that normal people use myspace for. I don't have a problem with kicking them off the site, but, we don't need to get all histrionic about how there are 90,000 (or even more!) sex predators on myspace luring our children to their doom...
9
Jesus fucking christ. How many sex offenders are there out there anyway?
That number seems astronomically high. So I Googled it. There are over 600,000 registered sex offenders in the US (as of last Sept). WTF?! Are they registering jay walkers as sex offenders now or what?
This seems to be getting out of hand. If they start registering relatively trivial crimes as sex offenders, and a significant percentage of the population ends up being registered sex offenders, then the whole thing will become meaningless.
That number seems astronomically high. So I Googled it. There are over 600,000 registered sex offenders in the US (as of last Sept). WTF?! Are they registering jay walkers as sex offenders now or what?
This seems to be getting out of hand. If they start registering relatively trivial crimes as sex offenders, and a significant percentage of the population ends up being registered sex offenders, then the whole thing will become meaningless.
10
Better than nothing..
Long time ago, I used to work for a huge company taking calls of members who had posted something wrong and their account was denied forever. Now that there is no link between user&serviceprovider you can be anyone you want to be. I'm not saying that's the solution cause there were several family members involved in the illegal postings plus you would subscribe to different pages not only the ones that provide to you a service.
Is there any way to recognize anyone through a free method? ID controlling will have a cost, if it is a free service who will finance it? Is there any way to have only one ID for all the pages? No.
I say we must show who we are, change the way you can activate an account. If you want to subscribe to myspace, facebook, etc you must demostrate who you are.
I bet myspace is making huge tons of cash with their advertisements to afford this, but at the end of the line identities can be used by anyone who have access to that information.
Worldwide? impossible.
Lets not have any kids..I'm out of options..
Long time ago, I used to work for a huge company taking calls of members who had posted something wrong and their account was denied forever. Now that there is no link between user&serviceprovider you can be anyone you want to be. I'm not saying that's the solution cause there were several family members involved in the illegal postings plus you would subscribe to different pages not only the ones that provide to you a service.
Is there any way to recognize anyone through a free method? ID controlling will have a cost, if it is a free service who will finance it? Is there any way to have only one ID for all the pages? No.
I say we must show who we are, change the way you can activate an account. If you want to subscribe to myspace, facebook, etc you must demostrate who you are.
I bet myspace is making huge tons of cash with their advertisements to afford this, but at the end of the line identities can be used by anyone who have access to that information.
Worldwide? impossible.
Lets not have any kids..I'm out of options..
12
Breaking news: "Sex offenders" use the Internet!
They already have and it already is.
Sex offender isn't the same thing as pedophile. There isn't 90,000 sex offenders on MySpace trying to rape your poor defenseless children.
If they start registering relatively trivial crimes as sex offenders, and a significant percentage of the population ends up being registered sex offenders, then the whole thing will become meaningless.
They already have and it already is.
Sex offender isn't the same thing as pedophile. There isn't 90,000 sex offenders on MySpace trying to rape your poor defenseless children.
13
Thousands of registered sex offenders have MySpace accounts, where they could be grooming your children!
Thousands of registered sex offenders have access to the internet where they could be going after your children!
Thousands of registered sex offenders have telephones, where they could be calling your children!
Thousands of registered sex offenders have cars, which they could be using to drive to your children's school!
Thousands of registered sex offenders live in Seattle, where they could be going after your children!
Thousands of registered sex offenders have access to the internet where they could be going after your children!
Thousands of registered sex offenders have telephones, where they could be calling your children!
Thousands of registered sex offenders have cars, which they could be using to drive to your children's school!
Thousands of registered sex offenders live in Seattle, where they could be going after your children!
14
Media coverage like this is how people like my stepmother come to believe that MySpace is actually just a site for sex offenders.
15
Courts hand out mandatory-notification sex offense convictions like candy? 600,000 out of 300,000,000 (.2%) sounds unreasonably high? Who the fuck are you people? Oh, right- sex offenders. Carry on.
16
Does Myspace have a database that somehow differentiates between people who share similar names? How does Myspace know that the names they turned over were those of actual sex offenders? Sounds like the "No-fly list to me.
I just don't see people listing pedophilia, rape, and etc. under interests and hobbies.
I just don't see people listing pedophilia, rape, and etc. under interests and hobbies.
19
Big Sven @15,
I question whether the sex offender designation is being applied too broadly, and you accuse me of being a sex offender. Nice.
But thanks for making my point. This is exactly the kind of blind, baseless hysteria that concerns me.
I question whether the sex offender designation is being applied too broadly, and you accuse me of being a sex offender. Nice.
But thanks for making my point. This is exactly the kind of blind, baseless hysteria that concerns me.
21
The simple and only solution is to shut down all the social networking sites. The end. Problem solved.
22
My 18 year old niece left her cell phone number on a cousin's myspace page. It wasn't set to private, so anyone could see it. My niece's page has WAY too many pictures of her and her friends partying, drinking, etc. She has alot of sex references, also. My other 18 year old niece does, too - and has provacative photos - like their favorite rap star will see them and want them . . . and they don't think that the nasty roadie or the ugliest, nastiest person you could ever think of is spanking off to it. What the hell are they thinking? She was actually really upset that I was "checking up on her" by viewing her myspace page. Like she expects nobody else will see it. I told her that she can't reveal all this intimate stuff about her life thinking someone will like her because of it and then be shocked and upset that family sees it, too, this side of her nobody knew about. The language they use with each other is shocking - and shows what total idiots they are. They have NO IDEA what's out there. That doesn't mean to be afraid - but it should mean being cautious - just like being in a dark parking garage alone.
Yeah, and I'd bet Grandma wouldn't be too happy about seeing those pages, either - would probably not pay her car payment, insurance, cell phone bill, either.
Yeah, and I'd bet Grandma wouldn't be too happy about seeing those pages, either - would probably not pay her car payment, insurance, cell phone bill, either.
23
also note that people can be required to register as sex offenders for doing things like having sex with a 15 year old when they were 16. Or for being accused within a school setting-often no conviction is necessary, but an adult falsely accused often ends up pleading, because the results at trial are so poor.
And wasn't there just a whole nice study done that showed that kids on the internets weren't being sexually solicited? So all of these horrible offenders are hanging out in chat rooms where the kids don't feel threatened and dont report feeling like they were being picked up.
Way to go mySpace-a site I now have yet another reason to avoid.
And wasn't there just a whole nice study done that showed that kids on the internets weren't being sexually solicited? So all of these horrible offenders are hanging out in chat rooms where the kids don't feel threatened and dont report feeling like they were being picked up.
Way to go mySpace-a site I now have yet another reason to avoid.
24
wtf? How many "sex offenders" are there in the entire US? I didn't even know there were 90k. What do you have to do to get sex offender status, anyhow? stare too long at someone under 18? Is the threshold too low, or are there really that many people out there who are bonafide rapists?
25
I see I should have read the comments first, as Reverse Polarity said pretty much the same thing with less laziness.
28
Reverse@19:
Tell you what. I gave just as much evidence that you and the "shocked" crowd were sex offenders as YOU gave that "the sex offender designation is being applied too broadly." Which is to say- none.
Given that somewhere between 25-50% of girls are sexually assaulted before the age of 18, and a lower but still formidable number of boys, .2% of Americans being "registered" offenders seems, if anything, low.
Too many dope smokers in prison? Sure. Too many sex offenders? Please provide evidence.
Tell you what. I gave just as much evidence that you and the "shocked" crowd were sex offenders as YOU gave that "the sex offender designation is being applied too broadly." Which is to say- none.
Given that somewhere between 25-50% of girls are sexually assaulted before the age of 18, and a lower but still formidable number of boys, .2% of Americans being "registered" offenders seems, if anything, low.
Too many dope smokers in prison? Sure. Too many sex offenders? Please provide evidence.
29
50% of girls sexually assaulted before 18? I'm an alarmist myself, and even that number seems high. Source please.
30
You can be forced to register for life as a sex offender for crimes as small as peeing in an alley. Really Myspace is the least of these people's worries. They are often forced to live away from any parks, schools and daycares. These are often productive members of society with familes that have but no choice but to live in limited areas that are full of other sex offenders that have actually committed real sex crimes. These people are branded for life...the registery doesn't give info like "arrested for public exposure" or "sixteen year old performed oral sex on his fifteen year old girlfriend once at her request" or "raped three five year olds". It's a travesty of justice.
31
To those who know a sex offender whom isn't a bad person please raise your hand! (Raises both hands; because I know one and am one)
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