MySpace regulation a must: Students agree federal government not right for task

1-28-2008 National:


SOMERSWORTH — At least one expert and several young MySpace users are somewhat skeptical of a recent agreement between MySpace and the National Association of Attorneys General to tighten security.

David Finkelhor, director of the UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center, said there are elements of the agreement that could be "difficult to maintain."

Security measures MySpace intends to employ include: strengthening software identifying underage users; retaining a contractor to better identify and eliminate inappropriate images; obtaining and updating a list of pornographic websites, and regularly severing links between them and MySpace; implementing changes to make it harder for adults to contact children; using resources to educate children and parents about online safety; making the default setting private for 16- and 17-year-old users; allowing parents to submit children's email addresses to prevent anyone from misusing the address to set up profiles; responding within 72 hours to complaints about inappropriate content and creating a closed "high school" section for users under 18.

The agreement also creates an Internet Safety Technical Task Force to explore age and identity verification tools for social networking websites.

"The part I like is the focus on education," Finkelhor said of the agreement. "An age restriction is going to be very difficult to maintain, but there needs to be education for people and their parents about good ways to behave and realistic strategies to stay safe."

Sophomores at Somersworth High School agreed education is a large part of Internet safety, and the responsibility for children's actions online falls on parents.

Chad Letourneau said instances where young children or teens get into trouble because of their activity on MySpace is "the kid's fault and the parents' ignorance."

In a classroom of about 20 students at the high school, nearly everyone said they had a MySpace account. About the same number said their pages were set to "Private," meaning they approve who views their page. Several said they had at some point been contacted by a stranger but had denied the friend request.

"A lot of people base their friending on just your picture and a statement next to your picture," said Shane Lefebvre. "I don't friend anyone I don't know."

But simply having a MySpace site or even providing personal information doesn't put kids at risk, according to Finkelhor.

"It's having sexually inappropriate conversations," he said. "The issue of not talking to strangers is hard. The whole point of social networking sites is to meet new people, but the point is to be smart in having these conversations."

Finkelhor said he has looked at several hundred cases of Internet crimes against children, and based on the UNH research center's knowledge, the agreement with MySpace has some realistic goals.

"I like that they would respond quickly to problems and it's a good thing a task force has been created," he said, but added he would like to see "some other entities" take on this issue besides the attorneys general, such as "some private watchdog entity or something specially designed to look at child safety on the Internet."

Several students said it was disconcerting to have the government involved in the effort to tighten MySpace security. Letourneau said, "A special group would be better because they'd be more focused."

While some students agreed finding ways to tighten security is a good idea, many said it seemed like a long shot.

"It's a great idea to tighten security but it goes both ways," said Lefebvre. "It's a matter of personal security."

Mike Driscoll said, "If they have to tighten security, there should be a way for (MySpace) to process your request. It should be like a job application."

Many agreed this policy would be one way to ensure children under a certain age don't create MySpace pages. There was a consensus in the classroom that children under 13 shouldn't be allowed to have MySpace accounts, and Brian Kapinos suggested that all registered sex offenders should be banned from creating MySpace accounts.

Creating boundaries and security on the Internet is something both the students and Finkelhor agreed would be a difficult task.

"It's hard to have anything secure online," said Katherine Stewert. "It may get better but it will never change."

The problem with controlling the Internet, Finkelhor said, is the Internet itself.

"The limitation is technology," Finkelhor said. "The Internet environment changes so fast. We need an ongoing dialogue with some regulatory entity, and I think we can make some headway. Our sense is that there is some awareness of safety that has caught on."

As for the students, Meg O'Brien said while it may be difficult to control what happens on the Internet, exercising personal safety on a networking site "is a common sense thing." ..more.. by JENNIFER KEEFE jkeefe@fosters.com