MySpace, other firms team with authorities against online predators

All we hear are misconstructions, for instance, they infer that all RSOs, when they go on MySpace, are trolling for minors, yet out of the 36,000 truthful RSOs who had accounts, only ONE was found to have contacted a minor improperly. It is true, as indicated in this article, that many of the RSOs on parole or probation are not allowed to access either the Internet or MySpace type accounts, and some have done that, but doing so is not a crime it is a mere violation of conditions of supervision. Yet the misconstructions abound in the media about MySpace and RSOs, claiming the RSOs are predators. Funny, MySpace is not a community JUST for minors it has millions of other adults on it as well.

8-15-2008 National:

After authorities heard Charles Cathey might have an account on the popular Web site MySpace, they raided the San Antonio sex offender's home, confiscated pornography and walked him outside in handcuffs last month.

Mr. Cathey, convicted in 1988 of molesting a 7-year-old girl, had violated his parole by going online. But he hadn't found any new victims through the social networking site. Instead, MySpace had found him.

Companies like MySpace, whose security chief was in Dallas this week to address the Crimes Against Children Conference, are teaming up with law enforcement agencies and nonprofit groups as part of an increasingly active network to combat online predators.

"Our members deserve a safe place within which they can freely connect and explore," chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam said at the annual conference, which ended Thursday. "Our advertisers demand the safest possible site within which to promote their brands. We simply have to make this possible."

Internet security specialists working for social Web sites are among the new allies to local police. Former prosecutors now lead dedicated security teams, human eyes review reams of uploaded material, and software looks for similarities between user accounts and entries in a sex offender database.

"The Internet has obliterated traditional jurisdictional boundaries," said Dallas police Lt. Ches Williams, who heads the crimes against children unit. "Many times it's beyond the ability of local law enforcement to deal with it."

New MySpace features

At times, MySpace has drawn harsh criticism for its security features. Houston lawyer Jason Itkin has filed eight lawsuits against the company and sex offenders, including one Dallas man. He says the Web site hasn't moved fast enough on new safeguards, especially age-verification software.

Mr. Nigam, a former attorney at the Department of Justice, joined MySpace in 2006 after a stint at Microsoft. He heads a team of dedicated security personnel that includes two former prosecutors.

Pushed by attorneys general across the country, MySpace unveiled a slew of features in January, including more privacy controls and an algorithm that searches for keywords associated with users younger than 14. The company says it's working with other companies to develop practical age-verification capabilities.

Both MySpace and Yahoo now track the origins of every image and video upload. Mr. Nigam says his staff reviews all uploads, which number almost 20 million daily. They flag potentially inappropriate material and send details to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

What began in 1998 as a hotline for the public to report tips to the center now involves the sophisticated analysis of those photos and videos. As more companies have linked up with the center, the number of tips has risen dramatically: In 2007, there were 11,422 reports of children being enticed online, up 79 percent from 2006 and more than 10 times as many as in 1999.

That increase has more to do with improvements in communication among various agencies than a rise in the crime rate, said Michelle Collins, director of the center's exploited child unit.

"There's really unprecedented cooperation in this area," she said.

Software aids arrests

The improved communication has become increasingly visible: When MySpace developed software that compares user profiles with entries in a 600,000-member national database of registered sex offenders, it discovered 29,000 matches.

With the help of the database, the Texas attorney general's office has arrested 28 men since June 2007 for using MySpace in violation of their parole terms, including Mr. Cathey and four others in July.

'Constant process'

"It's a constant process, and it's something we continue to look at on a daily basis," said David Boatright, chief of the office's criminal investigations division.

With so many agencies and companies involved, Lt. Williams said, providing enough training – which can be costly and time-consuming – remains an obstacle.

"The bad guys are constantly looking for new ways to hide their activities," he said. ..News Source.. by BRIAN WHITLEY / The Dallas Morning News