CYBERSPACE – Following the announcement of a lawsuit filed in Texas asserting that popular social-networking site MySpace lacks “meaningful protections or security measures to protect underage users,” MySpace announced it will implement new policies designed to restrict adult access to the information users under the age of 16 publish in their profiles.Critics of MySpace and online safety experts are already questioning the effectiveness of the site’s yet-to-be-enabled security measures, however, pointing out that the new rules lack any manner of age-verification.
According to information released by MySpace, the new security measures would mean that users who are 18 or older could no longer ask to be placed on a 14 or 15-year-old’s “friends list,” unless the older user already knows either the email address or full name of the younger user, closing access to the personal information in the younger users’ profiles.
“They’re going to lie about their ages,” said Monique Nelson, executive vice president of Web Wise Kids, according to the Associated Press. “There’s no way to check age verification. In that respect, I don’t think that’s going to be very effective.”
Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Attorney General, termed the MySpace changes “baby steps, when giant strides are needed.”
“These steps are inadequate because they lack any age verification and leave the minimum age too low,” said Blumenthal. “They fail to raise the age threshold to 16 and take steps to verify age, as I and other attorneys general have repeatedly urged. They are a mirage of protection.”
The specific form or method of age verification Blumenthal and other attorneys general have endorsed, if any, was not specified in the AP reports.
In a written statement, MySpace security director Hemanshu Nigam said the site is committed to increasing online safety and “remains dedicated to a multi-pronged approach that also involves education and collaboration with law enforcement, teachers, parents and members.”
Nelson called the recent alleged sexual assault that gave rise to the lawsuit in Texas a “wake up call for parents.”
“[Parents] can’t just sit back and let the computer be their child’s baby sitter,” said Nelson. “It’s the same thing as just taking a child and dumping them in the middle of the mall when they’re very, very young and saying ‘Bye bye now, I’ll see you later.’”
