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EDITORIAL: Internet Sites Must Help Protect Children

Posted on: Sunday, 2 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

Apr. 2--Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is right when he says that attentive parenting is the first line of defense against inappropriate use of the Internet by children. Parents need to know which sites their children are visiting online, and whether they have the computer skills and level of sophistication necessary to access information that is not meant for them.

But Mr. Blumenthal can't let the operators of such Internet sites as MySpace.com, the popular Internet message and posting site, off the hook, either. They need to make it more difficult for teenagers to use their sites without parental permission. But these Internet operators also ought to follow public-relations practices that seem not only relatively easy to establish but make good business sense, as well. They should be reaching out and helping, rather than hindering, attentive parents who want to keep a child off MySpace.com and other sites. If they do it right, they might gain more adult customers as a result.

One criticism we've heard is that MySpace.com and other sites do a poor job of posting basic contact information so parents can reach them with questions and concerns about their child's use of these sites. Parents say it is nearly impossible to find telephone numbers for these companies. Those who actually reach a live person on the telephone report company personnel can be unreceptive and not helpful. Assuming the parent is patient and civil -- and we realize this is not always the case -- there is no excuse for this.

MySpace.com, a division of NewsCorp., has made local news recently. Federal charges were filed earlier this month against two men who allegedly used the Web site to set up sexual encounters with underage girls in Connecticut. One girl was 11. The other was 14. In a separate incident, six girls under age 18 from our area -- five from Greenwich and one from Stamford -- were charged earlier this month with using the Internet to threaten a student they believed would testify against a friend in a marijuana case. The charges stem in part from a message posted on MySpace.com.

Mr. Blumenthal is paying attention and has made some very sensible suggestions. He wants MySpace.com to increase the minimum user age to 16 from 14 and do a better job of enforcing it. Right now, young users need only check off a box on the site to pose as a parent giving permission for a child to use a site. Among other things, the attorney general also wants MySpace.com to make adult material off limits to those under 18; prevent those seeking casual sex from contacting minors; and to hire an independent watchdog to monitor inappropriate material and on-line encounters. All are good ideas. But MySpace.com and others also need to hook up some telephone lines and allow for basic communication with parents, as well. Parents deserve a seat at this table and a voice in this discussion.

This does not supplant the need for parents to monitor how much time a child spends on the Internet at home and which sites he or she visits. But like so much parent oversight, even best efforts only go so far. All is takes is one visit to a friend's house, where a knowledgeable child can show others how to access these sites. Laptop computers are now standard in many schools, especially private ones, creating the possibility children can access these sites there. Like so many other prohibitions -- no television, no candy or no video games come to mind -- putting the Internet off limits often makes children want it that much more. Rather than shutting out parents, MySpace.com and other Internet sites ought to invite them in.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Stamford Advocate, Stamford, Conn.

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