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Parental Consent Program Sought for MySpace

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 February 2007, 06:00 CST

By Mark Johnson

RALEIGH -- Attorney General Roy Cooper wants to require MySpace.com to install parental consent programming so that children and teens younger than 18 in North Carolina can't use the popular Web site without mom or dad's approval.

Cooper included the proposal among a package of legislative changes he is asking the General Assembly to make aimed at thwarting child predators.

MySpace is a social networking site, a popular online hangout for teens, where they communicate through messaging tools, photos and personal Web pages. Law enforcement and school leaders across the country have warned about sexual predators using the site to lure victims.

Cooper and attorneys general representing 42 states are currently negotiating with MySpace.com in hopes the Web site will install a permission slip-type system on its own.

"They've been hesitant to do that," Cooper said.

If MySpace doesn't act, the states can pass legislation or take the issue to the courts, he said.

"All of our options are on the table," he said.

MySpace's chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam, applauded Cooper's goal, but not his proposal.

"MySpace supports efforts by lawmakers to introduce legislation designed to protect teens online," Nigam wrote in a Monday e-mail response, "and therefore applauds Attorney General Cooper's intentions."

He suggested other legislation, such as requiring convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and screen names, and punishing users who change their age to solicit a minor online for sexual purposes. Cooper's office said such legislation is pending in Congress and the General Assembly.

Parental consent programming would require users to submit identifying information and would check that against public records to verify a birth date.

Sen. Walter Dalton, a Rutherford Democrat and co-chair of the powerful appropriations committee, said the legislation has a good chance of passage.

"Everybody wants to do something about predators," said Dalton, who joined Cooper at the announcement. "There are going to be a lot of questions about how you enforce it, the parental consent, a lot of talk about what technology can do."

Parry Aftab, executive director of wiredsafety.org, expressed skepticism, saying children long ago figured out how to lie about their age on Web sites that don't require payment information.

"There is no way with a free site to authenticate the age of their users," said Aftab, an Internet privacy and security lawyer whose organization advocates and educates about online safety for children.

Cooper acknowledged that youths will still lie about their age, just as they secure fake IDs to buy beer, but said his proposal would provide some protection just as alcohol laws prevent many illegal purchases.

MySpace has been working on a program that would allow parents to see the basic identifying information that their child includes in his or her profile -- name, age, location, according to Cooper. They could see if their 14-year-old listed her age as 18, but not more extensive profile information or messages to friends. Any social Web site has to worry about scaring off users to competing social Web sites.

MySpace bans users younger than 14. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds can share their full profile, with information such as hobbies and pets, only with users that they list as friends.

Targeting Child Predators

Cooper said the link between child pornography and predators is clear and proposed several other legislative changes targeting child predators, including:

--Amending state law to include indecent child exposure, as federal law does.

--Enhancing the penalty for a child predator who solicits a minor over the Internet and shows up to meet him or her.

--Requiring stores that process film to report child pornography, a proposal also included in a House study committee report in December.

Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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