Magna Carta News
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Legislation to Target MySpace Predators Passes House
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Sasha Bradley, House Media
Capitol: (405) 557-7422
Contact: State Rep. Paul Wesselhoft
Capitol: (405) 557-7343
Moore: (405) 517-7148
Legislation to Target MySpace Predators Passes House
OKLAHOMA CITY - Sexual predators are targeting Oklahoma's innocent
children through harmless entertainment outlets, such as the web.
What may seem like a safe and innocent way for children to communicate
with friends and relatives via Internet is also a way for sex offenders
to prey on the young and innocent, state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft warned
House members today - and that's why he wants to make it difficult for
sex offenders to have 'MySpace' accounts.
House Bill 1714, by Wesselhoft, allows the court to prohibit sex
offenders from accessing certain communication web sites and allows the
court to require sex offenders to list any current email addresses they
are using.
MySpace, the leading social networking and lifestyle portal, allows
individuals worldwide to create their own personal webpage giving
visitors a personal profile containing a wide range of information,
including pictures, interests, relationship status, occupation,
hometown, education background, body type and even sexual orientation.
"It's scary but true: Your child may be communicating with molesters and
rapists right under your nose," said Wesselhoft, R-Moore. "Online social
networking sites such as MySpace provide an open invitation for child
predators to communicate with children, giving these predators pictures
to look at, the physical location of the child, and the child's favorite
interests."
According to a report done by KWTV News Channel 9, there are over 40
registered sex offenders living in Oklahoma and Cleveland counties who
matched up with MySpace account users based on name, age and location.
Currently, MySpace has around 80 million worldwide visitors daily. A
report by ComScore Media Metrix, an audience measurement research
service, showed that 85 percent of MySpace account users are older than
18. Based on MySpace's account numbers and ComScore's percentage, there
are around 12 million account holders who are minors.
Wesselhoft said those 12 million children are easy prey for sexual
predators with MySpace accounts.
House Bill 1714 passed the full House today on a 99-0 vote.
"Something needs to be done to protect our children from these sick
individuals. I am glad my fellow House members agree," said Wesselhoft.
"Hopefully, this law will help protect our children from these sick
individuals."
MySpace.com recently announced that they would be teaming up with
Sentinel Tech Holding Corp., the leading online identity and
background-verification company, in a joint effort to build Sentinel
Safe, a technology that will allow the company to block convicted sex
offenders from accessing the popular website. Through this landmark
partnership, MySpace said they will be able to search existing state and
federal databases to identify and delete the profiles of registered sex
offenders.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Sasha Bradley, House Media
Capitol: (405) 557-7422
Contact: State Rep. Paul Wesselhoft
Capitol: (405) 557-7343
Moore: (405) 517-7148
Legislation to Target MySpace Predators Passes House
OKLAHOMA CITY - Sexual predators are targeting Oklahoma's innocent
children through harmless entertainment outlets, such as the web.
What may seem like a safe and innocent way for children to communicate
with friends and relatives via Internet is also a way for sex offenders
to prey on the young and innocent, state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft warned
House members today - and that's why he wants to make it difficult for
sex offenders to have 'MySpace' accounts.
House Bill 1714, by Wesselhoft, allows the court to prohibit sex
offenders from accessing certain communication web sites and allows the
court to require sex offenders to list any current email addresses they
are using.
MySpace, the leading social networking and lifestyle portal, allows
individuals worldwide to create their own personal webpage giving
visitors a personal profile containing a wide range of information,
including pictures, interests, relationship status, occupation,
hometown, education background, body type and even sexual orientation.
"It's scary but true: Your child may be communicating with molesters and
rapists right under your nose," said Wesselhoft, R-Moore. "Online social
networking sites such as MySpace provide an open invitation for child
predators to communicate with children, giving these predators pictures
to look at, the physical location of the child, and the child's favorite
interests."
According to a report done by KWTV News Channel 9, there are over 40
registered sex offenders living in Oklahoma and Cleveland counties who
matched up with MySpace account users based on name, age and location.
Currently, MySpace has around 80 million worldwide visitors daily. A
report by ComScore Media Metrix, an audience measurement research
service, showed that 85 percent of MySpace account users are older than
18. Based on MySpace's account numbers and ComScore's percentage, there
are around 12 million account holders who are minors.
Wesselhoft said those 12 million children are easy prey for sexual
predators with MySpace accounts.
House Bill 1714 passed the full House today on a 99-0 vote.
"Something needs to be done to protect our children from these sick
individuals. I am glad my fellow House members agree," said Wesselhoft.
"Hopefully, this law will help protect our children from these sick
individuals."
MySpace.com recently announced that they would be teaming up with
Sentinel Tech Holding Corp., the leading online identity and
background-verification company, in a joint effort to build Sentinel
Safe, a technology that will allow the company to block convicted sex
offenders from accessing the popular website. Through this landmark
partnership, MySpace said they will be able to search existing state and
federal databases to identify and delete the profiles of registered sex
offenders.
-30-
