Murdoch's MySpace Promises To Keep Out Sex Offenders...

[madmusic]

AP

MySpace.com claims more than 125 million users, but it is now down by nine.

The personal pages of nine local sex offenders Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers recently found on MySpace have been deleted, officials from the popular networking Web site reported Tuesday. MySpace is also looking into more than a dozen other pages found during the investigation that might be linked to local sex offenders.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/12/06/murdochs-myspace-promise_n_35675.html

How difficult would it be to, say, lie on the profile? For that matter, how many people have an honest to goodness no lie profile? Isn't it common to tweak it to prevent stalking and identity theft? Could it be an excuse to start registering email addresses?

[wilt the stilt]

1. Bill Orally

time to get off of myspace

[KamaAina]

5. Don't forget Foley

that makes two :P

[madmusic]

2. Now it makes sense...

MySpace.com is facing a new threat on Capitol Hill.

MySpace and other social-networking sites like LiveJournal.com and Facebook are the potential targets for a proposed federal law that would effectively require most schools and libraries to render those Web sites inaccessible to minors, an age group that includes some of the category's most ardent users.

A proposed federal law would effectively require schools and libraries to render social networking sites inaccessible to minors.

Law would likely affect more than just social networking sites. Blogger.com, AOL and Yahoo's instant messaging features might be included in proposal's definition.

"When children leave the home and go to school or the public library and have access to social-networking sites, we have reason to be concerned," Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, told CNET News.com in an interview.

Fitzpatrick and fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on Wednesday endorsed new legislation (click here for PDF) that would cordon off access to commercial Web sites that let users create public "Web pages or profiles" and also offer a discussion board, chat room, or e-mail service.

http://news.com.com/Congress+targets+social+network+sites/2100-1028_3-6071040.html?tag=nefd.top

[madmusic]

3. Their real goal, and their pal Murdock kindly helps out...

Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites

"I AM continually shocked and appalled at the details people voluntarily post online about themselves." So says Jon Callas, chief security officer at PGP, a Silicon Valley-based maker of encryption software. He is far from alone in noticing that fast-growing social networking websites such as MySpace and Friendster are a snoop's dream.

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals.

Americans are still reeling from last month's revelations that the NSA has been logging phone calls since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The Congressional Research Service, which advises the US legislature, says phone companies that surrendered call records may have acted illegally. However, the White House insists that the terrorist threat makes existing wire-tapping legislation out of date and is urging Congress not to investigate the NSA's action.

Meanwhile, the NSA is pursuing its plans to tap the web, since phone logs have limited scope. They can only be used to build a very basic picture of someone's contact network, a process sometimes called "connecting the dots". Clusters of people in highly connected groups become apparent, as do people with few connections who appear to be the intermediaries between such groups. The idea is to see by how many links or "degrees" separate people from, say, a member of a blacklisted organisation.

more: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19025556.200

edit typo

[madmusic]

4. "Slippery slopes: Warrantless tactics used for child molesters now applied to misdemeanors"

snip

On the Texas District and County Attorneys' public user forum, a string yesterday showed how DAs are using information from MySpace web pages not just for sex offenders, but for increasingly low-level crimes - in this case two juveniles who set fire to some clothes in the middle of a WalMart store in Plainview. In that case, Jim Tirey, a prosecutor from Plainview, wants to charge the pair with third degree felony arson, but finds the statutes only allow him to charge with a Class B misdemeanor for "criminal mischief" (which I should say, seems to me to more accurately apply to what the kids did). Both kids already confessed, he said, but it will "tick me off" if he cannot secure a felony conviction.

Leaving aside what punishment would fit this particular crime (Tirey muses he might load up the indictment with several higher, less likely charges then "drop some things off along the way"), I was especially interested to see a prosecutor from Williamson County someone named Gretchen, an assistant DA whose affiliation is not listed, suggest, "Checked their myspace accounts? If they are computer savvy I'll bet they bragged about it online."

snip

That IS quite a thought. I wonder how many investigators and cops are "monitoring" private MySpace accounts, having used this ruse to pretend to be a "friend" when they really are seeking evidence to prosecute?

Here's an example of that famous slippery slope: Tactics become commonly used to pursue a terrible crime, like child molestation, that may violate constitutioonal rights, but because the crime is so heinous it's tolerated by public opinion. In the legal world, though, what that does is set precedent for using those same tools in other, less serious crimes - in this case a Class B misdemeanor. No warrant, no judicial oversight. Nothing. And how long may this "monitoring" go on? Quien sabe? Who knows?

Tirey asks if it'd be okay if a probation officer made the surreptitious ask to be the defendant's friend, but Gretchen thought "it would be better if it was law enforcement, such as your arresting officer."

That last bit of advice tells me prosecutors understand that this would constitute an investigative function. In that case, there's a process for them to access private information of defendants: If they have a need to see this girl's MySpace account, prosecutors should go to the judge and ask for a search warrant. And if they don't have probable cause to get a warrant, they shouldn't send cops surreptitiously lurking onto young girls' private MySpace pages, or anybody else's.

The whole story: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8597101&postID=116549798641225981