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Sex offenders still lurking on MySpace

Marketplace Staff May 15, 2007
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Sex offenders still lurking on MySpace

Marketplace Staff May 15, 2007
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TEXT OF STORY

SCOTT JAGOW: MySpace is under pressure, again, to get tough on how some people are using the website. Law enforcement officials in eight states accuse MySpace of letting thousands of sex offenders have their own pages. More now from Pat Loeb.


PAT LOEB: Sexual predators stalking teenagers through their MySpace pages has long been an issue with the website, but that hasn’t dampened its popularity or slowed its growth. The site claims 100 million users.

In December, though, MySpace did announce that it was making a greater effort to police the site. It hired a security company to create a sex offender database that it could match up with its user list.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says he and colleagues in seven states have received information from an anonymous source, that the database shows thousands of sex offenders with MySpace pages.

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: MySpace right now is more than a place for friends to meet. It’s a playground for predators seeking to prey on children.

MySpace released a statement saying it launched software this month to remove sex offenders from the site.

In Los Angeles, I’m Pat Loeb for Marketplace.

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