90,000 MySpace Sex Offenders Headed for Facebook? Does it Matter?

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How To Be Safe Online (CBS News)

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MySpace made headlines yesterday when it expelled 90,000 registered sex offenders from its service in a PR move designed to make the social networking site look safer.  It is not the first time MySpace has purged its member list of people with the names of known sex offenders.  In 2007 MySpace rid itself of 27,000 registered sex offenders in a similar mass ejection.

But how safe are social networking sites like MySpace and competitor Facebook?  By their very nature these sites encourage members to socialize and interact with others in the cocoon of cyberspace.  My own 10 year old begs me daily to let her lie about her age to sign up; a request that always gets a stern stare and a firm "no way!" in reply.

This simple work around the rules as masterminded by my 10 year old got me thinking... if she can think to lie about her age couldn't a sex offender think to lie about their name?  I mean this idea isn't exactly ground breaking since news stories abound of adult cyberstalkers who lure kids to offline meetings under the guise that they too are a kid.

So while as a parent I greatly appreciate the effort made by MySpace to clean up its popular corner of the web I can't help but wonder just how much good it will do.  Will it force sex offenders under ground?  Will it make those who were honest (or stupid) enough to use their real names the first time around think to sign up again using an alias? 

Will my daughter really be any safer when she hits 13 and can sign up for these sites? By expelling sex offenders and forcing them to find a new and more clandestine way to reach their cyber hunting grounds is MySpace giving people a false sense of security? 

Is there a way to allow registered sex offenders to stay on these social networking sites, as I'm sure some of them genuinely have memberships to stay in touch with friends and family, but more closely monitor and/or restrict their behavior?

If you have a registered sex offender on a social networking site and they are playing by the rules enough to use their own names are they really a threat?  Aren't the more likely threats those registered sex offenders or predators without prior convictions, who hide in the shadows posting false profiles under assumed names?

John Cardillo, a security consultant for MySpace, warned that his client's sex offender purge could put Facebook users at risk.  Cardillo even went to the trouble to search the US Sex Offender Registry and cross reference names from that list with the Facebook membership identifying more than 8,000 "threats."  While I applaud Mr. Cardillo's efforts I can't help but see the whole thing as an exercise in futility. 

If a sex offender wants to use a social networking site to prey upon innocents a cross referencing with the Sex Offender Registry isn't going to do a thing.  The better fix would be to let the sex offenders stay, limit their interactions with the community, and keep a dynamic record of the IP address associated with their profile to ensure that they do not have any fake accounts as well.

I think that social networking is here to stay and that it is a natural evolution of the Internet, one which we should all embrace.  So although I will not let my child join MySpace or Facebook today, I will let her sign up when the rules permit.  And I won't rely on a membership purge every two years to keep her safe, I'll do that myself by staying aware of what she is doing online.  Afterall, taking steps to ensure my child's safety in cyberspace is really my responsibility.