MySpace Rules Don't Reduce Need for Parental Control ; Children Still Need Protection From Predators

<title>MySpace Rules Don't Reduce Need for Parental Control ; Children Still Need Protection From Predators</title>
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<br>MySpace Rules Don't Reduce Need for Parental Control ; Children Still Need Protection From Predators
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        <h4>MySpace Rules Don't Reduce Need for Parental Control ; Children Still Need Protection From Predators</h4>
        <p><i>Jan 16, 12:15 PM</i></p>
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        By -- <P> MySpace, the Web site that rocketed online social-networking to new heights, should be praised for instituting measures to protect children from sexual crimes and bullying. <P> The site, which allows users to create their own home pages and to interact with others who have the same interests, has become a law-enforcement target because of its use by sexual predators to find underage partners. <P> The self-imposed rules create a special high-school MySpace for users under age 18. They also set up systems that allow parents to protest inappropriate content or to register their children's e- mail addresses so they cannot be used to set up false identities, which could be used for harassment. <P> While the rules are good, no restrictions on the MySpace end of the social-networking transaction will fully protect kids. That responsibility still lies with the people at home who make and enforce the rules for computer use. <P> Those protections are necessary. In the free-wheeling virtual world of the Internet, kids try out new personas and will type out statements they would never say in public. Predators know this and try to push their targets to see how far they will go. <P> A good policy for families is to keep the computer in a public place in the house,  making it more difficult for users to get carried away. It also makes sense for parents to pay attention to whom their teen keeps in touch with. <P> Investigators in Maine posing as 13-year-old girls have connected with adult men looking for sex. The fact that police were able to find these men indicates that it's likely that there are others out there who don't expect to get caught. <P> Age restrictions and tracking by MySpace administrators will make life more difficult for those predators, but it will not stop them. <P> Concerned adults at home are still the best protection for at- risk teens. <P> (c) 2008 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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MySpace Rules Don't Reduce Need for Parental Control ; Children Still Need Protection From Predators<br>
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