MySpace culls 90,000 sex offenders

by Stevie Smith - Feb 4 2009, 13:00

In a significant online clampdown by MySpace, approximately 90,000 known sex offenders have now been identified and removed from the social networking service, which is a hugely popular destination for children and teenagers.

The mass cull of sex offenders registered to the site, which has taken place over the last two years, is particularly noteworthy as it represents almost twice the estimated figure originally put forth by MySpace in 2008.

The tightening of social networking standards comes as major market players including the likes of MySpace and Facebook are being pressured by various U.S. Attorney Generals to improve the standard of their safety-based technology in an effort to better protect their younger demographic from sexual predators.

Both MySpace and Facebook have already agreed to implement improved safety features on their services, including more stringent age verification methods, adult search restrictions when looking for users below the age of 18, and also the complete blocking of convicted sex offenders.

MySpace presently relies on Sentinel SAFE database technology for the location and removal of known sex offenders from its network. The database, created in 2006, cross references the names, physical descriptions and other characteristics of registered offenders in order to identify them within the MySpace user base.

“Sentinel SAFE is the best industry solution to ensure these offenders are removed from social networks,” commented Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer for MySpace, in an official statement.

Information regarding the 90,000 sex offenders has been turned over to the office of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in a response to a subpoena. A similar subpoena dispatched to Facebook regarding its sex offender numbers has yet to receive a response.

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