MySpace is in the process of releasing the names of all convicted sex offenders in Texas who have set up online member profiles, in compliance with a May 21 order from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
The social networking site has agreed to turn over the first and last names of users who are registered sex offenders, as well as their e-mail addresses, IP addresses and profile information.
MySpace has partnered with Sentinel Tech Holding Corp., an online identity and background verification company, to create a software program to locate sex offenders with networking profiles and delete them. The program, called Sentinel Safe, aggregates information from state and federal sex offender databases into one searchable format. About 7,000 profiles have been removed from the Web site so far.
The Texas attorney general will use the information to catch predators who may be breaching terms of parole or probation.
"Sex offenders, in certain situations, have restrictions in their interactions with children or computers," said Jerry Strickland, spokesman for the attorney general.
Strickland also acknowledged that MySpace users can easily make up profiles under false names and e-mail addresses.
"Simply getting this information from MySpace should not be seen as a fail-safe to prevent sexual assault on children," he said. "It is simply a tool to help us catch sexual predators."
According to Strickland, the Texas Cyber Crimes Unit has arrested 93 men who have solicited sex from children through the Internet since May 2003. Their conviction rate has been 100 percent, he said.
MySpace would not comment further on the logistics of attributing a name in their registry to an actual profile, citing security reasons and the risk that people may get around their system.
The company is currently dealing with courts in Pennsylvania to determine if they are allowed to release other information, such as the contents of e-mails and messages, which may breach terms of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Pennsylvania's Attorney General has recently requested the content of e-mail messages of specific registered sex offenders identified by Sentinel Safe.
"We are working closely with attorney generals across the country to deliver requested information about registered sex offenders such as name, registration information and other intelligence," said Michael Angus, general counsel for MySpace in a written statement. "We're very pleased with how this process is working, but our desire to provide certain information, such as the content of e-mail messages, is proving complicated under applicable law."
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