Safety Issues

Jerlene · 05-30-2008, 06:51 AM

There is NO verification of membership information. Because of this, and the huge popularity of the site, it is NOT uncommon for underage minors to obtain membership despite the site’s minimum age restriction of 14 years old. Given the relative social inexperience and trusting nature of young users, it can be expected that many may become the primary targets of child predators.

Members rely heavily on the use of detailed “profiles” to find and meet others with similar interests. Despite the fact that inclusion of telephone numbers, street addresses, and last names in a member’s profile are forbidden under the site’s TOS, age and city/state of residence information is AUTOMATICALLY populated into a member’s profile, based on the birthday and zip code fields required for completion of the initial membership form.

The site also provides a module designed for members to “rate” each other (from COLD to HOT!), based on their photos and other profile content. While on the surface this may appear to be a harmless exercise, such “comparisons” can be strong catalysts for “flaming,” cyberbullying and outright harassment.

Another risk is that information regarding a member’s school is encouraged to be inputted for support of the site’s “Classmate Finder” service. This database can be searched by SCHOOL NAME and STATE in order to identify all members that may attend a particular institution. From the standpoint of protecting a minor’s personal information, this can be VERY risky.

vkxxiii · 11-25-2008, 04:05 AM

I Understand were you are coming from with this jerlene.

Sadly Myspace is able to update its content to protect its users, but fail to recognize what you have posted.

I mean, myspace even has it so that when you click a link that isnt from myspace, they send you to a page warning you that your leaving myspace. If they can do that, why cant ages be verified?

Trusty45 · 12-07-2008, 08:30 PM

The thing is that there's so many users, it would take too much time to approve and verify identities. Plus keep in mind that it's a free service, and with such an approval procedure, some users would grow impatient and go elsewhere. With Facebook, and other sites growing strong, they probably don't want that.

I rarely use that site, only log on to keep in touch with some friends and have a few profiles for some of my sites that I use to keep in contact with some members.