What?Jul 25th, 2007 - 15:59:32

Sex offenders cannot have a web page but a murder can? Talk about discrimination... What's next, parking ticket offenders?

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Paul BenjouJul 25th, 2007 - 16:03:47

Friday, June 09, 2006, AdBlog www.myopenkimono.com
Has anything really changed in over a year?!

CONFESSIONS OF A MYSPACE USER
Turn to any of the trades and there is no doubt that there will be some article written about News Corp's MySpace.com site. The trades just can't stop chatting it up as the fastest growing social networking site on the net.
I couldn't help but wonder what all the hype was about and became a MySpace 'user' (I use the term in an non-addictive sense) about 2 months ago.
Having created a profile, albeit under a false name, I ventured into the twilight zone of MySpace.
I was immediately bombarded by users who wanted to 'be my friend'. People I did not know nor wanted to know. People who, laughably, had upwards of several thousand 'friends' on their profile. Useless banter with no redeeming social value other than curiosity and, dangerously, entrapment. In many cases I found the users to be trumped up imaginary persons often cloaked in the skin of others whose photos were 'borrowed'. Nothing on the site seemed real to the observing eye.
Browsing through the profiles I was not surprised to find sexually explicit and sometimes disturbing photos. I often worried about the kids who ran into these randomly accessible photos. I worried even more about kids that were underage and easily drawn into conversations with would-be predators.
Shocked at open profiles that suggested 'I love kids and often go to playgrounds to just watch them' I decided to abandon the generally unhealthy site.
News Corp has a tiger by the tail .... and if it doesn't do something very quickly to turn this site into a more controlled environment, they run the risk of government scrutiny and intervention.
Frankly, I don't care how profitable this site is. Supporting it with advertising will eventually backfire with enraged parents, schools and communities demanding action.
This is not about free speech or rights under the constitution. It's about social consciousness....not social networking.

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BigJJul 25th, 2007 - 16:05:08

Sex-offenders all too often prey on children. They don't DESERVE to not be discriminated against. They're the worst SCUM alive. Bottom line. It's the way it works, kill hundreds of people but hurt children, and even the worst murderer in prison will hate you for that. And that's OK by me, cuz you hurt a child, you are scum. Period.

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asdfJul 25th, 2007 - 16:05:30

And what happens when they start falsifying their information to join sites like this. Then what? Does the government have a record of their IP addresses to block them from sites like this?

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DanJul 25th, 2007 - 16:05:32

You equate sex offenders with traffic citations? What were YOU arrested for?

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right onJul 25th, 2007 - 16:07:47

way to go tom.

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SeanJul 25th, 2007 - 16:18:57

Good move... but booting murderers would be a little more difficult... seeing as though you'd have to boot military personel, extremist religious people, politicians, investors in the oil industry, and cops. So Since these people run the world... murder is now an American Family value and is supposed to be smiled upon.... or you're a terrorist.

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A New AnonymousJul 25th, 2007 - 16:20:06

This is just silly... how in heaven's name can you keep anyone off MySpace??? I just hope MySpace keeps
'co-operating' at least it will keep the anti-internet gov agents out of the mix a little longer.

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Michelle BradleyJul 25th, 2007 - 16:22:07

I commend My Space on the action taken to expel sex offenders. However, as anyone familiar with stats on sex offenders will tell you, most crimes are overwhelmingly perpetrated on children by people that they know. Usually family members or people in their community. You can never be to careful.

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agharJul 25th, 2007 - 16:22:26

Let's see here... You can become a registered sex offender for all sorts of reasons, even stuff that you'll see no jail time for.

Public urination.
Streaking.
Mooning.
Skinny dipping.


Technically, adultery and consensual oral or anal sex are crimes in many states that could land you in the registry, though most prosecutors wouldn't dare. The laws are on the books, though.

I feel really bad for anyone who committed admittedly minor offenses prior to the rise of the internet. Skinny dipping in 1994, maybe when you were a teenager, just got you banned from MySpace. Think of the kids!

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