State AG: ID State’s Sex Offenders on Social Network Sites

TRENTON — After MySpace officials announced last month that they had detected 29,000 registered sex offenders among the social networking site’s 185 million members, Attorney General Anne Milgram sent letters to a dozen similar companies Aug. 9 asking them to take steps to stop predators from using their services to find and lure victims.
“I write to ask for your assistance in New Jersey’s efforts to protect Internet users from the dangers posed by sexual predators who may use social networking sites to search for, learn about and contact potential victims,” she said in a letter to Michael Birch, CEO of one such service called Bebo, Inc.
“I believe that through mutual cooperation we can help further public safety, especially the safety of those most vulnerable to harm,” Milgram wrote.
In addition to Bebo, Milgram wrote to Xanga.com, Facebook, Community Connect, TagWorld, My Yearbook.com, Tagged, Friendster, LiveJournal, Imeem, Hi5, and Gaia Online. She asked them to reply to her request by Aug. 30.
The Attorney General’s spokesman David Wald told the Herald that Facebook officials were the first to respond to Milgram’s letter saying they would help in any way they could.
“We appreciate the company’s quick response to our request,” Wald said.
According to the state, at least 269 of the sex offenders with MySpace accounts were from New Jersey and over 100 are on probation or parole. MySpace, a Rupert Murdoch owned company, has been deleting sex offender profiles when they are identified.
The Attorney General’s Office had issued subpoenas to MySpace following the company’s disclosure several months ago that it had identified 7,000 sex offenders with 141 from this state, 80 of whom were on probation or parole.
The state, however, did not provide the Herald with a list of names of local sex offenders who were using MySpace.
Other states chose to list the offenders’ names online.
On June 21 Attorney General Mike Cox, of Michigan, published his state’s 200 registered sex offenders with MySpace profiles on the state Web site along with a press release.
“The message we send is clear: we expect strict compliance with the law and have zero tolerance for these offenders,” Cox said.
“Today we have contacted the Michigan Department of Corrections and provided them with the necessary documentation to proceed on four of these individuals and call upon them to take swift action,” he added.
Under Megan’s Law, those convicted of sex offenses must register their addresses with the state. According to New Jersey’s online sex offender list, the Herald found 69 sex offenders registered at addresses in Cape May County.
Herald staff, in an effort to find violators among the 69 offenders, randomly selected names from the list and searched for online networking profiles for them, but were unable to find any positive matches.
Wald said his office as well as State Police and County Prosecutor’s offices are gearing up for the coming school year with training sessions for teachers on the problems associated with social networking sites and Internet predators.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com