Facebook, MySpace Purge Accounts of 3,500 Sex Offenders

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 1, 2009 - 11:28am.

New York - More than 3,500 sex offenders registered in the state of New York have been purged from social networking sites Facebook and MySpace (NYSE: NWS), as part of the first database sweep since the state's Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act ("e-STOP") went into effect, N.Y. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday.

Facebook identified and disabled 2,782 accounts linked to registered sex offenders, while MySpace disabled the accounts of 1,796 sex offenders.

Cuomo said that over 43% of all of New York state's over 8,100 registered sex offenders had profiles on one or moreof the sites, adding that information about the accounts is now being shared with law enforcement authorities.

Published in DMW Daily, December 1, 2009

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Comments

e-STOP law is just a placebo

Submitted by David (not verified) on December 1, 2009 - 11:55am.

This is a placebo law which is only effective as political hype. It prevents only legal activity. Note that none of the former offenders whose accounts were deleted were charged with any illegal conduct. It is simple enough for anyone who wants to do anything illegal online to create an anonymous e-mail address. All the attention given to registered sex offenders gives a distorted perception of the more likely perpetrators of sex crimes against children. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 93% of children who are victims of sexual abuse are victimized by family members or acquaintances. 94% of those arrested for the sexual molestation of children in New York State are first time offenders who are not listed on any registry. To put it another way, if a child has been the victim of sexual abuse, the odds are 4 in 1,000 that the child was victimized by a stranger who is a registered sex offender. The odds are far greater, 874 in 1,000, that the child was victimized by a family member or acquaintance who is not listed on the sex offender registry. The primary effect of sex offender registries is to give the public a false sense of security.