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35 Comments
- Xiol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Where is it?
Navigating around MySpace is like trying to navigate around ones own rectum.
@kevinrose, getting a bit sick of these captchas now! - SouthernDigger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4In other news... 4 Police officers were hired to monitor the US. (Same ratio of monitors to users). MySpace will forever be "creepy rapist guy hangout", even if you do have one dude watching over it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"They could just have some kind of 'Report this User' thing. Where you can report someone such as 'This guy is 32...im 14 and he tried to add me'"
That is exactly why you DON'T want a "report user" thing. If a 32-year old guy solicits a 14-year old girl for sex, sure, she should probably report him to someone. If someone adds her to his friends list, though, it could just be that he likes her page design or enjoys the youthful enthusiasm of her blog entries.
Now, I don't want to flame you, but you are a threat to freedom and democracy. You've jumped onto this bandwagon and are now raising suspicions about people based upon their friends list. You're demonizing massive sectors of the population--based upon nothing but irrational hysteria. That's ***** up.
Think about the side effects of this. Think about the chilling effects it will have on innocent and socially beneficial behaviors. Think about the consequences for child-adult socialization and the way we manage our society.
I'm telling you that this ***** leads only further towards the Nanny State. Kids over here. Adults over here. Nanny watching over all of them. - phaed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2and then you would get reported 3 times a day for having an ugly face
- AppleBag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Personally, I have a feeling Myspace is just the next website targetted by the american media to incite "fear" in order to entertain. It's no secret that our media does nothing but sell scary thoughts and images and blow things out of proportion for ratings. Most kids on myspace know that they can (and do) simply ignore friend requests and messages from people they don't know or want in their friends list. I believe I last heard that Myspace had something like 30 million+ users, and the actual percentage of dangerous incidents due to predators may be less than .01 percent. But that 1 person is enough to trigger widespread panic by the media.
- rockingrhino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2blah. This is a move to a) stop the potential lawsuits by parents and those who are hurt, b) create some positive PR for myspace, c) pretend to the world, more importantly to their core audience, they care.
Remember Fox is suppose to be the network for conservatives (and Christians) and their name is being tied to MyPedofiles. Not doing something would have whacked them very hard in the pocketbook. Not only in parents trying to keep their kids off of MySpace but by those who see Fox as two-faced (as if the same organization that offers the Simpons, Family Guy, and Fox News and NY Post shouldn't already been seen by everyone as playing both sides of the street.) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, you know... because it's MySpace's job to teach your kids!
Parents these days are horrible. Not all, but most. - webdevil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@zbilly
"There is no example to set, this could happen ANYWHERE, e-mail, instant messenger, chat room, or anything else, it's not up to myspace to protect their users"
Which is exactly why Myspace is increasing their security right? Cause it's not their problem!
"Teenagers aren't stupid, most are much more computer literate than most adults."
Coming from a 15 year old who seems to have many connections to Myspace that comment doesn't sup rise me. I didn't say that teenagers are stupid I'm just saying that teenagers sometimes don't make the greatest of decisions in the world and why should a site give them the option to post their sexual orientation.
"Most teenagers i know don't have credit cards!"
Yes but if your intent on myspace was legit why would your parents have a problem giving $1 to let you have a myspace account. Also predators wouldn't want their real credit card on file at a place where they hunt so unless they want to commit credit card fraud they wouldn't join.
"Match.com and myspace are in two totally different categories"
Really, cause both have the same feel of a dating site. Asking you if your single, sexual orientation, if you have children, smoker, drinker, all the same exact questions that match.com ask. The difference is that myspace was not developed with the function in mind but they've growen vertically in to that market.
"Myspace doesn't care if its 'safer and better', they are trying to make money"
Congratulations, you understand the basic rules of business. Now let's do some math if they did charge $1 for accounts and if only %5 of there current user base signed-up.
%5 of 70,000,000 user is 3,500,000 million.
.25 (Credit card fee) - $1 = .75 cents
.75 X 3,500,000 = $2,625,000 pure profit from charging $1 for signing up. - cleverboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Geez. Graphics on the brain. Had me wondering what about "MySpace" was being called "Hi-res". Anyway... read a news report stating that MySpace is the second most traffic site on the Internet, and came out of virtually no where making sites like "Friendster" yesterday's news. Ouch. I think multimedia is the name of the game... which is clearly what makes MySpace such a controversial space as well.
- Judman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does this mean he will be reading through the private messages and whatnot?
- Xiol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't get all this fuss about MySpace being full of sexual predators.
So what if it is? Don't be posting pics of yourself with your ***** hanging out and never meet anyone you met on MySpace in RL.
Jeeze... Where's my diploma? - odyss3y, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They'll automate the process and I'm sure he'll have a team of people underneath him.
In general, I think this is good. I don't think MySpace would have done this on their own without Fox hanging above them. Although the motivations for Fox might be more about brand value and less about core values, I still think this is a step i nthe right direction. - RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can you imagine for a second how much that guy's job would suck? Just looking at a random myspace page is painful enough - but looking at thousands of them a day for a living?
If they wanted to hire someone with clout from the government to make people feel secure - I know of a guy from Homeland Security the could have hired... (well - he used to be with homeland security... now he's between jobs) - bigteebo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They could solve a lot of problems by posting a banner in a really large font before a user uploads their pictures:
KEEP YOUR CLOTHES ON
Let's take out the temptation a bit, jeesh. - webdevil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah. Nice to see that Myspace is doing something after what like 50 people got raped. I still stand firm on my argument that a site like this is useless. I just don't get the hype of having 5,000 friends and posting comments like retards.
- HomelessBrian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1the have a place to report users.
- webdevil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@mycatsboots
I agree with you. Parenting does take a roll in this as well.
I didn't blame Myspace for the rapes. But make no doubt that myspace did facilitate the meeting of two individuals whom may not have meet without the site. You cannot deny that a small amount of blame needs to be shoved towards Myspace. There are easy things that they could be doing to verify age and the identity of a person. They have chosen not to because that's what makes them popular. So they have chosen popularity over safety.
As a professional web site developer myself I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that a site that I created facilitated the meeting of two individuals that resulted in a rape. That's why everything I do is carefully restricted so users are anonymous but given freedom to express their opinions. - finkployd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Wow! Now that's a news story. A whole two paragraphs.
Why not link to a story that actually has some content in it? A quick Google News search brings up a lot of them. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2The bigger MySpace gets the more like the real world it gets. This is just like when everyone had to be in the AOL chatrooms. People will get smarter (someday) and start to be smarter about how they approach sites like myspace.
___
http://www.shoutcentral.com - webdevil, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@zbilly
"You cannot 'blame' myspace for anything. It doesn't have anything to do with it being myspace, there are many other mediums that a meeting with a rapist could be set up, myspace just happens to be the most publicized.
Myspace is the most publicized. And why is that? Cause it's that most popular. So why shouldn't it be the target of 'blame' to set an example for all the other sites that are popping up that a company must be responsible with it's products. It's up to the user to protect their own privacy but are you really encouraging that to teenager's when you ask their sexual orientation ( which myspace does ask about under their background & lifestyle tab in edit profile ).
"How are you supposed to verify the identity of over 60 million users? Myspace is a business, not having to pay anyone to do that saves them money, and their popularity brings more users to the site, which means it makes them more money."
Other sites such as Match.com have no problem verifying millions of users and all it takes is a simple credit card transaction. If Myspace charged $1 ( I'm sure credit card processing for them and the volume they do wouldn't be anything over .25 cents per transaction) to setup a profile with no monthly fee you'd be sure that it would be a much safer and much better. You'd also weed out all of the 13 year olds who are just on there to screw around. - rockingrhino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dude? Where are you from? Girls have been looking way beyond their age for "years". I marvel when I see a teenage who DOES look her age. (Blame growth hormones in McDonalds burgers LOL)
The fact is all myspace (blogging) is just an extension of IM and e-mail, even BBSs from the 80s. MySpace is the latest place where kids gather and do this. It isn't new. It shouldn't be surprising. It is just on a global scale now.
I think a bigger concern for parents is how their children might be WILLINGLY looking for this sort of attention as much as the ability for those seeking them to find them. - mentalconfetti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I feel safer already.
Let's see this for what it is. It is not about that guy monitoring the site or educating its users. That is what the press release says. When was the last time a press release was about giving actual credible information. His real job is to help them with all their dealings with the Justice Department. It pays to have somebody who knows the place and the people that work there. Understanding a bureaucracy is important for big companies. This guy not only understand it, i'm sure he has the right people there on speed dial. Nothing more, nothing less.
Btw - i saw Tom on-line last night. I am still trying to figure out whether that constitutes a celebrity sighting or not. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0MySpace is really big here -- and new of all this stuff with the "sexual preditors" hasn't done anything to keep people from using. Infact people ignore what has happened.
- crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0So he didn't even read it and he is bitching?
Priceless. - ChewbaccaUC, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1If they could educate the users not to design sites that make me sorry I can see, that'd be a great service.
- redhatcat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"educate its users."
Guy's got his work cut out.
Like everyone else has said, MySpace will continue to consist of pedos and victims with the addition of one guy watching. - mattwestm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0well, in my opinion, myspace is a cesspool of computer illiterate buffoons. And, parents need to be educating their kids. Anyways, this is an interesting article.
- mycatsboots, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@webdevil
Yes, MySpace RAPED all 50 of those girls. Sure.
If the children that used MySpace used it with moderation and had some education, then they wouldn't fall prey to rapists. I can almost promise you every one of the rape victims probably posted way too much personal information on the website, posted sexually suggestive pictures of themselves, and set up a meeting with the strange person they met on the Internet.
Sure, MySpace was a medium for them to meet, but the poor parenting allowed the child to act carelessly. - zbilly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@webdevil
You cannot 'blame' myspace for anything. It doesn't have anything to do with it being myspace, there are many other mediums that a meeting with a rapist could be set up, myspace just happens to be the most publicized.
How are you supposed to verify the identity of over 60 million users? Myspace is a business, not having to pay anyone to do that saves them money, and their popularity brings more users to the site, which means it makes them more money. - zbilly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@webdevil
"Myspace is the most publicized. And why is that? Cause it's that most popular. So why shouldn't it be the target of 'blame' to set an example for all the other sites that are popping up that a company must be responsible with it's products. It's up to the user to protect their own privacy but are you really encouraging that to teenager's when you ask their sexual orientation ( which myspace does ask about under their background & lifestyle tab in edit profile )."
-There is no example to set, this could happen ANYWHERE, e-mail, instant messenger, chat room, or anything else, it's not up to myspace to protect their users, if the users want people to know that information then they can post it, its not myspace's problem. If they don't, its not required. Teenagers aren't stupid, most are much more computer literate than most adults.
"Other sites such as Match.com have no problem verifying millions of users and all it takes is a simple credit card transaction. If Myspace charged $1 ( I'm sure credit card processing for them and the volume they do wouldn't be anything over .25 cents per transaction) to setup a profile with no monthly fee you'd be sure that it would be a much safer and much better. You'd also weed out all of the 13 year olds who are just on there to screw around."
-Nobody wants to make a credit card transaction. Most teenagers i know don't have credit cards! Nobody wants to pay for myspace either. Myspace's popularity is what makes them money, they're a business. Match.com and myspace are in two totally different categories. Myspace doesn't care if its 'safer and better', they are trying to make money, and there not going to do that by pissing of 60 million users, by charging for myspace, or requiring a credit card. - LandStander, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1They could just have some kind of 'Report this User' thing. Where you can report someone such as 'This guy is 32...im 14 and he tried to add me'.....well then again I suppose there are people out there lying about their age online *gasp!* It's crazy, I know!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0you mean 1 paragraph, the second paragraph was about "related news"
- saralk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0good to see that MySpace are trying to do something. It would be all too easy for MySpace to just ignore the problem since people aren't going to be leaving the site any time soon, but at least they are showing some corporate responsibility.
- tehJR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Good on them for at least trying. Most places wouldn't even do that. They also have a whole team of people whose job it is to scan the site (I read that somewhere last week). I don't like/use MySpace, but lots of people do, and many for perfectly good reasons. I've discovered a few bands I like on MySpace.
The world is a scary place, and MySpace is no different. It sickens me to see how teenagers today are so sexualized (especially girls), many of them don't have the capacity to deal with perverts etc at their age. I can't believe some of the crap that in music videos now and the lyrics that I hear in songs that 10, 11, 12 year olds listen too. It really is something parents need to wake up too and educate their kids on what is right and wrong. We can't expect 12 year olds to know what to do when the perverts come-a-knockin'.
Times have changed so quickly in the last 5 or so years where I don't even recognize 12 year olds as 12 year olds, they look 19. (I'm 21, and things weren't like this when I was 12). There is a lack of respect for people, themselves, material goods, you name it. Kids today are selfish. (That is a general statement, there are always exceptions) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Yeah, or people could take the time to develop their own with an opensource alternative: http://www.buddyin.com :-)
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