myspace getting negative attention Options

[Im So Vain]

Police probe alleged MySpace-linked sex crimes
Teen girls met older men through social networking site, police say
  COMING UP ON DATELINE NBC      

• Feb. 3, Friday, 9 p.m.
Tune in to Dateline's ongoing hidden camera investigation into computer sex predators -- grown men, trolling Internet chatrooms for young teenagers. This time, police are making arrests.

Updated: 11:55 a.m. ET Feb. 3, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. - Police are investigating whether as many as seven teenage girls have been sexually assaulted by men they met through the popular Web site MySpace.com.

The girls, ages 12 to 16, are from Middletown and say they were fondled or had consensual sex with men who turned out to be older than they claimed. None of the incidents appeared to be violent, said Middletown Police Sgt. Bill McKenna.

He said it was difficult to determine the exact number of victims because some girls have been reluctant to disclose that they met their assailants online.


The social networking Web site allows users to create profiles that can include photos, personal information and even cell phone numbers.


In a statement Thursday, MySpace.com said it was committed to providing a safe environment for its users. The site, which includes safety tips, also prohibits use by anyone younger than 14, though a disclaimer says the people who run the site can't always tell if users are lying about their ages.

Copyright 2006 The Associated

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11165576/

Is it just me or does it seem like myspace is constantly in the news all of a sudden. A lot of these young girls on the net these days are just not thinking straight. And also my chemistry teacher who is also a professor at Stanford University said that some colleges are starting to look at prospective students myspace pages, to see what their personality is like. And if they do not like what they see they will deny you admission.


WHat do you guys think about all this?

[*not_your_average*]

I have a MySpace. I put pictures on there. I put some stuff about me on there. Any creepy messages I get...oh wait. I haven't gotten any.

MySpace is perfectly fine if you use common sense.

[Chii]

Honestly, everyone I know has nearly EVERYTHING about them on myspace. Their age, location, sex, bfs/gfs, ALL the schools they've been to, names, pictures of family members... I mean.... If people are stupid enough to do some of these things they seriously deserve to be beaten over the head with a live salmon. And parents cry on cameras, telling sob stories when it was their own faults they didn't teach their children any better and they didn't keep a better eye on them.

I don't even have anything on my myspace, not even my friends or their comments. It's either a place where people can whore about all the cool friends who added them or where you can whore your own picture AND the cool friends who added you. Oh yes.. and for you to show how scene you are.

i completely agree with you. our peers just love to whore themselves with every oppurtunity they get for attention and show off all their "friends."

it's ridiculous how people obsess over myspace, "oh yeah! carmen electra just added me!" or "wow i got x amount of new friends in like 5 minutes!"

however, this meeting people from myspace isn't exactly anything new...i've heard of plenty of people meeting others from myspace just for sex

i hate how people complain about crap they can't fix. myspace can raise the age limit to 18 but that's not going to fix anything. people are still going to lie about their age. they could shove safety tips and horrible rape experiences down every myspace member's throat on a daily basis but there are still going to be idiots meeting other idiots and getting raped/taken advantage of/molested/murdered.

I have a MySpace. I put pictures on there. I put some stuff about me on there. Any creepy messages I get...oh wait. I haven't gotten any.

MySpace is perfectly fine if you use common sense.

nooo, nothing is safe! i only have a xanga and i still get visits from weird people. i don't allow comments or eprops or basically anything nor do i even comment people. but on my tracker, i've noticed that i still get hits from weird perverts. and my username isn't suggestive at all.

[edit: 1:11pm]
i just looked at my tracker and there's this little girl.

abuse me? good god, she's 14

Teens Putting Themselves at Risk Online
Last month, 14-year-old Judy Cajuste was found strangled and naked in a Newark, New Jersey, garbage bin and 15-year-old Kayla Reed was found dead in a canal not far from her Livermore, California, home.

Both deaths remain unsolved and the use of MySpace.com has surfaced in both investigations.

As recently as a few years ago, Aftab said the profile of an online victim was a young woman who felt alone, didn't have many friends and craved attention.

Then, in 2002, 13-year-old Christina Long of Danbury was strangled in a Danbury mall parking lot by a 26-year-old man she met on the Internet. Long was a popular cheerleader, a good student and an altar girl. The profile went out the window.

Now, Aftab said, it's no surprise that a wealthy state such as Connecticut is seeing a spate of problems.

"This is a rich and upper-middle-class problem," Aftab said. "They have too much time, too much technology and their parents aren't around to keep an eye on them."

[*not_your_average*]

nooo, nothing is safe! i only have a xanga and i still get visits from weird people. i don't allow comments or eprops or basically anything nor do i even comment people. but on my tracker, i've noticed that i still get hits from weird perverts. and my username isn't suggestive at all.

Well, I understand where you're coming from. But if you exercise enough restraint, you have much less of a chance of getting taken advantage of.

My username isn't suggestive either. I mean, people may message you, but ultimately, it's how you present yourself on your page. It's based on that, and on the kinds of people you've added. That girl may have literally invited these guys to have sex/do something to her. You never know, but you can still try to be safe on the internet.

So far, I haven't gotten any strange messages yet, and if I do, I'll delete them.