Men used MySpace.com to meet underage girls for sex

AP ^ | Mar 2 2006

[george wythe]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Two men from Pennsylvania and New Jersey used the popular networking Web site MySpace.com to set up sexual encounters with underage Connecticut girls, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The two unrelated cases come after weeks in which the potential danger of MySpace has been a topic of discussion for law enforcement, parents and school officials nationwide.

In one case, Sonny Szeto, 22, of Jersey City, N.J., traveled to Connecticut in October and molested an 11-year-old girl in her playroom while her parents slept upstairs, according to an FBI affidavit.

In the other case, Stephen Letavec, 39, molested a 14-year-old Connecticut girl in his car while visiting from of Elrama, Pa., in October, according to another FBI report.

[trebb]

Some good suggestions in your post. Computer security helps protect the computer, home security helps protect the family. As with all things, you can make it "fool-proof", but you can't make it "damn-fool proof".

[edcoil]

"Men used MySpace.com to meet underage girls for sex "

As opposed to women using their classroom?

[george wythe]

But the kids just post messages to their friends about where they want to hang out Friday night, etc... as if there is no-one who might use that info for evil purposes. Plus its a completely parent-free subculture... not a recipe for wisdom.

It's a magnet for child molesters, learning what's "in" with the young crowd, and practicing teenage lingo with the unsuspecting.

[Bigh4u2]

Better yet.

Make them use DIAL UP!

With Cable, they could just download a pirated copy of Windows in a relatively short time.

Dial up would take hours, if not days!

[pageonetoo]

Waiting for the mandatory libertarian to blame it all on the parents...

My daughter signed up at Myspace, and started a chain of friends. I did not know much about the site, so I investigated. She is no longer signed up with Myspace. She didn't want to quit it, but I have the passwords to the computer.

It is the parents responsibilty to provide guidance to their children. I sure don't want you to tell them anything. You knee-jerked right into a "anti-libertarian" rant, and a call for more gum't regulation. You must not have any kids... or never figured that they ARE your responsibility.

Nice try... but no banana!

[dangus]

Regulate by criticism, the threat of intervention, etc. Enough parents get outraged at MySpace, start asking what can be done about it, etc., and MySpace (or a competitor) will respond to the market by promoting imposing common sense privacy measures on teenagers who are too naive to know to take the measures themselves:

I.e., no references to sexual proclivities.
Keeping references to locations to a separate, "known friends-only" list.
Interlopers must be invited.

The problem is that MySpace is nothing more than a web-hosting-and-designing site with a few key features/modules for a target audience. Kids can always tell the world stupid things about themselves.

[Crispus Attucks Patriot]

I'm no libertarian, but the First Amendment means what it says.

Freedom and liberty are inherently risky. There are no half-measures. You either have liberty or statism.

Besides, the old "to protect the children" argument has been used before, almost always for nefarious purposes. That argument is way past its "sell by" date.

It IS up to the parents to monitor where their kids go on the net. Do you really want to cede even MORE parental authority and judgment to the nanny state government? That's the argument of Hillary's "it takes a village to raise a child" BS.

[ozoneliar]

it takes a parent all of 10 minutes to install web security software

Works until junior formats the HD.

The only effective web security software is you personally checking up. That other stuff just doesn't work well at all.

Any parent that would allow their child to get away with formatting the HD is not doing their job.

[maxter]

Good comeback.

[JamesP81]

Be the adult here and set some ground rules. Put your computer that the kids use out in the middle of the house WERE THERE IS NO PRIVACY

Without question the single most effective method. My friends who have kids, knowing I have computer science degree, are always asking me what the best nanny-type software is.

If I'm in a smart-mouted mood my usualy reply is: "I suggest you install, and actually, use, Mom_and_Dad.exe".

[MineralMan]

"Is everything on Myspace.com posted in public? I mean, is there a private chat space on it too....Unbeknownst to my step-grand daughter, (and her mother, and her grandmother) I've been monitoring her site, but wondering about a "back" site....other than email, of course."

---

MySpace has lots of options. Users can restrict contact to only a list of their friends, or they can have open listings.

One thing to be aware of, though: It's marvelously easy to open new accounts on MySpace. Many kids have more than one account. In some cases, there's one for snoopy parents and step-grandparents, and another one for other contacts.

MySpace can be accessed at any internet-connected computer, so libraries, schools, and friends' homes are also points where kids can use MySpace.

The bottom line is that youngsters will do what they will do. It's almost impossible to keep them from doing what they want to do, unless you control their every moment.

So, what you really have to do is teach them well, raise them to do the right things, and trust that you have done a good job. More than that, you cannot do.

Many parents think they've solved the problem by moving the computer into the living room or not allowing internet access on home computers. Well..that just sends the kids who want access to other internet access points. That trick never works.

The preacher's daughter has always been able to sneak out at night. The teenaged son of the mayor has always been able to meet his friends and drink beer.

It's a matter of how kids are raised and taught. It's not a matter of MySpace being available.

[dangus]

Match.com is a schizophrenic dating service. It's got all sorts of tests designed to create "compatible life partners," but it's advertising basically boils down to "meet sexy women who want to f*** you!"

[george wythe]

Consider the Internet no different than the rest of the world. Know where your kids are and what they are doing and when they are doing it and who they are talking to.

I can't underunderstand the wisdom giving a computer with Internet access to a child, and then allowing such child to lock himself inside his bedroom for hours.

It's like little lambs being led to the slaughterhouse.

[Potowmack]

This must be regulated better.

How, exactly, do you regulate something like this?

[JamesP81]

take the windows CD away so they can't reload it.

Works until they get a free copy of Linux, and then really fubar everything.

[JamesP81]

Dial up would take hours, if not days!

DL Windows over dial-up. Try weeks...

[dangus]

I'm not sure. If it does have private areas, certainly many of its users don't use common sense about what to keep private! But on the other hand, you make me realize the benefit of NOT having private areas... Parents can monitor it. Maybe MySpace should require all under-18 users to give parental access to private spaces.

[vpintheak]

Because she is an ignorant teenager. Not using ignorant in a bad way, just that teenagers aren't the smartest people in the world. Easy targets for predators.

[Centurion2000]

Works until junior formats the HD.

I guess you've never seen pspv.exe ... works great for extracting passwords right out the web browser. PSPV page

[JamesP81]

Any parent that would allow their child to get away with formatting the HD is not doing their job

This conceptualization we have that children are stupid and we can stop them from doing those kinds of things by taking away the CD is rooted in an alternate reality.

You can forget protecting your children with software. You can forget totally securing the machine by controlling the CDs. The only way to protect them is to watch them with a wary eye. No other method works.