Free Republic

At least 269 convicted New Jersey sex offenders had profiles on MySpace, according to information provided by MySpace in response to civil subpoenas issued by State Attorney General Anne Milgram. What are the chances that these predators created profiles exclusively for MySpace and no other websites? Probably not good, but Milgram wants to know for sure. She has sent a letter to a dozen Internet social networking sites to determine whether convicted New Jersey sex offenders have created profiles on their websites. The letter was sent to Xanga.com, Facebook, Community Connect, TagWorld, Bebo, MyYearbook.com, Tagged, Friendster, LiveJournal, Imeem, Hi5, and...

A student at a public high school in Plainfield, IL, a far southwest suburb of Chicago, faces an expulsion hearing next week. Not so meaningful in itself, perhaps, so let me trickle out the details. The hearing has been called because the student posted on his blog at xanga.com that his district, District 202, had bullied and threatened him. The ACLU has insinuated itself into the controversy. At this point, the meaning of the hearing begins to clarify: the student is being, if not persecuted, at least being made an example of. Schools have recently become aware of MySpace and...

Blogs are everywhere - increasingly, the place where young people go to bare their souls, to vent, to gossip. And often they do so with unabashed fervor and little self-editing, posting their innermost thoughts for any number of Web surfers to see. There is a freedom in it, as 23-year-old Allison Martin attests: "Since the people who read my blog are friends or acquaintances of mine, my philosophy is to be totally honest - whether it's about how uncomfortable my pantyhose are or my opinions about First Amendment law," says Martin, who lives in suburban Chicago and has been blogging...