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MySpace Names Security Czar

April 13, 2006

• Facebook Agrees to Upgrade Safety Measures • Hanna Montana Photo Flap Part of a Trend • New Jersey Investigating College Gossip Site • No Easy Remedy for Imposter Postings on Social Networking Sites • Social Networking Sites Not the Biggest Danger for Teens? • Keeping Teens Safe Online • MySpace Agrees To Toughen Security For Young Users • MySpace Harassment Case Takes Odd Turn • Texas Sues Kids' Web Sites • States Keep the Heat on Facebook, MySpace • Texas Rounds Up 14 Sex Offenders on MySpace • New Jersey Subpoenas Facebook • Predator Who Used MySpace Gets Seven-Year Sentence • Facebook Has 'A Long Way to Go,' Investigators Say • Cuomo Charges Facebook Ignores Sexual Predators • MySpace Deletes More Sex Offenders • New Jersey Targets Sex Offenders With MySpace Profiles • States To Get MySpace Sex Offender Data • MySpace Deletes Thousands Of Sex Offenders • States Press MySpace For Data On Sex Offenders • Survey Finds Teen Behaviors Linked with Victimization • New MySpace Security Measures May Be Too Late • MySpace Builds Database to Target Predators • Pittsburgh Man Arrested in MySpace Sex Case • New Scam Targets MySpace Users • States Cracking Down on Dating Sites • MySpace Glitch Gives Hackers Teen Data • FTC "Concerned" About MySpace & Other Networking Sites • Texas Teen Sues MySpace for $30 Million • MySpace Debuts $1.99 Video Downloads • Massachusetts Puts Heat on MySpace.com • MySpace Names Security Czar • Connecticut Asks MySpace to Provide Blocking Software to Parents • What's Inside MySpace.com? • Connecticut Opens MySpace.Com Probe --- • MySpace Complaints • Facebook Complaints

Rupert Murdoch's MySpace.com has named a Microsoft security expert to serve as "security czar" for the popular teen site that has parents and regulators up in arms about possible exploitation by sexual predators.

Hemanshu Nigam, currently director of Consumer Security Outreach & Child Safe Computing at Microsoft, will take charge of safety, education, privacy and law enforcement oversight programs for MySpace and other Fox Web properties, effective May 1.

Nigam has more than 15 years of experience in online safety, including serving as a Federal prosecutor against Internet child exploitation for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was also an advisor to a Congressional commission on online child safety, and an advisor to the White House on cyberstalking.

Prior to Microsoft, Nigam was vice president of worldwide Internet enforcement at the Motion Picture Association of America, where he oversaw the global strategy to combat online video piracy for seven major Hollywood studios.

Last week, Congress held hearings on potential laws to thwart the sexual exploitation of children online and several states have been making similar noises.

Last month, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent MySpace.com a letter asking the company to provide parents with software to block the web site, ban kids under 16, institute new measures against pornography and take other steps to protect children from sexual predators and inappropriate material.

The letter follows discussions between Blumenthal's office and top MySpace.com executives, including a February meeting with MySpace co-founder/CEO Chris DeWolfe and company lawyers.

MySpace, with 69 million members, is the most popular online forum for teenagers, providing a space where they can hang out and express themselves with peers.

MySpace has already implemented a number of security measures. It now limits access to the site to members who are at least 14 and provides special protections to kids under 16. It claims to have deleted more than 250,000 profiles of underage kids since the site's inception.

Over the weekend, MySpace said it was working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Advertising Council to create the largest-ever online safety program using nationwide public service advertisements.

The site was acquired last July by the News Corporation, which also owns Fox Broadcasting and DirecTV satellite television.

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