December 1, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says more than 3,500 registered New York state sex offenders have been purged from social networking sites Facebook and MySpace in the first database sweep since the states new Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act went into effect.
At the same time, Cuomo says many other social networking sites remain slow at adopting available new protections against sexual predators online. The New York Attorney General today sent letters urging them to take action now to similarly purge sex offenders from their sites.
Under the new e-STOP law, Facebook was able to identify and disable accounts linked to 2,782 registered New York sex offenders, and MySpace was able to identify and disable accounts linked to 1,796 sex offenders. Some registered sex offenders were linked to accounts on both sites, leaving a total of 3,533 individuals purged from Facebook and/or MySpace during the sweep.
New York State has more than 8,100 sex offenders who have registered e-mails with the state. That means over 43 percent of those sex offenders have identified accounts linked to Facebook and/or MySpace.
Information about the accounts is now being shared with law enforcement authorities. To date, Facebook and MySpace are the only social networking sites that have sought access to the states new registry of sex offenders Internet information made available through e-STOP.
Under e-STOP many sexual predators are banned outright from using social networking sites on the Internet while on probation or parole. Also, convicted sex offenders must register all of their e-mail addresses, screen names, and other Internet identifiers with the state. That information is then made available to social networking sites so they can purge potential predators from their online worlds.
"We created e-STOP to help put an end to sexual predators using the Internet as a tool to prey on the innocent," Cuomo said. "Facebook and MySpace are successfully using e-STOP to help make the Internet safer, and its time for all social networking sites to do their part to keep others from being senselessly victimized."
