Editorial: When chatting isn’t innocent

Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007 | 1:02 a.m.

The social networking Web site MySpace - astoundingly popular with teenagers and young adults - acted responsibly last December when it teamed with an Internet security firm to identify convicted sex offenders among its membership.

As many parents feared it would, the software that cross references names on state sex-offender rolls with names of MySpace members has produced many matches - almost 30,000 so far.

MySpace officials have not only purged those names from its site, but have also shared them - after receiving subpoenas - with attorney generals' offices in all 50 states. Many sex offenders are prohibited by the terms of their parole or probation from participating in such Internet sites.

But does this mean that parents can now relax their guard because MySpace is safe? Our view is that just the opposite is true. The software revealed that MySpace draws registered sexual predators by the thousands, and it would be naive for anyone to think that thousands of sexual predators who have not yet been caught and registered are not also trolling the site.

Even registered sexual predators, by using fake identities, could still be on the site, seeking those children who will believe their lies and agree to meet them somewhere.

In our view, no matter what is done - additional penalties attached to predators' sentences who use the Internet to commit their crimes, new identity verification software - children will always be at some risk when chatting with strangers on social networking sites.

The discovery of so many convicted sex offenders lurking on a site designed to attract children should set off alarms in every household. Every parent or guardian should act on their responsibility to educate their children about the risks of online chatting.

For the safety of its young subscribers, MySpace must continue working toward increased security. Online chatting, for all of its popularity, is a relatively new technology and it is time that security catches up with its other features. The security should be good enough to protect the most vulnerable children of all - those without proper adult supervision.