In an attempt to appease government critics, MySpace plans to offer free parental notification software, named "Zephyr”, to find out what name, age and location their children use to represent themselves on MySpace. Parents would not, however, have access to their children’s email or profile pages. The software would also alert children that their parents have access to their information. 33 US state attorneys general are currently considering a lawsuit against MySpace if the company does not raise the minimum age limit to join the site from 14 to 16, and begin verifying members' ages.
The site is very popular among teens and continuously has to deal with public criticism regarding children providing too much personal information – the challenge is to add safety features without alienating teenagers. Zephyr could potentially violate privacy rights as well as be used by people who are not the parents of the children being monitored. Facebook, Xanga – two competing social networking sites are against the “Zephyr” idea while companies Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL have not said whether they would join the effort.
News source: Australian IT
The site is very popular among teens and continuously has to deal with public criticism regarding children providing too much personal information – the challenge is to add safety features without alienating teenagers. Zephyr could potentially violate privacy rights as well as be used by people who are not the parents of the children being monitored. Facebook, Xanga – two competing social networking sites are against the “Zephyr” idea while companies Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL have not said whether they would join the effort.
News source: Australian IT
This won't stop the problem anyway. The real root of the problem is educating the yougner users who don't understand that few people on MySpace actually are who they say they are. They go on and post about their lousy day at school, well, that's more than enough for a child predator.
Infact, when I saw the name, I thought MySpace was gonna be working with MS or something..
(KSE = Good)
It seems that perhaps your post was an amusing bit of satire as you complain about how kids ruined myspace?
my friend was trying to find her sister on there to see what her profile said and how old she claimed to be, and we had a hell of a time finding her.
but i agree, they need to put a system in place to where if you can prove you are the parent/guardian of the minor, you should have access to their profile.
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