I personally am somewhat torn on the issue. The largest part of me is satisfied with the decision of the social networks. As a young adult and future parent, I absolutely want children to have the utmost protection, particularly over the Internet. However, I could also understand how some people would say that this begins to infringe on the personal liberties of these citizens. It is a complicated decision, but I feel that Facebook and MySpace protected both themselves and children using the site by taking this measure.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Protecting Youths on the Cyber Playground
According to a CNN article published today, social media web sites Facebook and MySpace have deactivated the accounts of over 3,500 registered sex offenders in New York State. These websites used a state law which requires these people to inform the state of their email addresses and any online aliases that they would be using. The New York Attorney General said that the offenders were in violation of their parole by interacting with children in an online environment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that this should be more of a blocking issue, rather than a deactivation thing. Many registered sex offenders are not completely "at risk" of committing a crime again. The punishment, I'm sure, is enough for them in their every day life, but not be allow to join social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace may be a bit too much. Myspace and Facebook should take more time to possibly educate people about use of the sites and how to use privacy settings better, rather than banning these people from it.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely better to protect themselves as a site, and the children using that site, rather than to prohibit sex offenders from its use. Children need to be taught how to be smarter on the Internet, and it honestly isn't that hard. Extreme measure to protect children are taken every day, but this definitely a really hard issue, one that I am having trouble deciding on as I write this.
I'm also torn on this issue. The only thing I can think of that would be a compromise (protect other people and not infringe upon the sex offenders rights). The sites could have a one strike policy. Sex offenders are allowed to keep their account but the first sign of misuse is grounds for deactivation.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a tough issue that should be discussed. On the one hand, I also look to my future and would want to prevent my children as well as all children to immediately recognize a sex offender online and block such a person. However, in the online world, it's not as easy to tell who is a sex offender and who is not (it's not like a virtual van can pull up on the screen telling you there's candy inside and to jump in). However, I know that if you are a sex offender, you need to register within the community. Perhaps the same should be done with the online community? Still not sure what should be, or could be, done about this issue.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting argument for both sides but I think that the sex offenders have lost their privilege. I don't think the internet is a right but its a privilege. When it is abused for illegal purposes then you stand the chance of losing it.
ReplyDeleteThere is a distinction between the internet and social media sites. Social media sites are private, and can ban people, and do so for a variety of reasons. Internet providers (like AOL when it was a dial-up service, or your cable or phone company) can only ban people for breaking the law, or for not paying fees, I believe. And no one can be banned from the internet, say from going online via a free access point like pubic wifi or a library.
ReplyDelete