MySpace = safe space: predator panic debunked.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Citings - Brief article

EARLY IN 2008, the big names of the online technology world, plus 50 attorneys general, joined forces with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School to form the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. The goal: to figure out what to do about the predators who seemed to be lurking in every virtual corner, threatening children and generally ruining the social networking, online chatting, and other fun stuff on the Internet for the rest of us.

Thus empaneled, the experts promised to dig in and report back in a year with a comprehensive study. From their report, published December 31: "The image presented by the media of an older male deceiving and preying on a young child does not paint an accurate picture of the nature of the majority of sexual solicitations and Internet-initiated offline encounters; this inaccuracy leads to major risks in this area being ignored." The...