MySpace.com filed a request Monday in a Pennsylvania state court asking for guidance as the social-networking service responds to demands for information about convicted sex offenders using the site.
In the request, which was filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County, home to the state capital of Harrisburg, MySpace said it is actively seeking advice on how it can legally provide authorities with registered sex offenders' contact information.
MySpace came under fire last month when a group of state attorneys general, including Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, wrote an open letter to the social-networking site demanding that it turn over data pertaining to registered sex offenders who have profiles on the site. MySpace initially refused, citing federal and state privacy laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, that the company said prevented it from releasing such information.
But two weeks ago, MySpace announced that it planned to comply with the request to provide the states with sex offender data, acknowledging that it would have to deal with varying legal requirements in each state. The request filed in Pennsylvania is part of that ongoing plan.
"We're very pleased with how this process is working but our desire to provide certain information, such as the content of e-mail messages, is proving complicated under applicable law," the social network's executive vice president and general counsel, Michael Angus, said in a statement on Monday.
"Attorney General Corbett has requested we provide the content of e-mail messages of specific registered sex offenders identified by Sentinel Safe," Angus said, referring to the database that MySpace has developed through a partnership with identity verification firm Sentinel Tech Holding. "We want to provide those messages and today have filed a request with the state court in Pennsylvania, asking a judge for guidance on how best to provide the e-mail content without tainting any potential evidence that could help put a registered sex offender behind bars."
MySpace members can privately message each others' profiles through an e-mail system within the site.
According to MySpace, a federal court determined that the ECPA requires that a search warrant be issued before the social-networking service turns over the content of e-mail messages sent through the site, and that a positive identification through the Sentinel Safe database would not by itself suffice.
I would like to point out one interesting feature of the MySpace response which is an interesting background against which to view all of the other conversation about this issue: MySpace representative Michael Angus, an attorney who presumably should know better, was quoted as saying "...asking a judge for guidance on how best to provide the e-mail content without tainting any potential evidence that could help put a registered sex offender behind bars."
The goal in this case is NOT to put registered sex offenders behind bars! It is to prevent all registered sex offenders from using MySpace and to put anybody who is currently using MySpace for criminal activity or in violation of their parole conditions behind bars.
The statement, intentionially or unintentionally, reflects a common public view that registered sex offenders are de facto current criminals as well.
Without seeing more of the data, it would be hard to say that with any certainty. They may be looking into current repeat offenders, in which case I would want them to be *VERY* careful to make sure they don't screw up the case before a jury gets to hear it.
Or it could be a witch hunt - "won't someone please think of the children" seems to be the catchphrase to use if you just want to further errode our rights or silence critics.
The two telecom carriers will carry a next-generation iPad running on the fast, next-generation wireless technology, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.
Google creates an animated doodle that features a boy, a girl, Google's search engine, and a jump rope. But might there be darker, more analytical, more troubling interpretations to this tale?
Hamza Kashgari's tweets of an imaginary conversation with the Prophet Mohammad are viewed as blasphemous by the Saudi Arabian government. Now he faces trial with a possible death sentence.
The Silicon Valley online payments startup grew by 1,000 percent last year and is hopeful it can repeat that level of growth this year. To do that, it's had to move away from its early friends-and-family roots and embrace small businesses.
Chamtech's spray-on antenna uses a nano material to provide a low-power boost to antenna range. The wireless-in-a-can product may some day bring an end to unsightly cell towers.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
MySpace representative Michael Angus, an attorney who presumably should know better, was quoted as saying "...asking a judge for guidance on how best to provide the e-mail content without tainting any potential evidence that could help put a registered sex offender behind bars."
The goal in this case is NOT to put registered sex offenders behind bars! It is to prevent all registered sex offenders from using MySpace and to put anybody who is currently using MySpace for criminal activity or in violation of their parole conditions behind bars.
The statement, intentionially or unintentionally, reflects a common public view that registered sex offenders are de facto current criminals as well.
Think about it.
any certainty. They may be looking into current repeat offenders, in
which case I would want them to be *VERY* careful to make sure
they don't screw up the case before a jury gets to hear it.
Or it could be a witch hunt - "won't someone please think of the
children" seems to be the catchphrase to use if you just want to
further errode our rights or silence critics.