Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

MySpace Fears, Just Another Backlash?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tue Feb 28, 2006 08:33 AM
from the dodging-the-fud dept.
The Media Editorial
An anonymous reader writes "Wired takes a hard look at all the hype about MySpace being a danger to teens, and concludes it's just another backlash against technology and youth culture. The most damning evidence against MySpace are the recent cases of men arrested for dating underage girls they met through the site, but statistically these cases are a drop in the bucket. From the article: 'In fact, with a reported population of 57 million users, MySpace is arguably safer from such crime than other communities that haven't been the subject of the same scrutiny. One example: California, which averaged 62 statutory rape convictions per month in the late 90s, in a state population of 33 million.'"

Related Stories

[+] MySpace To Be Made Safer For Users 251 comments
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "'When News Corp. bought the social-networking Web site MySpace.com last July, the media company got two surprises, one good and one bad,' the Wall Street Journal reports. The good news: Traffic nearly doubled in the last half of last year. The bad news: MySpace is being criticized for exposing children to risqué content and sexual predators. In response, 'News Corp. plans to appoint a "safety czar" to oversee the site, launch an education campaign that may include letters to schools and public-service announcements to encourage children not to reveal their contact information."
[+] Viacom vs. News Corp. on Social Networking 65 comments
dolphinlover writes "The purchase of MySpace.com by Robert Murdoch's News Corporation last year for $580 million has caught the attention of another media conglomerate, Viacom Inc., whose CEO, Tom Freston, has now announced his intentions to purchase or partner with a social networking site this year in order to enhance the company's image with youth. Whether it will also be successful monetarily has yet to be seen, as MySpace.com only had $47 million in revenue in 2005 based on advertising. This news follows Viacom's acquisition of Neopets.com in 2005. For those companies already heavily involved in television and movies, expanding their presence to the Internet provides a new opportunity to gain a foothold over the competition."
[+] Your Rights Online: Beware Your Online Presence 677 comments
Mz6 wrote to mention an article in the NY Daily News stating that an increasing number of employers are Googling their prospective employees during the interview/hiring process. From the article: "'A friend of mine posted a picture of me on My Space with my eyes half closed and a caption that suggests I've smoked something illegal,' says Kluttz. While the caption was a joke, Kluttz now wonders whether the past two employers she interviewed with thought it was so funny. Both expressed interest in hiring Kluttz, but at the 11th hour went with someone else."
[+] More Warnings Against Oversharing on MySpace 383 comments
Skapare writes "Your next prospective employer might be watching your MySpace page, according to a story at the New York Times. And if you think Facebook is more private, maybe not if that prospective employer has an intern from the same school checking up on you." From the article: "Students may not know when they have been passed up for an interview or a job offer because of something a recruiter saw on the Internet. But more than a dozen college career counselors said recruiters had been telling them since last fall about incidents in which students' online writing or photographs had raised serious questions about their judgment, eliminating them as job candidates."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

MySpace Fears, Just Another Backlash? 50 Comments More | Login /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More | Login
Keybindings Beta
Q W E
A S D
Loading ... Please wait.

  • Back in the 60s (Score:3, Funny)

    by montyzooooma (853414) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:35AM (#14815942)
    my mom took my radio off me because she thought it was a danger. Of course I was using it to beat on the side of my brother's head at the time.
    • my mom took my radio off me because she thought it was a danger. Of course I was using it to beat on the side of my brother's head at the time.

      That's because you left it plugged in. She was teaching you a lesson: you can beat your sibblings, but not ele

  • Guns don't kill people... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dtsazza (956120) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:38AM (#14815950)
    I've said it before and I'll say it again, technology is very rarely the problem. MySpace is by its very nature a social networking tool (of dubious quality, but that's another issue), and is meant to bring people together. What they do after that is a function of the people, not MySpace itself. And yes, sometimes these people meet through MySpace and then have underage sex.

    Sometimes people meet each other through school and then have underage sex... I don't hear any claims that school is a "danger to teens". It's time we stopped blaming technology for merely giving people opportunities to show their moral fibre.
    • And I thought, teaching "Intelligent Design" in school WAS a sure-fire sign of schools posing a danger to Teens... ;-)

      Seriously, though, the comparison in the article (MySpace vs California) isn't quite as good as it may sound - the "population density" of
    • This past week a local 17-year-old got arrested for posting photos he'd snapped of two friends (16 and 17), having sex at a New Year's party. A few weeks earlier, several high school students got busted for possessing alcohol when friends posted snapshots

      • The Real Danger of Kids Online (Score:4, Funny)

        by SeanDuggan (732224) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:08AM (#14817114) Homepage Journal
        ya ..thats exatly what i wud have said (if u didnt say it b4 me)...same thing like...nuclear technology...einstein was not some one who wud like to bomb hiroshima,or some one who wud recommend Iran,israel or others to threaten each other for/with neuclear weapons!!! he was a nice guy!!
        And this comment right here shows the real danger of kids going online, the fall of modern grammar and spelling. Do you really want your kid to sound like this?

        And moyameehaa, maybe you're not a native English speaker. If so, I'm sorry that I had to use you as an example for this satire. If not... you should hang your head in shame, man.

        [ Parent ]

          • Re:The Real Danger of Kids Online (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Ohreally_factor (593551) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @01:11PM (#14818548) Journal
            While it isn't perfect since connotations of words vary from person to person . . .

            You mean like Alanis Morrisette's misuse of the word "ironic"? Connotations "vary" among people who are using words that they do not understand. A simple check of a dictionary can provide the definitions necessary to make one properly understood.

            Grammar and proper spelling only facilitate the persuasiveness of an argument since it sounds more pleasing.

            Proper grammar and spelling facilitate the persuasiveness of an argument because they make it more comprehend-able. If I cannot understand your argument, you aren't likely to persuade me.

            While yes there are cases where the improper use of they/it/ect does hinder the reader

            What does electro-convulsive therapy (ect) have do do with your argument? Granted, its improper use would hinder anyone, not just the reader. OK, that's a cheap shot. I'm just having fun with you.

            Sadly the easiest way to sum up my argument is... List off how many Authors names you remember. Now, list off who edited their works.

            You sum up your argument with a non-sequitar? What does this have to do with the proper use of grammar? Are you under the misapprehension that an editor's job is to cross a "t" or dot an "i"? That the main function of a book editor is to proof read?

            Look, your argument is barely understandable, and you haven't really proved any points. Proper grammar is conducive to logical thought, but it's not a guarantee of it.

            If you want to use informal shorthand when you're IMing or text messaging someone, fine. Don't make the mistake that such shorthand is acceptable for a more complex "transmission of ideas". For that you need a more formal language.
            [ Parent ]

  • Hype? Of course it is (Score:4, Insightful)

    by YrWrstNtmr (564987) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:39AM (#14815954)
    This is merely the news outlets generating income for themselves. They have to keep the scare machine up and running, lest we forget how irrelevant they are.

    I think they have a quota. At least one station in every market MUST show the viewers/readers a way that the new society is 'bad' at least once a day.
    Once a week, they all have to get together and show us the SAME story on some way that we can be kidnapped or killed.

    "Dangers lurking in your sink! Details at 11!"

    Now...back to the story at hand. Are some kids being fools on MySpace? Sure there are. These same kids would be fools anywhere. MySpace is just one outlet for them.

    • Re:Hype? Of course it is (Score:2, Interesting)

      by DerGeist (956018)
      Bullseye.

      This is the same hype as when phone chat rooms came out, that pedophiles were going to run wild and eat children alive, and kids would be able to play "phone pranks" while running loose in the street, drunk at 2 a.m. while having unprotected sex w

  • But... this is the INTERNET! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Opportunist (166417) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:41AM (#14815962)
    And we all know the internet is the place where all the creepy and dangerous people are. Watch your TV, it tells you so! Or don't you believe anymore what you see on TV?

    Free expression, free opinion, thinking for yourself? What for, when you can have Fox?

    • Re:But... this is the INTERNET! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by garcia (6573) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:05AM (#14816094) Homepage
      And we all know the internet is the place where all the creepy and dangerous people are. Watch your TV, it tells you so! Or don't you believe anymore what you see on TV?

      Back when I was younger I wasn't allowed to watch "You Can't do That on Television" and the Simpsons. I wasn't allowed to have an Nintendo (or a "game machine" as my father called it). Instead I was told to go play with my computer.

      Boy have times changed ;)
      [ Parent ]
      • Back when I was younger I wasn't allowed to watch "You Can't do That on Television" and the Simpsons. I wasn't allowed to have an Nintendo (or a "game machine" as my father called it). Instead I was told to go play with my computer. Boy have times changed

  • Uh.... (Score:2, Informative)

    by lucabrasi999 (585141)
    California, which averaged 62 statutory rape convictions per month in the late 90s, in a state population of 33 million

    So, the article is comparing a the state of California (a physical region) with MySpace, which is in Cyberspace. To me, that does not s

    • that job should include removing computers from their children's bedroom. The kid should be using a laptop in the kitchen.

      You must be fun at parties.

    • Re:Uh.... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by epiphani (254981) <epiphani@@@dal...net> on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:17AM (#14816175)
      I would moderate you flamebait if I could, instead I'll just (impersonally) flame you.

      I believe that the comparison to California's crime rate is invalid because cybercrime may or may not involve actual physical contact. And, if it doesn't involve physical contact (for example, a dirty phone conversation), then it may not be reported.

      So what, now -talking- about having underage sex is illigal, should be reported as sexual harrassment or such? wtf? Keep the frame of reference here. The issue was the fact that people were meeting on myspace and proceeding to have real, in person, SEX!. My issues with the legal age aside, you can NOT compare phonesex with a minor to statitory rape.

      IMHO, that job should include removing computers from their children's bedroom.

      At what age does it become acceptable? 18? 16? 14? If you've got a 15 year old girl that wants to flirt on the net, removing her computer from her room isnt going to stop her. If you want to be sure that she doesnt go meet some 40 year old in a motel for a night of wild sex, then raise her with values that wouldnt let her do that.

      Teens running off and having sex with older folks isnt a symptom of the internet, its a symptom of something totally different. Yes, teach them not to put themselves in bad situations, but that doesnt mean removing their privacy to achieve it.

      When my dad started dating my mom, he was 22 and she was 16. 30 years ago, that was still a big age difference, but when they past their 30th anniversary this year, it made me wonder what kinda fuss they went through and weather it would be more or less flac if I dated someone 6 years my junior now.
      [ Parent ]
      • So what, now -talking- about having underage sex is illigal, should be reported as sexual harrassment or such. My issues with the legal age aside, you can NOT compare phonesex with a minor to statitory rape.

        IANAL, but having a dirty phone conversation wi

    • These dangers include the fact that you can easily find out alot of personal information about someone. And, that information is readily available to millions of people on the web.
      No, that's not the danger at all. The danger is that there are kids putting
    • These dangers include the fact that you can easily find out alot of personal information about someone. And, that information is readily available to millions of people on the web.

      Yes, and it's only the information you choose to share about yourself unless

  • Stoies like this appear because its good for ratings. Moms everywhere will watch the report because they don't understand MySpace.com and will think their kids are being preyed on. It's a non-isssue for now.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]
  • After watching this movie [youtube.com], I have to say that the government crackdown can't come fast enough.

  • What do they expect? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by jdwclemson (953895)
    Every time there is new technology, it makes crime easier, and some news guru will always spin an article out of that. Do you know how criminals usually find out that it makes crime easier? They realize the technology makes LIFE easier and just start to

  • It definitely is the parents' fault (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MikeRT (947531) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:50AM (#14816017) Homepage

    Back in 1996 when my family got Internet access, dialup access was almost the norm among the middle class families where we lived in coastal North Carolina. We weren't uber-elite, we weren't ahead of the curve by any wide margin. We were like most of our middle class neighbors. My parents at least tried to monitor what I did, and they instilled a healthy fear of revealing my information online because I wasn't an adult and couldn't defend myself against sex offenders.



    Fast forward to today. It's quite common for young teens and late preteens to play "taunt the pedophile" with naughty, often slutty, pictures. Parents don't even try to monitor their kids' access by randomly checking on them, reading through their history (rarely worked, but at least our parents tried back then a lot harder than most today). Many, many parents today just don't want to be bothered. It's not their fault that junior is living a completely parent-free life the moment he goes online. Oh no. Parents can't be expected to be the boss in their own homes!



    I've said it once [blindmindseye.com], I'll say it again. Too many parents today regard the Internet as Happy Playland(tm) and don't even bother trying to protect their kids today. Then again, maybe this is necessary because too many of my peers in college had a dreadfully naive view of basic security. It's about being a responsible parent. When you had that child, you took on the responsibility of being a parent. That means you sacrifice personal time and career where necessary to raise them. I'm sick of people who insist that they can have it all, while they do half-assed jobs as parents in the name of finding "personal fullfillment" through everything but being a good parent raising a new generation worthy of those who made this country great.

    • It's quite common for young teens and late preteens to play "taunt the pedophile" with naughty, often slutty, pictures.

      Indeed. I'm often amazed that so many people seem to refuse to accept the existance of exhibitionists.

      Sluts and teases often are exhibiti
    • You don't need to censor kids who have proper (or at least mildly appropriate) values.

      I was born into a house without a computer, first "peecee" was an XT when I was 8 or so. Didn't get on the net until years later in 1996, etc...

      My parents didn't watch o

  • Don't leave a record kids... (Score:3, Informative)

    by OctoberSky (888619) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:56AM (#14816052)
    The problem with myspace, and the internet in general, is that it leaves a record of these kids actions (I am talking about 14-21 year olds as "kids").

    You see, before the parents didn't know little susie was blowing little billy behind the gym, now they can read about it and their scared. Or they (the parents) didn't know that their kids know about pot, sex, curse words, even politics to some extent, and they know the kids didn't learn it from them (the parents).

    So where did little Susie/Billy learn about premarital sex and drugs and drinking and etc... Tv? no, School? no, Home? Hell no! They must have learned it from MySpace and Yahoo Chatrooms and Eminem.

    It's not that kids talk about sex nowadays, and it's not that little girls and boys act like little whores and quasi-pimps, it is that these kids put it out there... for all to see, including their parents.
  • It is a drop in the bucket, but people who've never heard of MySpace before don't know this. It's the same thing that happened when the internet was just entering the popular culture. People didn't realize how widespread it already was, so when they hear
  • from TFA (again):

    'In fact, with a reported population of 57 million users, MySpace is arguably safer from such crime than other communities that haven't been the subject of the same scrutiny. One example: California, which averaged 62 statutory rape convic

  • Not Just Another Backlash (Score:4, Funny)

    by mattwarden (699984) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:04AM (#14816090) Homepage

    No, it's not just another backlash. It's another backlash with background midi music and 30 animated gifs.

  • You children are going to use foul language, take drugs, and make whoopie. And there's nothing you can do about it...

    Because you did the same thing when you were their age.

    //and if you really didn't, karma will make sure it doubles back twice on them.
    • I know. And I cringe at the thought of the coming years. They might be a pain in the ass now, but my kids are going to kill me when they become teenagers.
    • Because you did the same thing when you were their age.

      I totally agree, the Hippie Generation is now the Hypocrite Generation
      If you are really worried about your teenage daughter dating men from MySpace, just talk to them about it. Show that you lov
      • But that's exactly my point. Most parents won't do that because the child will undoubtedly say "don't tell me you never did X at some point..." Then they'll have to choose between the following replies:

        1) Do as I say, not as I do
        2) Yes, but now I reali

  • Comedian Demetri Martin [myspace.com] did a hilarious exposé on MySpace [youtube.com] on The Daily Show recently, which tends to reflect some of this backlash.

    (Google video had it for awhile, but it's disappeared from there. Thank you, YouTube!)

  • does anyone just think it is "coincidence" myspace has been all over the news seemingly since News Corp has purchased them? I never say anything related to myspace before the deal. Now, there are nightly segments on myspace it seems...

  • Abuse (Score:2)

    by Wordsmith (183749)
    Myspace abuses me every time I log on ... and I'm just talking about the page design.
  • I live in Baltimore County. We just had a arrest of a man who went out on a date with a woman from myspace where he killed her on the date.

    Doesn't seem to be far fetched here. Usually, like all of you, think it's being hyped to generate news. But in this c

    • Re:Myspace woman murdered in my county (Score:4, Insightful)

      by YrWrstNtmr (564987) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:24AM (#14816226)
      Doesn't seem to be far fetched here. Usually, like all of you, think it's being hyped to generate news. But in this case it is very, very real. Just ask her family.

      And this doesn't happen if people were to meet in a bar? MySpace is not the cause, merely (another) conduit.

      The guy is the problem, not MySpace.

      [ Parent ]
    • I live in Baltimore County. We just had a arrest of a man who went out on a date with a woman from myspace where he killed her on the date.

      I think that the story could have ended there as it's no different than any other date... But nooooo. They had to g
    • Would it make anyone feel any better if they met at a party? Or a bar? Or on a telephone chat line? Or at work? Or at school? Or on a public street?

      At what point exactly can we blame the context more than the criminals?

    • How is this any different from if she met him on a dating site? In a bar? In a club? It's not. Standard "stranger danger" common sense still applies.

      Always meet in a busy location, e.g. a restaurant at lunchtime. At the end of the date have a friend

  • Seems to me that many of the posts here so far miss a few points so far and just point at lack of parental oversight as the major problem. Statistics don't make the 'Net or the state of California safer. Think about it:
    1. If Mr/Ms. Joe/Jane "Child
  • "Dating?"

    That's a curiously benign way of putting it.

    http://www.perverted-justice.com/ [perverted-justice.com]

  • I wouldn't worry too much. I don't think myspace will be around for the longterm.

    I had never had a myspace account until quite recently. Once I got the account going. The following things jumped out at me RIGHT AWAY.

    1. The web design for the user space is

  • Privacy? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RealBeanDip (26604) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:31AM (#14816276)
    From TFA: Concerns over the site fall generally into two categories: unease over the type of content teens are posting, and fear of the type of people they're meeting.

    This misses the point: MySpace has numerous "polls" and other crap that asks kids questions which destroy their privacy. Kids being kids don't see the danger in having a permanent public record about themselves and routinely answer questions like whether or not they drink, do drugs and have sex. Coupled with the ease in which they disclose their age, where they live and where they go to school, kids disclose all sorts of information online they shouldn't and make it easy to tie the myspace account to an actual human.

    This isn't limited to MySpace, but MySpace asks the questions and prompts kids to reveal this information.

    I also don't question whether or not schools have the right to block MySpace at the firewall, they do and should do so if they deem it isn't of educational value. Computers and the 'net are in school to support curriculum, not to meet your buddies online and chat with.

    • That's exactly what concerns me as well. I've read profiles of kids that my kids know and some of them are smart enough not to post risque pictures of themselves and know some of the basics of online safety (one 14 or 15yo girl posing in a bikini top, hold
  • <NaturalSelection>
    No need to dance around the point. Why don't we all just admit that we hate the myspacer's and if they are dumb enough to get themselves raped or killed becuase they post oodles of personal information on the site, then good riddan

  • Statutory rape is all politics (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nanoakron (234907) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:43AM (#14816362)
    I may go down in a ball of flames for this but...

    I honestly believe statutory rape is not real rape. It's all religious dogma masked by political posturing. Let's say I'm 21 and married to a 16 year old. Yep, that's legal in most of Europe. And we're having sex too (this is /. so you know this ain't real).

    We fly out to the states for our honeymoon and bam I can be locked up for 5 years.

    WTF?

    Do girls really only become women in the US at 18 but in most of Europe at 16? 14 in the Netherlands?

    Or is there an element of prudishness mixed with a lack of political will to look soft on anything with 'rape' in the title.

    Real rape is a horrific deprivation of a woman's right to choose and consent to an intimate act. Statutory rape is a politician telling a woman she has no right to consent.

    62 cases of statutory rape per month in California says more about a need to change the age of consent than it does the presence of predatory adults.

    -Nano.
    • Different cultures can justify different ages of consent and have it still make sense. Just because one country sets the age at 14 doesn't mean that another is wrong not to.

      Also, age of consent laws apply to both sexes, not just women, although some count
    • Definitely bad math. Whoever made the comparison is just plain foolish.

      How can anyone compare 33 million physically existing people with 57 million registered accounts in a digital database? Furthermore how do you compare an online "community" with a the
Check for more

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.