MySpace, a social networking Web site, agreed to initiate new safeguards to protect young people from online predators, welcome news to state and local law enforcement agencies.

In addition, representatives from MySpace and other social networking sites will create broad-based task force to develop age and identity verification software to be implemented on sites like MySpace and Facebook, according to a news release from Nixon's office.

Although local authorities say the new measures are an important step in the right direction, they caution that parental monitoring remains the most effective tool in ensuring the online safety of children and teens.

"No safeguard and no policy can protect a child 100 percent of the time. Parents still need to do their part in knowing what there are doing and who they're talking to," said Detective Jeff Shackelford, agency investigator for the Southeast Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Shackelford said the new safety measures MySpace has taken are meant to bolster parental attention, not replace it.

In a prepared statement, Nixon said parents who are actively involved in talking to their children about online activities are the most effective tool in protecting them from online dangers.

The best thing parents can do to protect their children is educate themselves, said Tammy Gwaltney, director of the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence.

"Speak the language, know what chat rooms are, what a blog is," Gwaltney said.

Gwaltney recommended that parents look at their children's online activities in the same light they'd view them going over to a friends house or to a party and ask just as many questions.

"I don't think people see the Internet as the same kind of social interaction," she said.

Gwaltney said about a half dozen cases her office dealt with in the past year involved social networking sites.

Among other measures, MySpace agreed to:

• Allow parents to submit children's e-mail addresses to MySpace to prevent anyone from misusing the addresses to set up profiles.
• Make the default setting "private" for 16- and 17-year-old users.
• Respond within 72 hours to complaints about inappropriate content and devote more staff and resources to classify photographs and discussion groups.
• Strengthen software to find underage users.
• Create a high school section for users younger than 18.

"We thank the attorneys general for a thoughtful and constructive conversation on Internet safety," MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam said in a written statement. "This is an industrywide challenge, and we must all work together to create a safer Internet."

He said the agreement includes measures "to provide a safer online experience for teens, and we look forward to sharing our ongoing safety innovations with other companies."

MySpace has always been cooperative with law enforcement, and timely in their response to provide subpoenaed information in connection with criminal cases, Shackelford said.

In addition, they were quick in terminating the MySpace accounts of nearly 700 registered sex offenders the Attorney General's office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol found to be using the social networking site.

Investigators have increasingly examined MySpace.com, Facebook.com and other sites where people post information and images and invite contact from other people.

New York investigators said they set up Facebook profiles last year as 12- to 14-year olds and were quickly contacted by other users looking for sex.

All computer related crimes have risen significantly over the past year, Shackelford said.

In particular, "cyberbullying" has risen, where children target others in their own age groups, even classmates or neighbors, and harass one another with obscene photos, videos, or other bully-type behavior, Shackelford said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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