Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell (www.oag.state.va.us) announced early this month his plan to supervise sex offenders in cyberspace, and MySpace (www.myspace.com), one of the most popular social networking sites, is actually cozying up.
 Superbly coiffed State Attorney General Bob McDonnell is getting cuddly with MySpace, the social networking giant. Together, they’ll try to rid the Internet of sex offenders. Good luck! |
McDonnell will push legislation in the General Assembly that would require those on the sex-offender registry to register their e-mail addresses, AOL Instant Messenger screen names and any other user names so social networking sites like MySpace can block them.
MySpace, which hosts 135 million user profiles, issued a statement December 11 saying they supported the safeguarding of online communities. “Law enforcement will have new tools to employ against predators who attempt to misuse the Internet to find potential victims. We applaud Attorney General McDonnell’s leadership on this important issue and look forward to this legislation becoming law,” said Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer at MySpace, in a press release.
While the liaison between MySpace and the state is heartwarming, is it just us, or do MySpace and Bob McDonnell make some pretty strange bedfellows?
Consider the content of your average MySpace page—a music clip from a bad local band, a bit of “poetry” that doesn’t rhyme and several message posts about illegal drug use from friends with user names like “DarkStarXXXAngel46.” If McDonnell is rolling up his Oxford shirtsleeves to separate the wheat from the chaff on MySpace, he’s got an admirable sense of ambition.
The maneuver is the latest attempt to try to keep tighter reigns on sex offenders who have finished their sentences. The measure mirrors a proposed federal bill that would require e-mail registration from sex offenders on a national scale. A State bill is also in the works to prevent offenders, even parents, from entering school property without court approval. All these measures are boons for lawmakers looking to appeal to the public.
Now that MySpace and the attorney general of Virginia are BFFs, we can just imagine the sleep over.
McDonnell: MySpace, you’re so cool. How do you get all the kids to like you?
MySpace: No, Bob. You’re so cool. How do you get your hair to do that swoop-y, fluffy thing? And, besides, the kids don’t like me now that I’m shacked up with you.
