FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008
Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter Announces
Nationwide Agreement with Facebook
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter and 49 other states and jurisdictions today announced that Facebook has agreed to take steps to better protect children from predators and inappropriate content on its web site.
The agreement is similar to one reached with MySpace in January, in which MySpace agreed to head a task force to explore and develop age and identity verification technology for social networking sites. Facebook will now participate in that task force, which will present its recommendations by the end of 2008.
The changes agreed to by Facebook include:
- Providing automatic warning messages when a child is in danger of giving out personal information to an unknown adult.
- Restricting the ability of users to change their listed ages.
- Acting more aggressively to remove inappropriate content and groups from the site.
- Requiring third party vendors to adhere to Facebook’s safety and privacy guidelines.
- More prominently displaying safety tips, and requiring users under 18 to affirm they have read those tips when they sign up.
“Agreements with social networking sites are important tools to protect children from on-line predators,” said Carter. “But Indiana law now takes matters a vital step further, by providing penalties for those who would use the Internet to lure young victims.”
Senate Enrolled Act 258 will take effect July 1, 2008. It will prohibit a registered sex offender convicted of certain crimes involving children from knowingly using social networking web sites, instant messaging programs or chat room programs that the offender knows include children. The law will require them to submit their email addresses and usernames to the Registry and to notify the Registry within 72 hours if they obtain new or revised usernames or email addresses. Failure to provide updated information will be a Class D felony.
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