Facebook X's sex offenders

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February 19, 2009

5,500 removed from site since May

Anonymous The Meadville Tribune Thu Feb 19, 2009, 10:13 PM EST

By MARLON A. WALKER

Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Facebook has removed more than 5,500 convicted sex offenders from its social networking Web site since May, Connecticut’s attorney general said Thursday.

Richard Blumenthal said the world’s largest social networking site, which claims to have more than 175 million active members, reported to his office that 5,585 convicted sex offenders were found on the Web site and removed between May 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2009.

“The message in this number is Facebook has an equal stake in solving this problem of protecting children,” said Blumenthal, who along with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has led an effort remove sex offenders from the social networking Web sites.

“They have an equal stake in the predator problem and its solution.”

Earlier this month, rival networking site MySpace announced it had removed 90,000 sex offenders in a two-year period.

Last year, the attorneys general got both sites to implement dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify users’ ages and putting limits on older users’ ability to search the profiles of members under 18.

Chris Kelly, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, said the convicted sexual offenders on the site were found through user reports, working with local law enforcement agencies and using the national sex offender registry.

He said Facebook’s focus on members using their real names and identities helps discourage sex offenders, and even more is being planned to prevent them from registering. Earlier this month, Facebook officials said policy dictated that no convicted sex offender be allowed to keep a Facebook page.

Kelly said the company has pitched a proposal to attorneys general around the country to develop a real-time system cross-checking available outlets and “block any registration from the get-go.”

“Our policy has been to remove convicted sex offenders when they are reported or identified through any means,” Kelly said.