The Voice - Student Newspaper

Myspace, a place for sexual assault

By Sergio Vaquera
Reporter, The VOICE

In recent weeks myspace.com officials have stated that they've removed more than 90,000 sex offenders from the popular social networking website.

The site boasts about 110 million active users worldwide.

This "place for friends" has also been a place for pedophiles and sex offenders. Is this really because the world we live in is filled with such disgusting people or is it in part due to the folks on the website?

Children these days are being exposed to a lot more impure subjects at a much younger age, the internet being the gateway by opening the possibilities to everyone.

Many parents are concerned about what their child is doing on sites like myspace.com; parents want to be sure their children are safe and protected from certain kinds of people.

However, are parents a part of the problem? More and more teens are dressing in clothes that may not be considered appropriate, experimenting with drugs and alcohol, giving one the impression that they must not care about the rules of society or about the rules of their parents.

Pregnant teenagers have been on the rise in society for the past few years. Are teenagers more responsible or are they simply without guidance?

Going back to the original point, children that take photographs that are overtly revealing and posting them on the internet are setting themselves up for inappropriate reactions.

On myspace.com you can be anyone you want and this is what leads to such an overwhelming number of pedophiles. Myspace.com has put in place certain rules and regulations that provide a barrier between children under 18 and those above that age. The only problem is that the user can change his/her settings to their liking.

You must be over the age of 13 to create an account. Teenagers could lie to gain access to the site fairly easily.

While it is a great relief that indecent people have been removed from myspace.com there is still much that can be improved to ensure the safety of each individual that access the internet. Every party involved has a part in keeping myspace.com "a place for friends".

Please send comments to svaquera@gccvoice.com