MySpace isn’t the only site with sexual predators anymore. Last Wednesday in north suburban Fox Lake, Illinois, authorities arrested a 23-year-old man who used Facebook to pose as a teenage girl in order to lure a 15-year-old boy from Evanston to his home for sex. The predator’s name is Michael Macalindong.
The reason Facebook has not had the predator problem MySpace has had is because until recently, Facebook only allowed college students to create a profile. They enforced this by requiring new users to sign up using their school .edu email account.
Facebook has now opened up their site to all users, allowing anyone with an email address to sign up.
I think there is something to be said about having a “kids only” network. Facebook WAS unique in creating a student-only ecosystem, and until they opened their doors to everyone, the site effectively stayed predator-free.
The arrest of mortgage processor Michael Macalindong came one day after Congress introduced legislation that would require sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and make them available to social networking sites. It also would make it a crime for adults to lie about their age in pursuit of sex with a minor.
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