To Catch a Predator

With a new study finding 32 percent of teens are contacted by strangers online, state law enforcement officials are putting the heat on Facebook and MySpace to add age verification measures as a way to thwart sexual predators.

MySpace is currently in talks with an 11-state task force comprised of attorney generals to address online child safety, according to the Financial Times.

The News Corp.-owned social network hired a chief security officer specifically to address the matter and work closely with law enforcement, parents, and teachers when problems arise.

Meanwhile, Facebook is receiving critique from attorney generals in New Jersey and New York over the ease with which predators can create a profile and harass young members.
Social networks have been historically opposed to age verification as they believe kids will simply go somewhere else once regulatory measures come into play. Furthermore, children have few public records, such as a driver license.

Social networking executives are also given to pass the ball back to the concerned parents themselves, who should be educating children on the potential dangers of the online and real world.

Toward that end, teachers in the UK and Canada are being trained in teaching students about the hazards of the 'net world.