MOUNT VERNON — A Mount Vernon News investigation has discovered that at least seven Knox County sex offenders appear to have personal pages on Myspace.com, one of a number of social networking sites popular with teenagers.
Tips on using
the Internet The Westerville ICETEAM offers the following tips to families using the Internet. •A lot of people use the Internet to take advantage of other people, especially kids and teens. Never reveal any personally identifiable information online, whether it’s on your profile page or in a blog, chat room, instant messenger chat or e-mail. •Always use a screen name instead of your real name. •Never give out your address, telephone number, hangout spots or links to other Web sites or pages where this information is available. •Be careful about sending pictures to people you do not know very well. •Never tell people personal or private information about your friends or family. •Never assume you’re completely anonymous online. Even if you don’t put personal information online, there are different ways that people can still figure out who you are and where you live. •Never share your password with other people (except for your parents). Your passwords to Web sites, e-mail accounts and instant messenger services should not be shared with friends or strangers. Your friends may not be as safe as you are and may unknowingly subject you to danger. You should, however, share your passwords with your parents if they ask so they can make sure you’re using the Internet safely. •Never arrange meetings with strangers. Just because you’ve seen a person’s picture and read his or her profile, does not mean you know them. Many people online lie about who they are and what their intentions are. Just because someone seems nice online, does not mean they really are. They could be trying to hurt you. •Don’t believe everything you read or see online. Be wary of everything you see online unless it is from a trusted source. People lie about their age, who they are, what they look like, where they live, how they know you and what their interests are. Also, a lot of Web sites and e-mails contain information that is misleading or just plain untrue. If a person or deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Ask your parents to help you figure out what information is really true. •Don’t download files or software without your parents’ permission. There are a lot of files on the Internet that are unsafe to download to a computer. Some files will bombard you with pop-up ads all day long. Some files will actually track everything you and your family does on your computer, including your logins, passwords and credit card information, which criminals then use to steal money from you and do other harm. There is no easy way to tell which files are bad and which are ok to download. •Don’t respond to inappropriate messages or emails. Some people send inappropriate messages just to see if you will respond. If you do, you are simply encouraging them to send more inappropriate material to you. Don’t respond to inappropriate messages. Instead, talk to your parents about how to report them to the right place. •Don’t post inappropriate content. If you post information about tennis, you will attract people who are interested in tennis. If you post inappropriate content or pictures, you will attract people who have inappropriate interests. If you post jokes, photos or other content that contain sexual references you will probably attract people who are only interested in talking about sex. Be mindful of what you are communicating to the rest of the online world through the content you put onto the Internet. •Don’t be bullied into fights. People tend to say things online that they would never say in person. Some people even say rude and malicious things, sometimes just to see if you will respond. Don’t respond to these people. Instead, talk to your parents about how to block them from communicating with you and report them to the right place. •Understand what you put online will be there forever. Assume that everything you put online — every e-mail you write, every picture you post, every blog or journal entry you post — will be accessible on the Internet forever. Many search engines copy Internet pages and save them for viewing even after the pages are no longer online. Think about that before you post anything online. Do you really want pictures or blog entries to be seen 10 years from now? •Talk to your parents about what you do online. Even though you may know more about computers and the Internet than your parents, they understand online risks better than you. Be open with your parents about how you use the Internet. Answer any questions they have honestly and completely. Talk with your parents about the websites you visit. Tell them what you know about online safety and how you make sure you stay safe while using the Internet. Listen to your parents’ concerns. They’re only trying to make sure you’re safe. •Teach your parents about computers and the Internet. It is natural to fear the unknown. You’ve grown up using computers and the Internet. Your parents probably didn’t. You probably know a whole lot more about computers and the Internet than your parents. Teach your parents what you know. This is your chance to show them something for a change. If your parents understand how to use computers and the Internet better, they will probably feel ore comfortable with you being online. |
The News took the Ohio Attorney General’s list of registered Knox County sex offenders, then ran the names through Myspace.com’s search tool, looking for user profiles with the same information.
Seven matches were discovered, six male and one female. They shared the same exact names, ages and zip codes as the sex offenders on eSORN.
Social networking sites like Myspace.com offer places for computer users to create personal pages and customize them with pictures, music and lists of interests. Some users keep online journals, often referred to as blogs, and use the site’s integrated e-mail feature.
Personal Myspace.com pages can be set to “private,” meaning that only users identified as friends can see the information on them; however, the pages are open by default and can be viewed by any other Myspace user.
None of the seven profiles the News discovered were set to private. Some contained little or no information, while others feature pictures, descriptions of personal interests and friend lists.
The general interest box of one of the profiles invites female viewers to engage in sexual activity with the 27-year old male and his wife. Another profile, belonging to a 29-year-old Mount Vernon man, includes messages from a 17-year-old female, who to claimined to be a friend.
The information uncovered in the News investigation was turned over to the Knox County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutor John Thatcher said the office is looking into whether or not any of the seven offenders are currently on probation, which could restrict their access to computers and make the profiles against the law.
“The prosecutor’s office is interested,” he said. “We are going to ask the sheriff’s office and the probation department to look into it and make sure these offenders aren’t violating any of the conditions of their community control, post release control or any other laws.”
Thatcher added that the issue of monitoring sex offenders who are using social networking sites is another good reason for his recent proposal to hire a new detective who would be based out of the Children’s Services Office.
The Westerville Police Department has created an Internet investigating team, known as ICETEAM, that seeks out, solicits and arrests Internet predators. The department is headed by Chief Joe Morbitzer.
According to Morbitzer, having a Myspace.com profile is probably legal for offenders who are off probation or parole, or offenders whose probation does not include computer restrictions.
Also, there is no guarantee that registered sex offenders on Myspace are using the site for nefarious purposes. However, Morbitzer said, he is always suspicious of sex offenders using chat rooms and social networking sites.
“I’m not saying they will absolutely use it to commit a sexual crime,” he said. “But it should definitely raise suspicion in people’s mind. The courts would not have labeled them without a reason. It’s something to be very leery of.”
Morbitzer encouraged children who use social networking sites, and their parents, to set their profiles to private so that only friends can view the information. He explained that many people simply don’t think about the amount of information they are giving out in these profiles, and the ways in which it can be used.
“We encourage people to set their Myspace pages to private, but some people still leave them wide open and when you look at them, every bit of personal information is available,” he said. “People have got to remember that anything they put out there is community information; anyone can hijack it and use it for anything they want.”
The results of the News’ investigation were also turned in to Myspace.com. The company, which has ultimate control over who is welcome on its Web site, claims to be cracking down on sex offenders.
In early December, Myspace.com announced it was partnering with an ID verification service to detect and delete the profiles of registered sex offenders.
The technology, which the company hopes will be operational by January, will use information from state sex offender databases that already exist, combining this information with its own software to track down offender profiles and remove them from the site.
Morbitzer saluted the efforts of Myspace.com and other social networking sites. However, he remains skeptical that any technology can be totally effective in stopping Internet predators, especially sexually oriented offenders who have their names removed from the state registry after 10 years, and habitual offenders, whose names disappear after 20 years. Of the three sex offender classifications, only registered sexual predators are required to register for life.
“For many, the sex offender title is not a lifelong title,” he said. “The names will come and go and technology is ever changing. As soon as they find a way to get rid of them, the offenders will find a way to get back on.
“Myspace.com is doing everything it can,” he added. “Technology is always evolving and there are always ways around it; that’s just reality.”