U. of Iowa weighs in
Blaming MySpace won’t solve sex-offender issues:
The collegiate defense of MySpace concerning the lawsuit against them continues. This time from the U. of Iowa. It’s really starting to give me faith in our college system and that not all college students are class dodging stoners.
Of the social networking websites out there, such as Facebook, Xanga, and LiveJournal, MySpace is getting all the press, much of it negative. MySpace is being sued by several families as a result of assaults allegedly stemming from use of the site. It’s an unrealistic imposition for a website to so strictly police everything that occurs on the site. There’s a cost in time and money, as well as a logistical cost. How exactly do you regulate the exchange of information by people? It’s easy to blame a site such as MySpace because it shifts attention away from more difficult problems, such as handling sex offenders or increasing parental awareness and responsibility. A more disconcerting aspect of the case in Iowa was that both men were convicted sex offenders and living with three other offenders. Iowa’s ineffectual residency restrictions for sex offenders likely resulted in this cluster. Effective answers are needed in this situation, not irrational reactions to MySpace.
MySpace is a site designed for the exchange of information, and it means to connect individuals who want to communicate online. It cannot sense the intentions of its users, and individual responsibility is crucial. Lawmakers must first address the source of the online-predator issue - the offenders themselves - and educate parents and their children on potential dangers.
If college students can see the obvious then why can’t legislators?
Tags: Lawsuit, MySpace, u.-of-iowa
1 opinion for U. of Iowa weighs in
~Peaches~
Mar 27, 2007 at 9:37 am
Amen to that! Can’t blame a website for the idiocy of the people….
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