HPD officer warns kids about MySpace
Honolulu police Internet crimes detective Chris Duque said he has been warning Oahu kids and teens for two years about putting too much personal information online at the popular MySpace.com Web site.
And he says he's glad that the company that manages the Web site has launched a campaign to warn juveniles about online predators.
"It's a matter of good business on their part," Duque said. "I think it will make a difference."
The public service ads began running Monday.
"One in five kids online is sexually solicited. Online predators know what they're doing. Do you?" the ads say.
"It's a matter of good business on their part.
I think it will make a difference."
Chris Duque
Honolulu Police detective on
MySpace.com initiative to protect kids online |
A division of News Corp., MySpace enables computer users to meet any of more than 60 million members. Users post searchable profiles that can include photos of themselves and such details as where they live and what music they like.
The new ad campaign warns parents and teens that sexual predators are increasingly using the veil of anonymity provided by online chat rooms, forums and social networking sites to target minors.
"One of the things we're trying to persuade kids to do is not to give out personal details online, don't advertise where they are and who they are," said Ernie Allen, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "The person with whom they may be interacting may not be who they say they are."
The Web site's features and popularity with teens have raised concerns with authorities nationwide. There have been scattered accounts of sexual predators targeting minors they met through the site.
Three men have been indicted on Oahu this year for allegedly having sex with juvenile teenagers they met via the MySpace.com Web site.
Joseph Colasacco, 30, was indicted in February on five counts of first-degree sexual assault, four counts of promoting pornography for minors, three counts of first-degree electronic enticement of a minor and one count of third-degree sexual assault involving a 14-year-old Waialae boy.
Kelvin O'Neal Ford, 33, was indicted last month on four counts of first-degree sexual assault and three counts of third-degree sexual assault involving a 15-year-old Aliamanu girl.
Matthew Cargill, 29, was also indicted last month on two counts of first-degree sexual assault, five counts of third-degree sexual assault and one count of first-degree electronic enticement of a child involving a 15- or 16-year-old Kaimuki High School girl.
Duque said he talks to about three schools a week regarding the dangers of online sexual predators cruising MySpace for victims and said he's had some limited success in getting his message through.
"They're still not afraid of sexual predators, but they're taking their information off for other reasons," he said.
"Some are afraid that they won't get into a good school or get a good job because of something stupid they posted on MySpace.
Others are afraid someone else will take their information and get them in trouble or make them look bad."
The public service spots, which computer users can see on MySpace in the form of banner ads, were also slated to begin running on a host of News Corp. outlets, including other Fox Interactive Media Web sites, the 28 Fox Networks Group broadcast networks, Fox All Access radio and the New York Post.
They are part of a campaign launched two years ago by the Ad Council and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Meanwhile, MySpace announced yesterday that it has hired a Microsoft Corp. executive to oversee safety, education, privacy and law enforcement affairs, effective May 1.
Hemanshu Nigam currently serves as a director responsible for driving Microsoft's consumer security outreach and child safe computing strategies. He was previously a federal prosecutor who specialized in online child exploitation cases.
Some 22 percent of users are registered as under 18, according to MySpace.
The site forbids minors 13 and under from joining and provides special protections for those 14 and 15 -- only those on their friends list can view their profiles.
The company uses a computer program that analyzes user profiles and flags members likely to be under 14. Hundreds of thousands of flagged profiles have been deleted, the company has said.
Still, children regularly lie about their age to get around those restrictions.
Last month, two men were arrested in what prosecutors said were the first federal sex charges involving MySpace. Two Connecticut girls involved in that case were 11 and 14, the FBI said.
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone and the Associated Press contributed to this story.