Are new MySpace rules too tight?

One of the Internet's most popular social networking sites for teenagers announced a number of new protocols Monday aimed at keeping sexual predators away from the site and helping law enforcement identify abusers.

Attorneys general from 49 states, including Illinois, have pledged to work with MySpace to promote "industry-wide Internet safety principles" that call for added protections for young users and development of new age-verification technology.

"These are some basic, common-sense safeguards. That's how we view them," said Ann Spillane, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's chief of staff.

Some say the new policies will help keep youngsters safe from predators, but not from themselves.

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"There are a lot of really great changes MySpace has come up with," said Rich Wistocki, a detective with the Naperville Police Department's computer crimes unit. "But it could make it a little more difficult for our (school) resource officers to look at what's going on in there."

A DuPage County sheriff's deputy who works as a resource officer at Glenbard South High School in Glen Ellyn recently discovered several pictures of underage drinking parties on another social networking site simply by trolling the Web. One adult and four juveniles were cited, and Lombard police say more tickets could be forthcoming as a result of the investigation.

But under the new MySpace protocols, it may be easier for teenagers to hide evidence of underage drinking, bullying or threats.

Some of the site's new policies would require younger users to keep their profiles set to "private." And adults would not be able to simply browse for anyone younger than 18. These features would make it difficult for parents or police to covertly monitor the teenagers' pages.

"I completely see the problem," Spillane said. "There are legitimate reasons why (some adults) should have additional access, and we intend to reach back to MySpace to have that conversation."

Law enforcement has long been seeking greater controls for these types of sites to prevent sex offenders from using them. In the past year, Madigan's office identified 1,843 MySpace pages created by registered sex offenders.

"It's definitely a move in the right direction," said Mary Stanton, chief of the cyber crimes division at the Lake County state's attorney's office. "There will be more steps involved for somebody to get in touch with kids other than just accessing their MySpace page."

Sara Tews, 17, is a junior at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park and has used several networking sites to push social causes she's involved with. Her MySpace pages won't be as accessible to as wide an audience as it once was.

"I definitely believe there should be more safety precautions on the Internet against predators, that's obvious," she said. "But I definitely worry that socially conscious and activist young people would have restrictions put on them. Kids just need to be smarter."

Many of the new policies involve educating parents about the dangers of the online world and making resources more readily available, MySpace officials said. The new procedures also call for better cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the Web site.

"MySpace has set the bar for other Internet networking sites to be in a partnership with law enforcement," Wistocki said.

Making the Web safer

A look at some of the new Internet safety principles MySpace officials agreed to implement.

bull; Allow parents to submit children's e-mail addressed to MySpace to prevent anyone from misusing the addresses to set up profiles.

bull; Make default settings "private" for 16- and 17-year-old users.

bull; Require "private" settings for 14- and 15-year-old users.

bull; Strengthen software to find underage users.

bull; Create a high school section for users under 18 years old.

bull; Review all images and video uploaded to the site for inappropriate content.