CT, NC Attorneys General Welcome Creation Of Task Force To Explore, Develop Social Networking Age Verification Tools

February 28, 2008 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper today welcomed MySpace's creation of a broad-based task force to explore and develop age verification tools for social networking sites.

Cooper and Blumenthal are co-chairmen of the nationwide attorney general coalition seeking to improve social networking safety.

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MySpace agreed last month to create the task force as part of a wide-ranging agreement with 49 states and the District of Columbia to take steps to better protect children who use social networking sites.

The task force will report to the attorneys general quarterly and issue a final report with findings and recommendations early next year.

More than 20 companies and organizations agreed to participate in the task force, including Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, AT&T and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Blumenthal said, "This task force is virtually a who's who of the Internet -- a powerfully impressive list of players who can achieve real progress in social networking safety. Teaming MySpace and Facebook together with other Internet titans is a major breakthrough for social networking safety. This step is strongly encouraging because the task force has leadership and membership to make a difference. My hope is that it will explore age and identity technology available to social networking sites that can provide effective new protection for children. Age verification tools -- crucial to better shielding kids from predators and inappropriate content -- can and should be implemented by social networking sites as soon as possible."

Cooper said, "Keeping kids safe online from predators should be the guiding principle for social networking sites, and we welcome the work of these technology leaders. We must find and develop effective online tools to keep predators away from children and to make sure parents are involved."

Source: Connecticut Attorney General