Skopinski+Report+Proposal

FROM: Nicole Skopinski DATE: January 11, 2010 SUBJECT: ** Proposal for Safety Report on MySpace
 * ​​​TO: Proximity Social Networking Team

MySpace, in the early 2000's, was a way for teenagers to connect with their friends and family while posting pictures. Over the years, it has become a place for predators to seek out their victims. I propose to write a report for Gen-Y users on how MySpace has become unsafe for teenagers as well as recommendations for how to make it safer.

In today's world, it is difficult to keep children safe when it comes to social networking. There are many ways that a predator can contact them. The following is vital information for parents, teachers, and administrators. ** Gen-Y users and their protectors need to know this information in order to keep the users safe.
 * Need
 * Children are unaware of the dangers of meeting people online
 * Results of studies analyzing the depth of the threats are vast
 * MySpace and News Corp are training children on safe/unsafe messages and solicitations
 * MySpace and News Corp are meeting with attorney generals of each state to train the office on how to handle dangerous situations
 * Parents are encouraged to teach their children how to be safe online

MySpace was once a trusted website that parents allowed their young children to use as a way to keep connected with the people in their lives. This report will help it's users: The report will also include attached studies and examples to help families and administrators to keep the Gen-Y population safe.
 * Topics **
 * Protecting the users identities
 * Useful tips on how to keep safe
 * Deciphering between the spam messages and the predator messages


 * Sources **

Anheuser-Bush Cos.(2008) St. Petersburg Times: Florida. Retrieved from Lexis/Nexis on January 12, 2010. =11063&docNo=1 This source explains how the ISTTF met with News Corp and the attorney generals of 49 out of the 50 states to discuss internet safety. This source explains that if children are educated, there are less exploitations and abductions.

Freifeld, Karen. (2008) Washington Post. //MySpace to Act Against Predators.// Retrieved from Lexis/Nexis on January 13, 2010.

This source explains that in the 49 out of 50 states, there is new technology that has been coming out to try to "screen out" underaged users. They have decided to default the profiles of users under the age of 18 to private.

MySpace. //Home of MySpace Safety.// Retrieved January 13, 2010. http://www.myspace-safety.org/ This source gives tutorials for parents on how to keep their children safe. It also lists some cases in the news that deal with predators on the site.

Komando, Kim. //Safety Issues on MySpace.//Retrieved January 13, 2010. http://www.komando.com/myspace/ This website has a sample MySpace page in which parents are encouraged to look for harmful information given out. Once the parent things he/she has found 10 items, there is a link at the bottom to be clicked which gives explanations.

Matte, Christy. //Parent's Guide to MySpace Safety.// Retrieved January 13, 2010. http://familyinternet.about.com/od/computingsafetyprivacy/a/myspaceparent.htm This guide gives parents information on how to detect problems with their children's profiles as well as giving them hints about fixing them.

http://www.onlinesafetysite.com/P1/Teenstats.htm

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=405675

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/09/social-network-stats-facebook-myspace-reunion-jan-2008/

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/10/pa_myspace.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/18/texas_myspace_arrests/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11708746/