MySpace Partners with NCMEC for AMBER Alerts & More
MySpace Partners with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to Provide Added Distribution for AMBER Alerts Tuesday January 23, 7:00 am ET MySpace Users Mobilize to Help Law Enforcement Find Abducted Children Nationwide Site Also Expands Safety Product Features to Heighten Safety and Security for Members Including Email Verification and "Over/Under" Privacy Tool LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MySpace.com, the leading social networking and lifestyle portal, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC), announced today a partnership to distribute localized online AMBER Alerts via MySpace. In addition to its traditional distribution methods, the AMBER Alert program will now benefit from the mass distribution of the MySpace network and provide rapid, viral support to law enforcement in bringing home an abducted child. The AMBER Alerts on MySpace go live today. In other news, MySpace today announced a new set of safety features to increase online safety and privacy for its community, including email verification and an "over/ under" privacy tool for all users. "When a child is abducted, the AMBER Alert program is a tool that allows everyone to join in the search. To date 314 children have been recovered as a result of this program," said Ernie Allen, NCMEC president and CEO. "MySpace AMBER Alerts will allow the online community to be part of a nationwide effort to bring even more children home. We are grateful that MySpace has agreed to help us distribute these important alerts." The AMBER Alerts on MySpace will be updated constantly. As soon as NCMEC is notified that an AMBER Alert has been issued by law enforcement, MySpace will relay that AMBER Alert information to all users within the zip codes of where the AMBER Alert was issued. The AMBER Alert notification will appear in a small text box at the top of a profile, giving users the option to receive additional information such as the photo and description of the abducted child, suspect and vehicle. Users who have information on the abducted child or the suspect's whereabouts should immediately call 9-1-1. "AMBER Alerts on MySpace give users nationwide the opportunity to help in the recovery of an abducted child in their area--just by logging on," said Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer, MySpace. "We applaud NCMEC and will continue working with industry leaders such as Ernie Allen and his team to implement creative programs that share the goal of protecting teens." The AMBER Alert program, named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and murdered in Arlington, Texas, is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, and transportation agencies to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of the child. Posting AMBER Alerts on MySpace uses the power of the connected community to provide rapid assistance to law enforcement in recovering an abducted child. President Bush authorized the national AMBER Alert initiative as part of the PROTECT Act signed in 2003. The law formally established the federal government's role in the AMBER Alert program, appointing the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the agency responsible for coordinating AMBER Alert programs on the national level. DOJ has officially partnered with NCMEC, authorizing them as the agent that coordinates and disseminates AMBER Alerts to secondary distributors such as MySpace. "I applaud the efforts of NCMEC and MySpace to alert the public and increase awareness of AMBER Alerts," said Regina B. Schofield, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs and the National AMBER Alert Coordinator. "This partnership expands the AMBER Alert secondary distribution network, allowing even more people to serve as the extra eyes and ears of law enforcement as they work to bring abducted children home." In other news, MySpace today announced a number new additions to the company's arsenal of user protections including mandatory email verification and an "over/ under" privacy tool. Mandatory email verification requires that all MySpace users register with a valid email address and all users creating a profile on MySpace will be required to confirm their new membership via email. The "over/under" blocking tool expands on privacy features previously available only to younger users. The over/ under blocking feature prevents users under 18 from being contacted by users over 18 and it also allows users over 18 to block users under 18 from contacting them. Other recent privacy and security features include: * Privacy Alert: MySpace safety teams recognized that many users were misrepresenting their ages to avail themselves of privacy options exclusively given to younger users. In response, MySpace has made the full range of privacy options available to the entire community and has communicated the availability of expanded privacy options to such users. MySpace deletes an average of 25,000 profiles per week due to age misrepresentation. * Instant Messaging and Chat Safety Restrictions: Users can only receive instant messages from other users on their Friend list. Users under 18 years of age cannot access romance-specific chat rooms. * Safety Suggestion Alerts: All users under the age of 18-years old receive security warnings before they post content. MySpace encourages users of all ages to recognize the public nature of the Internet and reminds younger users to use common sense before posting content throughout the community. * Age Restrictions for Communication and Content: All younger users listed on MySpace--14- or 15-years old-- are tagged to be un-searchable by age on any search engine or Internet portal. Additionally on MySpace, no user can Browse for users under 16 and adults can never add users under 16-years old as a friend unless they know the user's last name or email address. Lastly, users 19 years or older cannot search for high school students and younger users can only receive group invites from those individuals within their friend network. * Safety and Customer Care Response: * Law enforcement hotline, 24/7 both emergency and non-emergency * Streamlined abuse reporting to better differentiate between the type of abuse * CAT team development; MySpace has created a Content Assurance Team (CAT) to assume the roles of various users and view the site 'through their eyes' * Parent Care, dedicated parent care email and downloadable guidebook * School Care Team, dedicated educator hotline and guidebook * Primary Safety Tools for Members: * All members can set profile to "private" * Users can pre-approve all comments before being posted * Users can block another user from contacting them * Age-specific blocking capabilities available to all users * Younger user birthdays only visible to friends * MySpace "profile details" limited to age-appropriate activities for younger users * Users can conceal their 'online now' status * Users can prevent forwarding of their images to other sites * 32,000 trained school moderators oversee forums * Users have the option to make their profile public for those in their age range About MySpace.com MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, video, mobile communications, instant messaging and more, MySpace has created a global connected community with a wide array of communication choices. As the world's top-ranked web domain in terms of page views(a), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly-regarded site of its kind. MySpace's international network includes localized community sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, and Ireland. (a) Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, November 2006. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to www.comscore.com. About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. NCMEC's congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 419,400 leads. Since 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more than 125,200 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 107,600 children. For more information about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com. Contact: MySpace Dani Dudeck, 310-969-7148 ddudeck@myspace.com Tracy Akselrud, 310-969-2813 takselrud@myspace.com or NCMEC Communications Department 703-837-6111 media@ncmec.org Source: MySpace.com http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070123/20070123005519.html?.v=1

Jan 23, 2007 8:58 am US/Eastern MySpace Will Post Amber Alerts Other New Features Will Protect Minors (CBS) NEW YORK The power of the Internet can be used for good or evil, depending on who's logged on. On Tuesday, the popular site MySpace.com says it's going to put that power to good use, offering its support in the search for missing children. On Saturday in Indiana, four children and their mother were kidnapped. Within hours an Amber Alert was issued, along with the suspect's picture. MySpace.com is now joining the search in cases like this. The social networking Web site will distribute Amber Alerts to members in the ZIP code where the alerts are issued. They'll include photos of the missing children and descriptions of the suspects and vehicles. The popularity of sites like MySpace and YouTube skyrocketed last year, giving the average American unprecedented publishing power. Time magazine acknowledged the trend with its "Person of the Year" issue. Still, there's a dark side. Just this month, amateur video was posted online, showing Long Island teens brutally beating another girl in Suffolk County. This week, four families sued the parent company of MySpace, alleging their young daughters were abused by adults they met on the site. MySpace is also addressing that concern. The site will debut a new feature to prevent potentially dangerous communication between adults and under-age members. As for the Indiana case, the Amber Alert remains in effect. Police are working some new leads, and they believe the family is still alive. http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_023083435.html

MySpace To Distribute Amber Alerts POSTED: 11:15 pm MST January 22, 2007 LOS ANGELES -- The social-networking Web site MySpace.com will now distribute Amber alerts to members notifying them of missing children in their communities. MySpace, a News Corp. unit, is teaming with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to distribute the alerts, which are triggered by law-enforcement officials. The online alerts, which will begin Tuesday, will be sent to all users in the ZIP codes where it was issued. They will appear in a small text box at the top of a user's portfolio. The user can click on the box for more information, including a photo of the missing child and a description of the suspect. The alerts were named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl killed in Texas in 1996. MySpace also announced two safety features designed to protect members' privacy. The site will now require people signing up for an account to provide a working e-mail address and verify their identity by responding to an e-mail sent to the listed address. This is a practice common with other online services, but MySpace has been hesitant thus far because of fears the confirmation messages might end up mistakenly in spam filters. The site, open only to those 14 and over, will also offer a tool to prevent any member under age 18 from being contacted by adults, and vice versa. The tool, however, is optional and relies on self-reported ages. MySpace recently said it was developing software that will allow parents to learn of their child's use of MySpace and be notified of usernames, ages and locations they use in their personal profile pages. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/technology/10818177/detail.html