Who's molesting whom on MySpace?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Micah Sifry <msifry () gmail com>
Date: December 7, 2006 11:45:02 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Who's molesting whom on MySpace?

Dave--
http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/1119
The giant social networking hub MySpace was in the news yesterday for  
announcing that it will soon be scouring its 100 million-plus member  
pages for known child molesters, using existing databases to match  
them not just by their names, but also by their physical  
descriptions, include details such as age, hair color, height, scars  
and tattoos.

If that doesn't make you wonder about possible cases of mistaken  
identity and other forms of creepy overkill, check out this story  
from blogger Scott Henson. Apparently, the warrantless tactics that  
some prosecutors are now using to pull information off of MySpace  
pages to track sex offenders are now spreading to much lower level  
crimes. Henson discovered a thread on the Texas District and County  
Attorney's public user forum where a bunch of prosecutors are  
discussing whether it's OK to go online and create a fake profile on  
MySpace in order to get a kid to "friend" them and thus give them  
access to their private MySpace page, where they might find evidence  
of someone bragging about a petty crime like vandalism. Here's an  
excerpt of what Henson found, with his comments included. The  
dialogue picks up after an assistant DA only identified as Gretchen  
suggested checking some kids MySpace accounts.

[Prosecutor] Tirey went and checked, then replied, "One of these kids  
apparently does not have a MySpace page. The other has several,  
including one that was last updated a few days ago, but they are all  
private. I do not think that I can very well invite her (or whatever  
you do on MySpace) to be my friend and let me see her page. I am  
reasonably sure she might recognize my name and refuse. Is there some  
way I can get to look at the page without using outright deception?"

Good question. What constitutes outright deception? Lets see what his  
fellow prosecutors think. Gretchen replied: "Could you have an  
investigator invite your D as a friend? I would think that'd be no  
different than chatting up a child molester online, and you'd only  
have your investigator monitoring the site, not even necessarily  
engaging in conversation. Just a thought."

That IS quite a thought. I wonder how many investigators and cops are  
"monitoring" private MySpace accounts, having used this ruse to  
pretend to be a "friend" when they really are seeking evidence to  
prosecute?

Here's an example of that famous slippery slope: Tactics become  
commonly used to pursue a terrible crime, like child molestation,  
that may violate constitutioonal rights, but because the crime is so  
heinous it's tolerated by public opinion. In the legal world, though,  
what that does is set precedent for using those same tools in other,  
less serious crimes - in this case a Class B misdemeanor. No warrant,  
no judicial oversight. Nothing. And how long may this "monitoring" go  
on? Quien sabe? Who knows?

Tirey asks if it'd be okay if a probation officer made the  
surreptitious ask to be the defendant's friend, but Gretchen thought  
"it would be better if it was law enforcement, such as your arresting  
officer."

That last bit of advice tells me prosecutors understand that this  
would constitute an investigative function. In that case, there's a  
process for them to access private information of defendants: If they  
have a need to see this girl's MySpace account, prosecutors should go  
to the judge and ask for a search warrant. And if they don't have  
probable cause to get a warrant, they shouldn't send cops  
surreptitiously lurking onto young girls' private MySpace pages, or  
anybody else's.

I'm not a criminal defense lawyer, but I'm going to run this by some  
friends who are. Sure sounds creepy to me.




--
http://micah.sifry.com
http://www.personaldemocracy.com


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