By Mark Scott
Albany, NY – MySpace.com has agreed with 49 states, including New York, to add extensive measures to combat sexual predators who use the popular online site.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and several of his counterparts from other states announced the agreement Monday. MySpace, which was started about four years ago, claims to have 70 million users.
Cuomo tells WBFO News that greater controls are needed to prevent sexual predators from using social networking sites to contact children.
Cuomo says MySpace has agreed to include several online protections. It will now classify as private all profiles of users under the age of 18 and will strengthen its response to complaints of inappropriate content on the site. Cuomo says MySpace will also do more to verify the ages of users.
But Cuomo says parents and children themselves must do their part to make sure MySpace is not being used inappropriately.
A MySpace official says it's always been the company's goal to make sure its virtual neighborhoods are as safe as real ones.
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