[LINK] Myspace deletes sex offender registered members

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Thu Jul 26 09:27:36 AEST 2007


At 8:43 +1000 26/7/07, Craig Sanders wrote:
>personally, i think it's probably better not to delete their accounts
>but to report them to the relevant agencies so that they can be
>monitored. false-positives wouldn't be affected, the past offenders
>who were using the service legitimately and NOT intending to reoffend
>wont be unfairly discriminated against, and those who were intending to
>reoffend wont know they're being watched and wont go into hiding with a
>new account.

Right on the money.  And that approach is more effective from both 
the detection *and* rehab perspectives.  (Yes, sex offenders are 
relatively highly recidivist, but the proportion isn't all *that* 
high).

Unfortunately, the level of politicisation and hysteria is such that 
clear thinking isn't welcome.

Aside:  I've always wondered why Customs ban people using their 
mobile phones while they're waiting for their luggage to emerge. 
When you're observing large numbers of people, it's very difficult to 
find sensible ways to single out the small, even tiny, percentage of 
them worth monitoring.  If I was Customs, I'd *encourage* nervous 
couriers to do something that might draw attention to themselves.

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW



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