Yesterday, officials at MySpace refused to turn over the names of users who were registered sex offenders to the attorneys general of several states. According to a USA Today story:
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday blasted MySpace for refusing to share the information and said no subpoena is needed for MySpace to tell the attorneys general how many registered sex offenders use the site “or other information relating to possible parole violations.”
“I am deeply disappointed and troubled by this unreasonable and unfounded rejection of our request for critical information about convicted sex offenders whose profiles are on MySpace,” Blumenthal said. “By refusing this information, MySpace is precluding effective enforcement of parole and probation restrictions that safeguard society.”
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper echoed the sentiment, saying “it’s sad that MySpace is going to protect the privacy of sex offenders over the safety of children.”
Shorter version: Waaaaaaaaaaah!
In a letter Monday, attorneys general from North Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania asked MySpace to provide the number of registered sex offenders using the site and where they live.
In a letter, got that? Not a subpoena, or a warrant, or any kind of court order. Just a letter.
In other words, the attorneys general of all eight states couldn’t find a single judge willing to agree with them that they needed the information, but nevertheless MySpace is the bad guy here for being unreasonable.
Blumenthal said [they] will be aggressive in their pursuit of the information.
“We will take …forceful action, including subpoenas if necessary to protect children,” Blumenthal said.
Well, duh! That’s what MySpace is telling you to do!
MySpace’s chief security officer said the company regularly discloses information to law enforcement officials but said the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act says it can only do so when proper legal processes are followed.
…
Christian Genetski, an attorney who has represented MySpace, said the Electronic Communications Privacy Act requires subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, depending on the information sought.
“It’s a clearly defined law that most providers and prosecutors understand and work with on a daily basis,” said Genetski, who covers information security and Internet enforcement at a firm in Washington, D.C. “My understanding is (the attorneys general) want the private personal information, and that’s clearly the information the ECPA protects.”
Wow. All of these guys are surrounded by people who do this all the time, so they must have known it wouldn’t work. Yet for some mysterious reason, they joined forces to request the information. It’s almost like they were hoping for some national publicity or something…
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