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Facebook, the world's second-largest social-networking Web site, has reached an agreement with state law enforcement authorities across the country aimed at protecting children from sexual predators.
The agreement with attorneys general in 49 states and the District of Columbia would ban convicted sex offenders from the site and limit older users' ability to search for underage subscribers.
"Pennsylvania continues to be one of the leading states concerning Internet safety for children," said Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, who announced the agreement with his counterparts. "This agreement is another step we've taken to protect the innocence of children."
Facebook has more than 70 million users worldwide.
The agreement is similar to one reached in January with MySpace, the world's largest social networking site with 200 million users worldwide.
Facebook said in a statement that the company was committed to keeping children safe on the Internet.
"Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook from its outset," said Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer. "The attorneys general have shown great leadership in helping to address the critical issue of Internet safety, and we commend them for continuing to set high standards for all players in the online arena."
Among the provisions is one aimed at preventing older users from trying to masquerade as youngsters. The agreement stipulates that when users try to change their ages, their profiles will be reviewed by a customer service agent.
Some law enforcement officials questioned the system's ability to screen out predators who lie about their age.
The Texas attorney general opted out of both agreements over concerns about the inability to verify the ages of users.
"This agreement is not an all-clear sign that it is safe for children to go onto MySpace," Abbott told The Inquirer in February. Any predator "can go on there right now and establish a profile as a 15-year-old. That poses a great danger."
Eric Shirk, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, acknowledged that the agreement wasn't perfect, calling it a "preventative step."
The office has arrested 143 people since its Child Predator Unit was established in 2005; none of them was using a Facebook account, Shirk said.
A spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said it had not had any Facebook-related arrests.
In 2007, the predator unit of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office made 54 arrests. Of those arrested, 31 had MySpace accounts.
Over the last four days, agents from the unit have arrested six suspected Internet predators in Delaware County, the Allentown area and Central Pennsylvania.
Among those arrested was William Edward Algeo, 47, of Havertown. He and three others were accused of using Internet chat rooms to sexually proposition what they believed were 12-, 13- and 14-year-old girls, as well as sending sexually graphic photos or videos to the girls
Agents in New Jersey said they worked with MySpace and Facebook to remove hundreds of sex offenders who had profiles on the sites.
Under the agreement, Facebook will join the industry-wide Internet Safety Technical Task Force, established after the agreement with MySpace, to develop age- and identity-verification tools.
Among other changes Facebook has agreed to, it will:
Ensure that companies offering services on its site comply with its safety and privacy guidelines.
Remove groups whose comments or images suggest incest, pedophilia, bullying, or other inappropriate content.
Send warning messages when a child is in danger of giving personal information to an adult.
Contact staff writer Amy Worden at 717-783-2584 or
aworden@phillynews.com.
