Controversial social networking site, MySpace.com has opened access to its database of U.S. sex offenders, to The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The portal, owned by NewsCorp, said it will donate the Sentinel Safe database system to allow third parties, such as the NCMEC to block sex offenders from online communities.
Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer, Fox Interactive Media, a parent company of MySpace said that they believe that the Sentinel Safe database system is an extremely useful law enforcement tool and want to see it used as broadly as possible. He said that it is critical that they work together to innovate and develop creative solutions to reduce online safety risks.
The database tool offers information on about 600,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and combines the information with image-based searching. The NCMEC will use this information to assist federal, state, and local authorities with cases including missing children, Internet-related crimes against children, locating registered offenders, and possibly even identifying fugitives.
MySpace says the ability to search on facial characteristics, tattoos, and other details of appearance may be a significant benefit to the agency.
Read more here.