You gotta laugh when the police are recommending falsification of records.
As far as Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Rocky Costa is concerned, "MySpace has absolutely exploded, and the only real way to protect ourselves -- besides filtering and firewalls -- is to always tell yourself, `I am not gonna give out authentic information.'" To kids, said Massachusetts Institute of Technology sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle, this is a mixed message at best. "You're encouraged not to be you, but then if you go online at a place where you shouldn't be and are not you, then we don't like it. Then, as soon as they're 18, we tell them to go to Match.com."
For millions, social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Xanga represent the perfect intersection of art, commerce and the human need to connect. Musicians, comedians and film studios use the sites to create fan bases. Advertisers buy space on them.
Yet at the same time, there's growing concern among some parents and school administrators that such Web sites encourage kids to share salacious stories and sexually charged photos and perhaps leave them vulnerable to predators. Many schools have sent notices to parents to be aware of possible problems. Others have lectured students on social etiquette and safety on the Internet.
Kids are certainly enthralled. "I know tons of people who are addicted."
If only MemeStreams supported inline images, it would be flooded with shy 11 year olds who live in Hoboken and have lame names posing as sexually aggressive 26 year olds from Manhattan with cool names. Can anyone find evidence of a MySpace identity being auctioned on eBay?
