Online dating, fraud & the law

There are some themes, here, that might be of interest to parents of social networkers (especially those who use online dating sites!). Online news magazine Slate.com recently looked at the state of online dating. Kind of an older, earlier version of social-networking (though Slate includes MySpace in this category), it has a similar, possibly greater, level of fantasy associated with it. "Everybody is blond and skinny in cyberspace. And that can be a problem. Consider the number of marriages ending because one of the parties just met their one true love on Yahoo Personals," says Slate, suggesting that people don't want this aspect of "e-commerce" regulated because they like the fantasy, the privacy (courting in the privacy of one's own home), and the anonymity. "Heavy regulation would mean that the blurry lines between reality, fantasy, and wishful thinking would be patrolled and enforced by cyberlove cops" – even though there have been some pretty shady practices. Slate elaborates.