AG's spotlight moves to Facebook

An anonymous person who said he or she was "a concerned parent" contacted the New York Times about a fake teen profile he (we'll make it "he" to simplify) created apparently to check into the predator risk on Facebook, the Times reports. The "parent" had this imaginary teen join sex-related groups (ongoing discussions users can join) and add some of the members to "her" friends list. Since that made her screenname and photo visible to other members, the imaginary teen started getting sexual solicitations. Facebook's terms of use prohibit such activity, but it relies on a combination of staff monitoring and user abuse reports to take action, and, the Times article indicates, not everything can be caught, at least not right away. What's hardest to stop is when people, including imaginary ones, are looking for trouble, Facebook indicated in the Times article (for info on exactly this type of user and vulnerability, please see "Profile of a teen online victim"). Other pieces of this story include Facebook's own project for reporting registered sex offenders on its site, and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's announcement that "investigators in his state were looking into three or more' cases of convicted sex offenders who had registered on Facebook." The Times adds that "Mr. Blumenthal said he was taking a particular interest in Facebook because his children use the service."