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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
today that a subpoena had been issued to
Facebook.com seeking information on whether
convicted New Jersey sexual offenders have
profiles on the social networking site.
In
an initiative to identify whether convicted
New Jersey sex offenders have profiles on
popular social networking sites, Milgram
has asked a dozen sites to check user profiles
against convicted sex offender lists. The
subpoena issued yesterday is similar to
one issued earlier this year to MySpace.com,
which identified 268 New Jersey registered
sex offenders with MySpace accounts and
said it had eliminated the profiles.
“This
is a matter of public safety, and more specifically,
a matter of children’s safety,’’
Milgram said. “Social networking sites
should not be virtual playing fields for
sexual predators.’’
The
subpoena to Facebook was issued Monday and
has a return date of October 12. The Attorney
General’s Office and the Division
of Consumer Affairs, which is coordinating
the investigation into the social networking
sites, asks for all information concerning
any Facebook user identified as a convicted
sex offender, including names and e-mail
addresses provided by individuals during
registration.
Facebook
was sent a list of convicted New Jersey
sex offenders last month to compare with
its user profiles. Facebook has told the
state that it has identified and removed
an unspecified number of convicted sexual
offenders. The subpoena asks the social
networking site to provide specific information
related to the offenders.
In
addition, the subpoena asks Facebook about
its policies related to Internet safety
and any policies concerning minors’
use of the site. “It is important
we determine what representations the social
networking sites are making regarding safety
and what the reality may be,’’
Milgram said.
Milgram
last week unveiled a new Internet Safety
icon that was designed to allow users of
social networking sites to swiftly report
inappropriate, abusive or potentially illegal
activities. Six social networking sites
– myYearbook.com and the five Community
Connect sites – BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com,
AsianAve.com, GLEE.com, and FaithBase.com
– have joined the Attorney General’s
coalition to adopt the Report Abuse! safety
icon.
Also
yesterday, the Attorney General sent eleven
social networking sites letters following
up her request in August to determine whether
registered New Jersey sex offenders had
accounts on their websites. The initial
letter had asked the websites to detail
what steps they had taken to identify convicted
sex offenders. Each of the sites have received
information from the state to compare member
accounts against a list of convicted sex
offenders, and most have been in contact
with the Attorney General’s office
to discuss details to prepare their comparison
reports.
But
Milgram said she was prepared to use her
subpoena power if information was not forwarded
to the Attorney General’s office.
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