• USA Today, Monday, February 13, 2006 10:15 AM

Police across the country are now scouring the Internet for criminals, investigating social networks like MySpace for crimes ranging from rape to murder. One of their main concerns is teens who carelessly provide personal information and photos of themselves to strangers. It's unknown whether or not the number of crimes against children on the Web is increasing because no organization keeps such statistics, but officials worry that teens who use public Web sites to socialize and plan activities are oblivious as to just how public their messages may be. One expert said kids just don't feel the need to be as accountable for their actions online as they are in real life, inviting danger. For example, one recent investigation, involving a 14-year-old girl who was strangled to death in a garbage bin in Newark, NJ, included reviewing conversations on MySpace. In Middletown, CT, seven girls under 16 are believed to have been sexually assaulted by men they met on MySpace. The Connecticut attorney general's office is now investigating the News Corp. social networking site, saying its "failure to shield minors" from pornographic images and sexual images makes it "a parent's worst nightmare." In fact, it would seem that most sexual assault cases these days involve the Internet. As one LA detective says: "A case that doesn't have a connection to the Internet is rare."

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