E-Mail   |   Print   |   Comments   |   Request Reprints   |   E-Mail Newsletters   |   RSS

What a difference a legal document makes.

When a group of eight state attorneys general sent MySpace a letter May 14 demanding information collected by the site about sex offenders who use the social network, the company rejected the request. As a matter of law, officials at News Corp.'s (nyse: NWS - news - people ) social network said, they could not provide details like the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders who use the site.

Today, MySpace is singing a different tune, announcing that it has worked out a way to deliver the information to the attorneys general after all. What changed? Simple: Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent the company a subpoena.

"I am pleased that MySpace has heeded our demand, now by subpoena, to provide information about convicted sex offenders and confirm steps to remove them from the site," Blumenthal said in a statement. "Our subpoena compels this information right away--within hours, not weeks, without delay."

Blumenthal said there are currently 5,000 registered, convicted sex offenders with MySpace profiles.

MySpace Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Angus says the site always intended to provide its sex offender information to the attorneys general but couldn't respond until required to by law. In other words, the company wanted the states to subpoena it for the data.

"For each state it is different, but in some cases we would need a subpoena in order to get this information to them," says Angus. "It has to go through the proper legal processes, and we've worked with the attorneys general to help them determine the right language to make the request." The Connecticut subpoena arrived at MySpace on Monday morning.

MySpace has been working with the attorneys general for over a year and began deleting sex offender MySpace profiles on May 2, using its Sentinel SAFE system for checking databases.

Article Controls

E-Mail   |   Print   |   Comments   |   Request Reprints   |   E-Mail Newsletters

del.icio.us   |   Digg It!   |   My Yahoo!   |   RSS

Trading Center

Brought to you by the sponsors below

CEO Book Club

Book Review Robert Mads Anderson Book Review Armchair Mountaineering Robert Mads Anderson A new book from National Geographic brings the Himalaya experience home.