MySpace and Sentinel Donate Technology to NCMEC to Assist in Online Safety
Dr. Kardasz - Good news from NCMEC and MYSpace. This will help identify those sex offenders who use their true names on-line. There is still a difficult issue regarding those sex offenders who use aliases.
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From the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children web site:
Press Release
MYSPACE AND SENTINEL DONATE NEW DATABASE TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN TO ASSIST LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THEIR ONLINE SAFETY INVESTIGATIONS
WASHINGTON D.C.—January 29, 2007—MySpace.com, the leading social networking and lifestyle portal, and Sentinel Tech announced today at the National Press Club that they are donating their Sentinel Safe database technology to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC). Sentinel Safe is a new database developed by MySpace and Sentinel Tech that enables Web sites and other third parties to effectively identify, remove, and block convicted sex offenders from online communities. NCMEC will leverage the Sentinel Safe database as an analytical tool to assist federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in their investigations.
“We’re pleased to join Sentinel in donating this important database technology to NCMEC,” said Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer, Fox Interactive Media, a parent company of MySpace. “We believe it’s an extremely useful law enforcement tool and want to see it used as broadly as possible. It’s critical that we work together as we continue to innovate and develop creative solutions to reduce online safety risks.”
“Providing assistance to law enforcement with their investigations is part of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s core mission,” said Ernie Allen, NCMEC President and CEO. “MySpace’s donation of its Sentinel Safe database will enable us to help keep the Internet safer by tracking down those who commit crimes against our children.”
Last month, MySpace joined forces with Sentinel Tech to build Sentinel Safe, a national, searchable, sex offender database to contain information on the estimated 600,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. MySpace and Sentinel Tech are donating this technology to provide NCMEC with additional resources to assist federal, state and local law enforcement with their investigations ranging from missing child cases, Internet-facilitated crimes against children, locating registered sex offenders, and potentially identifying fugitives.
"Through this donation, NCMEC will have access to the most cutting edge technology available today to identify non-compliant and registered sex offenders so it can provide better assistance to law enforcement agencies across the nation” said John Cardillo, CEO of Sentinel Tech, an industry expert on security and a former NYPD Detective. “Sentinel Safe will allow law enforcement, both big and small, the ability to enhance their searches and better track these criminals, making the Internet safer for all.”
The Sentinel Safe database is designed to receive the most current updates from localized state sex offender registries with new information and identifiers of registered sex offenders. NCMEC will directly interface with law enforcement to provide them access to the database information in order to assist in their investigations. As part of this donation, MySpace and Sentinel Tech will provide all research and development to tailor the Sentinel Safe technology to NCMEC’s unique needs in aiding law enforcement.
The Sentinel Safe database is currently being used by a dedicated MySpace safety team to proactively monitor 24/7 for convicted sex offenders in the community. Once a positive match is confirmed, the safety team immediately removes any matching profiles on its site. Sentinel Safe is the most comprehensive database technology that exists to identify, remove, and block sex offenders from within an online community.
MySpace first partnered with NCMEC in April 2006 to promote online safety through the deployment of NCMEC’s national public service advertisements (PSAs) and has since worked with the organization to develop various safety best practices and programs including AMBER Alerts on MySpace. MySpace is pleased to continue its longstanding relationship with NCMEC by presenting the database to the organization.
Today’s NCMEC donation is part of a multi-pronged approach at MySpace to develop technologies and align with partners interested in finding feasible solutions to improve the safety of the Internet for everyone.
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About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. NCMEC’s congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 419,400 leads. Since 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more than 125,200 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 107,600 children. For more information about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.
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