MySpace adding restrictions to protect members

Starting next week, MySpace, the online social community giant, will begin adding restrictions to the service to protect minors.

• Users under the age of 18 will not get certain advertisements, such as dating sites.
• MySpace profiles will be able to be marked as “private”, and will only be available to friends.
• Site restrictions will be added for members 18 and over which contact member that are under the age of 16. Older users seeking to become friends with underaged members, will have to enter the recipients’ first and last names or their e-mail addresses.

However, 17 and 18 year old members will still be able to message members which are 16-years old and under, without any restrictions.

“A lot of 14- and 15-year-olds are friends in school with 16- and 17-year-olds,” said Hemanshu Nigam, the chief security officer of News Corporation’s Internet unit. “We want to balance the openness of our community with the interest of protecting the member.”

Source: NYTimes