February 28, 2008 MySpace creates task force to explore Internet safety Play video

(NECN) - Harvard Law School is hosting the new Internet Safety Task Force, formed to better protect children on networking websites like MySpace.

The move comes amid growing concern that youngsters have become targets of sexual predators and other abuse. The creation of the yearlong task force is part of an agreement that MySpace reached with attorneys general from around the nation.

MySpace created the group, naming its members and choosing Harvard's Berman Center for Internet and Society to run it. The task force will operate independently of the social networking website and its recommendations will be nonbinding. It will have a broad mandate to explore technical ways to keep children safe on the Internet.

The task force will likely hold 4-6 public meetings in the Washington D.C. area. They might have limited closed sessions to hear from families of victimized children and companies with proprietary information. Quarterly reports will be sent to the attorneys general, with a final, public report expected in about a year.

NECN's Scot Yount has details.