HARTFORD, Conn. -- Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has sent MySpace.com a letter asking the company to take steps to make the site safer for children.

He is asking them to provide parents with software to block the Web site, ban kids under 16, institute new measures against pornography and take other steps to protect children from sexual predators and inappropriate material.

"This site now exposes young people to a perilous cyber environment with people posting sexually explicit materials and looking for sexual relationships." - Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

The letter comes after discussions between Blumenthal’s office and top MySpace.com executives, including a February meeting with MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe and company lawyers.

"This site now exposes young people to a perilous cyber environment with people posting sexually explicit materials and looking for sexual relationships," Blumenthal said. "In fact, children can still view pornographic images, links to X-rated Web sites, ‘clubs’ involving adults seeking sexual encounters and webcam sex for sale offers."

In his letter, Blumenthal says the steps he outlines are technologically feasible, as well as consistent with their stated terms of service and their own explicit goal of prohibiting nudity and other offensive or inappropriate material from MySpace.

He is also asking the site to require users to log in and verify their age before viewing profiles, make technical changes preventing 14- and 15-year-olds from making their profiles public and requiring parental consent for anyone 16 or older to view them.

He is also requesting that MySpace prohibit people seeking casual sexual encounters from communicating with minors, remove explicit references to "swingers," and fully disclose that parts of the site contain adult material.

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Discussion: MySpace.com: Dangerous Portal Or Useful Tool?

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